1st MTB race of 2006
CCCX#3 - TWW FOX XC CUP SERIES - RACE#1
East Garrison, Fort Ord
3/19/06
Expert 30-34
field size ?
place ?/?
Aha, the beginning of a whole new season of bike racing! The first race of the season is always an interesting one. You've been riding\training in crappy weather, you've spent countless hours indoors on a trainer or in the gym. You begin to wonder...why am I spending all of this time training indoors? Will it be worth it when the time comes to actually plant your two wheeled steed back on the dirt. Will you look leaner and meaner than the competition? Or will your winter beer gut just look slightly less gross than the comp. in the tight spandex costumes that we choose to race in?
Of course the winter is not all about riding indoors alone, there are the great group rides, when the weather cooperates. This is also a time when we are all secretly sizing each other up...hmmm, I wonder if I'll be able to beat so and so up the hill this year, I wonder if I'll be able out sprint so and so this year, etc. So even in the winter, we are already sizing up our fitness by our own personal bests and by our cycling buddies around us.
Any who, at this point in the season I've done about 3-4 hard interval bike workouts. I've come out feeling pretty good, thinking hmmmm, I should have a pretty good season this year. Maybe I can even podium at the Sea Otter this year....and then there's the cold, hard, brutal reality of racing.....
The expert 30-34 men, line up in back of the Semi-pros. As we are waiting to be unleashed upon the CCCX course, I'm surprisingly not nervous for this being my first dirt race of the season and mabe even a bit excited to see how my winter fitness will size up next to the other experts. After all, I've check the previous race results and already know who I've beat and how I compare to those faster and slower than me. According to my past results, I should be able to hit the podium in my class.....
The whistle blows, we take off up the paved road and immeditaly fall into a paceline. The winds always blowing something fierce up the road start. I fall in about 8 or 9th in the pace line and end entering the singletrack about 9th. My lungs feel good, but my legs already hurt. I stay with the top 10 for about half a lap and then they just start to pull away. At about 1/3 of the way around the first lap, a group of about 5 guys from the expert 35-44, comes by me like a freight train. Holy crap, they caught me and I had at least a minute headstart....not looking good. I quickly size up the people passsing me and I'm like damn it, I've been a few of these people before, I shouldn't be getting passed!
Ok, head back down, focus on the race, we'll pick these people off later in the race. We'll the next few laps, I spent chasing the lead pack, withouth success. I always knew they were a few minutes ahead of me, because of the way that the course doubles back on itself in spots. I thought, if I just keep going, I'll eventually catch up with at least a couple of the guys that past me.....not gonna happen. Instead, in the 3-4laps I got passed by a few more straglers for the category in back of me. I even got passed by a couple of the singlespeeders! Dooh! Now I know I'm just not race-fit at this point in the season.
By the fourth lap, I was like, OK do I actually have another lap in me? I put my head down, concentrated on my breathing and grinded out the last lap. At this point, I don't know what the frick happend to my drive train, but I couldn't use the middle ring at all and my bottom bracket or rear suspension was making the most gawd awful grinding noise! I guess two years of endurance racing with no maintenance other than lubing the chain is not really fair to any driver train! Time for new chainrings, chain and rear cluster!
Any way, I start feeling a bit more recovered in my final lap and start picking up the tempo. The cramp monster is threatening, but never arrives. I manage to pass one guy back and I'm on a solo mission to the finish line. I come across the finish line and I suspect I probably came in close to last in my field. I estimate there was about 20 of us out there and I came in about 18th!
Summary, I've got about two solid months before I'm really ready to be competitive in the expert ranks again. Last year I came into peak from around Skyline (early May). From now until then I've got to do more hard intervals. So get ready boys and girls, with the daylight hours almost aligned in our favor, you can look forward to doing some more intense rides!
The TWW scene was great! Let's see, we had: Loren, Matt, Rich, Jason, Michel, Allan, MO, Bob, Hane, Gittleson and myself. I also had a few of my Team Ritchey 'cross mate out there, Jesse and John. A big thank you to Matt Cerkel for hooking up the beer sponsorship and thank also to Matt Leonard for the operations involved in getting the beer into our hands! Alan, thanks for the H20 feeds! And thanks to all for cheering, I needed the encouragment, especially in the later laps.
more race pics
Cheers,
Isaias
East Garrison, Fort Ord
3/19/06
Expert 30-34
field size ?
place ?/?
