Legs tore off.
That's the bottom line, really. I just didn't have a great day, not even a particularly good one. I have lots of reasons and perhaps excuses as to why, but we'll get to that later and let you decide whether they are valid or not. Until then, just know; legs tore off.
Sunday was a pretty pleasant day. That is if you want to sit at the beach or hang out by the pool. Unfortunately for me I was bike racing. I had just returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest where the temperature was a mild 75 degrees with a cool dry breeze from the Ocean. I returned home to a day of heat and torture. 65% humidity with temps in the mid to high 80's (maybe higher on the tarmac). It was gross. So hot on the pavement, in fact, that the squiggly lines or tar patches on road were not only squishy but almost slippery in the corners. Tough day.
I lined up with the Cat 4/5 field for our 39 mile excursion in the hottest part of the day at 3:05pm. You can see the route here. Prior to racing I had put in about 32 miles over the past two weeks. Yeah, go back and read that again. 32 miles total in two weeks. Oof, you can already tell that I'm in for a doosy of a ride. This is what happens when Final Exams fall just a couple weeks before a race.
The big selector of the race was the finishing hill on Johnson road. It was claimed at 18%. I don't know if I'd give it that, but it was definitely steep with a capital 'S'. Probably in the 10-15% average range for about 1/3 of a mile. As tough as just about anything else you'll see in this state. The race organizers kindly gave us a neutral roll out that started below this hill, so our six lap route included 7 trips up this grade instead of 6 (note the sarcasm dripping from my keystrokes). Let's just say that the selection began even during the neutral roll out thanks to this design.
I knew from the start that I was going to be struggling just to hang on, so I made that my goal. Just hang on! I tried my best to stay out of the wind and protected in the bunch. It wasn't too difficult as I was basically at the back of the pack the whole time. The first lap was mostly uneventful. A couple small accelerations but no big surprises. There were about 40 of us with narrow lanes and a "no crossing the center line" rule, so it made it difficult to go on the attack.
Finishing the first lap, I got gapped a little bit on the Johnson road grade, but made it back with the pack before too long. Unfortunately, I could tell my selection had already been made. I stuck with the group as we tooled along but by the time we turned back east on Potter Rd I was hurting. A few of us were off the back as the front of the race started to pull away. I looked at the guys around me and did my best to organize a chase. Only two of us were really up to the challenge. We had a headwind at this point and little hope of catching the riders in front of us while on the straight, so we just tried to damage control as best as we were able.
Turning up Johnson road to finish lap 2 was tough. The rider who was with me (Ben from Brazen Dropouts) definitely had more spring in his step for the hill. He got away from me but then waited as I was able to recover some and catch up after getting over the top, but I knew that was the last time my trip up Johnson grade would even resemble racing. I rode with him the rest of lap 3 then told him before reaching our Selectinator (aka johnson), and offered him a big pull before I popped. I launched him at the bottom of the Selectinator and then just survived my third (actually fourth thanks to the roll out) trip up to the start/finish line.
The last 3 laps saw me chugging along by myself, getting passed by the 30+ Masters field which had started 5 minutes before me and finishing in 29th place. Somewhere in there I was caught and passed by two other riders in my field. I tried to work with one of them, but didn't have the legs for it and the other caught me and passed me on my second to last battle with the Selectinator.
Now for the really interesting part. It was a hot day at the race and while I managed to do fairly well with my fluid intake, I don't know that I did well with my electrolytes. I probably only used half of the Nuun that I should have and paid the price on my last trip up Johnson grade. As I approached the bottom I knew it would just be a matter of survival. Sit, stand or crawl I was going to tame this beast one last time. I started up trying to spin, but it got steep enough that I had no choice but to stand. However, when I stood my quads cramped like never before. I actually had to work to straighten them again. In fear of hurting myself or falling over, I sat down but them my hamstrings cramped. Again, hurty and stiff and confusing. I stood again, then sat again, then stood again. At this point is was mind over matter. Forcing my legs to do their work. I made it to the crest and sat back down. Still a hundred meters or so from the finish line I staggered across and coasted to where I could safely stop. (wait a second...Can you stagger on a bike?...well, I did)
I found my wife and parents-in-law who had come to watch me get my butt kicked. My lovely wife watched somewhat worriedly as I collapsed into a camp chair while my father-in-law grabbed me a cold iced tea. Perfect. My nephew then proceeded to quiz me.
"Uncle Craig, why didn't I see you with those other guys?" (aka: the rest of my field)
"Well, because I was riding behind them."
"Why were you riding behind them?"
"Because today I was slower than all of them."
A pause for a moment, a quizzical look and then the knockout punch.
"Uncle Craig, why did you ride your bike so slow today?"
Nice, eh? Nothing like the interrogation of a 4 year old to wipeout any sense of self-pity.
It wasn't my day. Like I told my nephew, I was just slower than the rest of them. That's it plain and simple. Not enough training, too much heat, allergies acting up, whatever the reason I just couldn't keep up. Some days just aren't your day and 6/5/11 was definitely not mine.
Legs---tore----off.
No comments:
Post a Comment