Windy Albany C3 RR

Calling it windy doesn't do it justice - it wasn't breezy - it was constant wind, and in some places around Leesburg, there aren't a lot of trees to slow it down.  But it made for interesting and fun racing.  Our cat 3 field started with around 25 guys, I think, including me, Ronnie, and Gabe from Neuro.  At first it was mellow, then a few surges started about 15 min in as we began the first lap.  About 10 miles in, the surges became more frequent and sustained.  By then a couple of single riders had gotten off the front about a minute, but the largest team in the group, Krystal with about 6 or 7 riders, hadn't started the chase yet and the group wasn't concerned 'cause it was early.

About half way around the first lap when we began to turn back south the race character changed.  The speed picked up and the very hard crosswinds from the right (northwest) eliminated most of the draft effect.  So for some stretches it seemed to turn into basically a 20-person time trial with every rider hugging the yellow line trying to stay in contact with the group.  As we approached the end of the first lap, the group was very strung out with a cluster of maybe 5-6 riders at the front and the rest in 1s and 2s over maybe a quarter of a mile fighting the wind.  As we approached the turn back to the parking lot, I saw many of the small chase clusters turn left and call it a day.  But I could still see the front  group and they weren't that far up the road, so I held out hope I could claw them back when they decided to sit up and regroup - so I kept chasing.

After making the first right turn on lap 2, I could still see the lead cat 3 group, but could not gain ground on them.  Glancing back, I saw a moto with a 3-man break off the masters field.  They passed me in a few minutes and I saw a single masters rider behind me.  After maybe 10 minutes, he caught and passed me.  Next a group of 5 masters riders appeared behind me.  Maybe 10 minutes later, they caught me - they were well-organized and rotating, trying to catch the single who was not that far up the road.  I thought about jumping on the back and riding home, but I wasn't sure if there were any cat 3 riders behind me and didn't want to cheat them if there were.

A minute later, I looked back and saw a pair of riders approaching.  After a while, they caught me as well.  Turns out it was Chad Davies, my teammate, and one other rider from Florida.  Chad had been popped on the first lap of the masters race and was chasing back.  He told me there were no cat 3s behind me, so I jumped on the back of his pair and followed without assisting them.  Chad gradually clawed his way up to the rotating 5-man chase group.  When he caught them, he immediately attacked.  Chad doesn't have much top end power, so they easily brought him back.  So he repeated his surge again and again.  He probably hit them 10 times over the next 15 or 20 minutes.  Eventually he ground them down in the hard crosswinds and got away.  His Florida chase mate bridged up to him and they rode away - Chad finished 7th in M45+.  I jumped across to Chad's new chase group when the remainders disintegrated and rolled in for 13th.  Not much in the way of tactics on my part, just a good solid training race in a tough wind.
-
-
-

Fried Green 50

First, a disclaimer: The Fried Green 50 is a 50-mile dirt road RIDE.  It's not technically a race at all.  But we all know what happens when you select a route, line up 49 people on bikes, and say go.  Saturday was no exception.  It was a lot of fun.  This is how it played out for me:

10 seconds before the neutral roll-out, I realized Betty Jean had a slow front leak in her slimed tire.  I began to scramble to help her find a pump.  Trey from Griffin offered to help her with it 'cause he was starting later.  So I spent the first 5 min scrambling to catch the neutral rollout.

Mike Brown and Stony were on the front for the first 10 min or so at a good tempo.  When the first hills appeared, they ramped it up and narrowed the field to about 10.  I was struggling to hang on, but managed to do it.  At about 30 min into the ride, we approached a 1-mile walk section.  I walked with the front group.  After we remounted, we were a peloton of 6.  Stony was on the front going hard.  I'm not sure exactly who was there, because I don't know all the MTB crowd.  But I know Charles Reeves was in there, probably Mike Brown.  At the next turn/climb I realized I could not hold their pace for another 2.5 hours.  So I faded off the back and settled into time trial mode.  I was 6th at that point.

Ten min later two riders caught me and we rode together for 15 min or so.  A yellow jersey and a teal jersey.  Their pace was also more than I could sustain for the 3.5-hr ride, so I faded back again.  In 8th now.

Over the next 2 hours, I maintained my slightly sub-threshold effort and made a special effort to bomb the descents, where I thought the guys on MTBs probably had the most benefit with their suspensions and wider tires.

First I caught the yellow jersey I'd ridden with and passed him.  I often caught glimpses of the teal jersey, but could not gain ground.  One by one riders as riders came into view, I approached and passed them, maintaining my gap behind the teal jersey.

