Rookie Racing Revelations

What a goofy Tuesday race night, filled with confusion, an unwelcome puncture and an unexpected climb. Chaos is good for the spirit and makes you grow, so I'm certainly not complaining.

First of all, if you're a semi-serious road biker, you take really good care of your equipment and keep your drivetrain as clean and as perfectly lubed as can be. You also check for wear and tear and make sure that critical contact points (cleats, pedals, crank, etc.) are properly tightened. I've been doing what I think is a pretty good job in this department, so I've become increasingly alarmed about noises that I'm hearing while pedaling. At first I thought the issue was worn out cleats, so I replaced them, but the noise didn't go away. Next up, I checked pedal, bottom bracket and crank tightness, and yet the noise persists. Now I'm thinking that it's either the pedal bearings or the bottom bracket bearings, but in any case, it's as distressing as hearing some kind of persistent noise in your car, and a certain amount of unease has pervaded my cycling in the last week or so.

So starting out tonight's informal race, I was already thinking excessively about this problem, trying to calculate when it would be best to live without my bike for a day. (Yes, the addiction is so far advanced.) The race started off very, very slow, up Ellis Hollow Creek Road to Ringwood. I didn't understand the leisurely pace and I should have asked, but instead, I pulled ahead of the group and started making my way up Ringwood. I kept slowing down, but nobody was passing me, which was most confusing. Then, as luck would have it, I got a front puncture. I think I set a personal best for roadside tube replacement, and quickly got back on the bike. I was a tad too hasty, because after a bit of climbing I realized that I left my helmet behind! After recovering from my stupidity, I made my way up to Midline, and was delighted to see that the B group had yet to start the Midline descent.

Catching the B group was very good fortune, since I wanted to learn better race strategy, and the A group is just too challenging for me to really figure out how and when to attack. I moved my way up through the B group and was right up front with the leaders as we turned onto Rt. 79. I foolishly assumed that we would be doing the same route as the last time the Tuesday group did this route, but I was taken aback when I found that we would be looping around and doing the Ringwood climb again! Turns out that the first Ringwood climb was treated as neutral—if I had only asked, I would have managed my race strategy differently and saved more fuel for the climbs.

I got dropped by about 10 riders on the second Ringwood climb, but those of us left behind formed a very effective paceline and clawed our way back to the lead group. Finally, on the Snyder Hill return climb I somehow found an energy reserve and was able to pull past most of the B group and finish strong. What a terrific feeling to pull out a good finish after a challenging middle section.

My bike is now in the infinitely capable hands of Glenn Swan, who will surely get to the bottom of my crank noise issue. It'll be hard to live a day without my trusty bike, but I think I'll manage!

Tour de Syracuse Results...Feeling Good!

I'm positively euphoric about my experience in the Tour de Syracuse Road Race, a 2-lap, 55 mile, pedal-stompin' good time. I stayed with the lead group right until the bitter end, finishing the 55 mile race in the lead group, just 45 seconds behind the winner, in spite of some annoying cramping in the final miles. This road racing thing is seriously addictive! I finished in 20th place, just 20 seconds behind the awesome Ernie Bayles, a fellow Ithacan and Finger Lakes Cycle Club/Chris Cookies/Glenn Swan teammate. Ernie is just astonishing in his ability to hang back, assess the field, and rapidly accelerate to get right into the action at just the right time. So long as I kept Ernie in my sights, I knew I was doing OK.


Tapering off on my training this last week really paid off, and I had plenty of energy for the climbs and occasional rapid accelerations of the peleton. In spite of this more careful approach to race day prep including going to bed early, I had race day butterflies and lost 2 hours of sleep in the night. None of that seemed to matter much after the neutral zone climb past Song Mountain resort and onto the real race start, Otisco Valley Rd.


Once again, I was supremely focused and quite a bit nervous about riding in such a tightly packed bunch for the first 15 miles until the Amber Rd. climb, which separated the riders out for the first time. I was involved with a little bit of inadvertent jostling, when a fellow racer's handlebars hit my sides on a few occasions. That certainly did nothing to ease my anxiety, but halfway up the first Amber Rd. climb, the pack was a bit more separated and I could concentrate more on positioning myself best to respond to short climbs and accelerations. 


The first Amber climb had me struggling to catch the back wheel of fellow riders on a few occasions, but I remembered some really helpful advice from a fellow Cookie about how if you are suffering, you can be pretty much guaranteed that others are suffering equally, so as long as you can push ahead and grab that wheel, things would surely settle down before too long. This suggestion proved to be true time after time, and I was elated to be still in the lead group leading up to the short but insanely steep Hunt Rd. climb, a.k.a. THE WALL.


There's a temporary reprieve after the wall, followed by a second short steep climb, and I attacked the wall too aggressively, which meant that I spent the next mile or two chasing to get back in the group. Sure enough, after catching the group, it was fairly easy going up to the second Song Mountain climb. At this point in my ride I ramped up my consumption of weird bike nutrition. All in all, I had three gels and a power bar, along with my two bottle of 60% water and 40% gatorade. This was just the right amount of fuel for this race.


My average speed for the first lap was 21.5 mph, and the second lap was quite a bit faster, at least until just after the wall. On the second lap, I felt about 10% stronger, and it really helped that the pack spread out substantially. I was able to match each and every acceleration and climb, including the wall. 


With about 12 miles to go, I started cramping up in my calves, something that almost never happens to me. Also, my lower back was starting to hurt, so standing gave me a temporary reprieve, and I had enough fuel left to do quite a bit of standing as we approached the third Song Mountain hillclimb. With about 7 miles to go, I joined the leading 5 riders for a paceline that lasted about 3 miles until once again, the group reassembled. 


I had to dig really deep for the final ascent, and this is where I dropped back a little bit. I just didn't have what it took to keep up with the leaders, though it wasn't devastating. When I think about the fact that I finished somewhere between 45 and 46 seconds behind the race winner (20th place out of about 60 in my 45+ Masters category, and most likely in the top third of the 35+ Masters category), I have no complaints about my performance, especially considering that this is my second race ever. Now I'm waiting not so patiently for the final results, so I can compare my stats with all other riders who did 55 miles. Should be interesting.


Finally, one more shout out to Ernie Bayles, who really helped me out with pacing and some priceless advise afterwards about waiting until the last mile to make your move, not to mention his encouragement throughout.

Father & Son Day

Finally another father & son cycling day. After a few failed attempts to convince the lad that another ride in the country would in fact be a fun activity for us both, Toby finally relinquished, and we had a blast. He's getting stronger and more sure of himself all the time, and he's really learning how to handle a climb. Today we averaged almost 10 mph, not bad at all, considering his age and the weight of the mountain bike he's riding.

Today I was teaching Toby all about climbing—when to shift and when to stand. He's really getting it, and the constant stream of consciousness chatter is a hoot! We also had a blast watching the planes take off and land, one of my all-time favorite activities as a child.

I can't think of a better way to stretch the legs before tomorrow's race.