NFR - Race Report # 3 - Snelling

[RidgeRider]

Teammates: It was just me, the Stars & Stripes Racemaster, and 1 water bottle........doh!!!!!

We had a nearly full field, seemed there were 50 of us. It was good racing against the 45+'s again. I have vowed to race in my age group as much as possible this year so I can start to know who to watch out for as the season progresses. I jumped around a lot last year with the Elite 4's, 35+ and 45+, so this year it will be different.

My teammate Phil rode down to the race with Kevin but got sick on the way down so he drove back in Kevin's car and Kevin rode back with me. I was in the last race of the day just behind Kevin's race. I was in arm warmers and my kit but it was cold waiting around for the race to start however it then warmed up as soon as we got going.

I'll skip past the pre-race stories about someone's bike falling off their car before the race etc and the debrief with the M35+ 123 guys. Our Mercedes masters boys got 1 & 3rd! Patrick rode on his frame for a lap and had to pack it in with a mechanical. Anyway...back to my race.

There were 4 teams I can remember with big representation: Pen Velo, Bicycle Planet, Taleo, and Body Concepts. These teams were playing games with each other during the race, sending guys off and then getting pulled back in....same old stuff. I decided I would fight for the front most of the race and focus on being 1st thru 6th so I could get a good run at the finish. I had ideas of running a flier on the 3rd of 4th lap but that dream ended on the first lap when I lost my back water bottle for the second race in a row. I have no faith now in carbon water bottle cages and that night, when I came home, I changed bottles cages back to my plastic ones.

Anyway, having one small bottle was a problem. I knew it may come back to haunt me but I sort of just decided I would conserve it as much as possible and hope for the best. Some guys tried to get away early but they were reeled back in by the winds. On the second lap, three guys attacked...two Pen Velo's and another dude. They got a gap and I decided to chase with 4 other guys. We bridged them and had 7 with a nice gap but I couldn't get the numpty's organized and we got swallowed back up. Third lap, a break of three went off in the fast section on the back, and I gave chase bringing the peloton with me. It was good section for me so while I put out a hard effort it wasn't torturous. After bridging them I 'sat in' to recover. On the last hill, on the 3rd lap, and on the finish hill my legs starting talking to me....cramps!

I had to play it conservative on the 4th lap as they,the cramps, got worse. I had to stay seated to deal with the spasms and though there were several surges, I held on. Going into the last hill before the left hand turn, I tried to get up out of the saddle, but couldn't and got gapped off the back over that hill. Desperate and my confidence shaken I pushed as hard as I could to get back on the back of the peloton on the bumpy road, before the final right to the finish, and finally latched back on... I was knackered so I needed to 'sit in' on the back of the peloton for a bit to recover.

After about 30 secs I guess I decided only a desperate move would prevent me from a 30th place, so as the road was covered with riders across the rode, I made a desperate and dangerous move and went all the way to the right, out in the gravel on the side of the road and pushed hard to get to the front of the peloton, which I managed to do and now I was 'on the front' on the right side of the road.

Legs were barking at me telling me it was just about over and another cramp spasm was coming. A 'lead out' train from Body Concepts came up on the right, as I had moved over towards the middle from my extreme right hand position, with three riders on it and I jumped on it. Two other random guys came from the outside as well and I got into the turn in about 6th position. I had purposely ran to the front the first two laps to be in the corner first so I could feel how to take it, both times on the inside line. Anyway, knowing I could not stand and sprint I knew I had to get in that corner near the front and then push hard from the saddle to have any hope of finishing in the top 10 since a podium was out of the question since I could not stand and sprint.

Anyway, on the sprint I dropped a several places back but then clipped a couple of guys at the end who went to hard too soon and managed to hold on to 11th. It was hard to know if I beat a couple of guys next to me at the line. It was that close and I was tired!

Very pleased with the result this day and it will do me well in next race, not to mention having two water bottles!

The following day I drove back down to Merced with my teammate David and we finished 7th and 10th respectively at the Original Merced Crit against a group of 35+ racers. I was tired from racing on Saturday and didn't feel is spunky on Sunday at the crit so my aggression was well down so 10th was ok by me.

[HatterDon]

thanks, Jack.

[finnster01]

Given the circumstances I think you did very well Mr Ridge.  :045:

[AmericanJames]

Sounds like a success given the issues, well done :clap_hands:

A random idea and please bear with me because I do not have much experience with cycling, but could you use a camalbak hydration system http://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recreation/Packs.aspx in some way to eliminate the issues you've had with your water bottles?

[Burt]

I hope you had plenty of butt butter to hand Mr RR sir...

[TheDaddy]

Well done double R DETERMINED AND GUTSY PERFORMANCE.



Heres a promising young designer with his prototype .What you think RR will it work ?

[RidgeRider]

That head get up would work great. Three bottles right there! :)

James,

A camelbak is something could work but they are not used at the Pro or amateur racing level. Not sure how well they would work during a race. In a race you have very little time to drink because you have to be alert while hammering away on pedals. I have seen them used in endurance events an mountain bike riding but not while racing a road bike.

My water bottle issue is not longer an issue now that have gone back to my old plastic bottle cages. I used them at a race last year that has been likened to the cobbles of Paris Roubaix and they worked great so I have sorted that problem. Camelbaks are great though for endurance rides when you don't want to have to stop to fill your bottles.