Aha, the beginning of a whole new season of bike racing! The first race of the season is always an interesting one. You've been riding\training in crappy weather, you've spent countless hours indoors on a trainer or in the gym. You begin to wonder...why am I spending all of this time training indoors? Will it be worth it when the time comes to actually plant your two wheeled steed back on the dirt. Will you look leaner and meaner than the competition? Or will your winter beer gut just look slightly less gross than the comp. in the tight spandex costumes that we choose to race in?
Of course the winter is not all about riding indoors alone, there are the great group rides, when the weather cooperates. This is also a time when we are all secretly sizing each other up...hmmm, I wonder if I'll be able to beat so and so up the hill this year, I wonder if I'll be able out sprint so and so this year, etc. So even in the winter, we are already sizing up our fitness by our own personal bests and by our cycling buddies around us.
Any who, at this point in the season I've done about 3-4 hard interval bike workouts. I've come out feeling pretty good, thinking hmmmm, I should have a pretty good season this year. Maybe I can even podium at the Sea Otter this year....and then there's the cold, hard, brutal reality of racing.....
The expert 30-34 men, line up in back of the Semi-pros. As we are waiting to be unleashed upon the CCCX course, I'm surprisingly not nervous for this being my first dirt race of the season and mabe even a bit excited to see how my winter fitness will size up next to the other experts. After all, I've check the previous race results and already know who I've beat and how I compare to those faster and slower than me. According to my past results, I should be able to hit the podium in my class.....
The whistle blows, we take off up the paved road and immeditaly fall into a paceline. The winds always blowing something fierce up the road start. I fall in about 8 or 9th in the pace line and end entering the singletrack about 9th. My lungs feel good, but my legs already hurt. I stay with the top 10 for about half a lap and then they just start to pull away. At about 1/3 of the way around the first lap, a group of about 5 guys from the expert 35-44, comes by me like a freight train. Holy crap, they caught me and I had at least a minute headstart....not looking good. I quickly size up the people passsing me and I'm like damn it, I've been a few of these people before, I shouldn't be getting passed!
Ok, head back down, focus on the race, we'll pick these people off later in the race. We'll the next few laps, I spent chasing the lead pack, withouth success. I always knew they were a few minutes ahead of me, because of the way that the course doubles back on itself in spots. I thought, if I just keep going, I'll eventually catch up with at least a couple of the guys that past me.....not gonna happen. Instead, in the 3-4laps I got passed by a few more straglers for the category in back of me. I even got passed by a couple of the singlespeeders! Dooh! Now I know I'm just not race-fit at this point in the season.
By the fourth lap, I was like, OK do I actually have another lap in me? I put my head down, concentrated on my breathing and grinded out the last lap. At this point, I don't know what the frick happend to my drive train, but I couldn't use the middle ring at all and my bottom bracket or rear suspension was making the most gawd awful grinding noise! I guess two years of endurance racing with no maintenance other than lubing the chain is not really fair to any driver train! Time for new chainrings, chain and rear cluster!
Any way, I start feeling a bit more recovered in my final lap and start picking up the tempo. The cramp monster is threatening, but never arrives. I manage to pass one guy back and I'm on a solo mission to the finish line. I come across the finish line and I suspect I probably came in close to last in my field. I estimate there was about 20 of us out there and I came in about 18th!
Summary, I've got about two solid months before I'm really ready to be competitive in the expert ranks again. Last year I came into peak from around Skyline (early May). From now until then I've got to do more hard intervals. So get ready boys and girls, with the daylight hours almost aligned in our favor, you can look forward to doing some more intense rides!
The TWW scene was great! Let's see, we had: Loren, Matt, Rich, Jason, Michel, Allan, MO, Bob, Hane, Gittleson and myself. I also had a few of my Team Ritchey 'cross mate out there, Jesse and John. A big thank you to Matt Cerkel for hooking up the beer sponsorship and thank also to Matt Leonard for the operations involved in getting the beer into our hands! Alan, thanks for the H20 feeds! And thanks to all for cheering, I needed the encouragment, especially in the later laps.
more race pics
Cheers,
Isaias
Comments
We'll see... Good luck with your MTB season.