By the start of the 4th hour, I was beginning to crack.  I finally lost visual contact with the teal jersey rider.  My last 3 to 5 miles were pretty weak.  I did a lot of glancing over my shoulder, expecting to see chasers, but gladly I saw no one approaching.  At the finish I found the only riders ahead of me were my teammate, Jeff, and the teal jersey rider.

Even though it wasn't officially a race, it was one of the toughest sustained long efforts I've ever done on a bike.  And I've done lots of long efforts on two wheels in the last 25 years.

R

Perry TT/Circuit

I raced the M35+ time trial and circuit in Perry on Saturday.  I didn't expect much, and not much is pretty much what I found.  But I had a great time just being at a race again and watching some teammates pin it on.  Chad, Trey C., John, Eddie, and Jake had solid races.  And I was thrilled to see my wife, Betty Jean, win the W3/4 time trial.

My TT felt odd more than painful - a bad sign.  Usually I have segments of a TT where I can really feel myself getting on top of the gear and in the groove, but I never settled into that rythem on Saturday.  And the old familiar pain wasn't there.  But I think it'll be back soon enough.

I had no clue what to expect in my circuit race.  I actually felt pretty good for the first couple of laps in the field of 20 or so, at which point I convinced myself that my original goal of just sitting in, gathering a few race miles, and finishing anywhere in the group was not really a satisfactory goal.  So when a group of 4 or 5 riders got off the front in lap 3, I made my brilliant move: I decided to bridge.  Call it mission creep.  The first 20 seconds of my semi-sprint-bridge attempt actually wasn't so bad.  But when John Atkins and the group behind me decided to counter-surge (which was simple considering I never broke their elastic and probably didn't stretch it much) my legs were nowhere to be found.  I was immediately gapped.  I gave it one more hard push to catch the wheel of Davies, who was holding on to the chase group for dear life.  I got there about the time we turned into the wind.  I fought for a few more minutes 'till I lost Chad's wheel and saw it was hopeless -- then I turned off the course to get a steady hour of tempo on back roads.

Chad actually fought back solo to the main chase group and finished 2nd in M45+.  Just goes to show that you can sometimes grind your way back from what appears to be a hopeless situation if you stay on the gas.

I'll give it another try in Union City.
-
-_________________________________________________

21st Century Reassessment

"Reassessment": a new appraisal or evaluation.

I have never had a month like my last one.  I won't belabor the description - suffice to say I had the flu and other muscular complications.  As a result, Sunday will be 30 days since I have mounted my road bike.  That hasn't happened to me since the 20th century.  I raced Tundra on Feb 19th and I have managed a few spin classes here and there, but I'm definately in uncharted territory.

I'm very dissapointed with how my 2011 has begun.  But in a strange sort of way, I'm now provided with a refreshingly blank slate beginning tomorrow in Perry.  I'm looking forward to seeing Betty Jean enjoy her new TT rig; and I'm going to throw my leg over the Cervelo and have a good time.  Then in the afternoon I'll jump into my first mass start race in a long while and try to hang on.  I have nothing to loose, so I'm going to give it all I've got.  It'll make for an interesting spring.
R
-
-_________________________________________________

DNS Southern Cross

I'm very dissapointed to have missed the Southern Cross event in Dahlonega today.  Some kind of bug hit me on Thursday afternoon and it's still pounding away on my.  Sights on Albany now.
-
-_________________________________________________

Tundra TT

That's the best weather I've ever seen for Tundra.  I had a 10:36 start time, so it felt like May by the time I started.  But the late start meant lots of walkers, runners, and recreational cyclists were out on the Silver Comet.  It made for a somewhat dicey ride.  To make matters slightly more sketchy, the Tundra starts are based on sign-up date, not by category or speed, so faster racers have to pass lots of slower racers.  I think they should correct that for future years.

In any case, I had a good ride, finishing in 29:23 (24.2 mph) - about 30 seconds faster than last year.  So I was pleased with my performance.  A podium would have been nice, but I'll settle for 6th place in Masters 35+.

Betty Jean rode her first Tundra as well.  She rode well, finishing in around 33 minutes - top 10 in a field of 70 or so Cat 4 women.  A good start for her TT season.

And lastly, I have to do a shout out to one other Monticello rider, Alan Black.  Alan is an almost olympic-class runner who has started riding a bike.  He has a massive aerobic engine and will likely progress rapidly as he gets more cycling miles in his legs.

Three Jasper County riders from a populatoin of only about 12,000.  Not bad per capita participation.

Robert Jordan Race Reports

Check here to see race 2011 reports from Robert Jordan.