Vince ::

Strava Ride: http://app.strava.com/rides/4495586

Not only the first race of the season but my first competitive race of any kind since high school. 

The goals of the race were to get a feel for racing, where my fitness is at this point and to not crash. Almost didn't accomplish that last one.

Pre Race Info

Had a PB and honey on whole grain 2 hrs before start. A bowl of oatmeal with some brown sugar and a doppio espresso 90 minutes to start. A few bites of coffee cake 30 minutes before start for a little sugar kick. Food intake was just about right for this short of a race.

Temp at start time was about 42-45 and stayed there through the race. I wore bibs, long sleeve base layer, jersey and fingerless gloves. This turned out to be a perfect combo for the conditions and race.

25 minutes to start a took a warmup up and down a little rolling hill in a low gear. 

The Plan

I pre-drove the course the day before because I couldn't find any details on it online as far as elevation goes. The plan was to sit in the front 10-15 riders until mile 20 and then take an inventory of my legs and make a move before the finish climb.

What Actually Happened

The race started really slow which was a surprise to me considering it was a short Cat5 race. I was expecting it to be much quicker. This created my main problem. The road was only closed on the right side so we had a narrow strip to work with and moving up was pretty tricky. I decided to sit in around 20th position. 

There were some little flicks here and there and some yoyo'ing of the field up and down the rollers but nothing that wasn't easy to grab onto. The slow pace really kept it crowded.

Time to Make a Move

A few guys tried to go off the front at around mile 18 and they were reeled in pretty quick. I took the opportunity that came from the recovery moment to get up to the front on the gutter side. This worked out well because the field was a little strung out from the last kick and I had room to work. I got up into 4th position and sat for maybe 30 seconds to see if anyone was going to make a move and to feel out where I was and if I had something to give. I knew I wanted to make a move before the finishing hill that was about a 1/4 mile long because that would be the point where everyone would switch on.

Just as I settled in another move came up out of the back left and I had no room on the right to move up and hold position and I found myself now sitting around 20th again on the gutter side. No more moves came and it was going to all come down to the finish climb and here I was buried 15-20 deep.

The climb came and I held and picked up a few. I was on a guy's wheel with about 200 meters to go and he made a sudden move right and I found myself catching my spokes on the QR of the dude who was all but stopped in the middle that he was trying to avoid (keep your head up Vince). I kept it upright and continued on...that cost me a couple places but I'm happy to not have gone down...thankfully we were going uphill. I finished right with the lead group of 20 guys. Now my wheel needs a couple new spokes and a truing. 

All in all it was a clean race with everyone well behaved and safe. I did lock up my rear wheel a few times in the yoyo and I know I wasn't the only one as I smelled burnt rubber a lot.

Take Aways

My fitness is in a good place, I had a lot to give and left a lot out on the road. As we move into the spring I'll definitely be working on speed, strength and climbing. I was worried I might be under-gunned as far as my bike was concerned but the Felt F75 fit right in and was everything I needed and more. 

In the future (especially Cat5) I need to make it a point to muscle my way up into the top 5 much earlier and possibly do some time in the wind to earn it.