On Saturday I had my first race - a 30 minute Cat 5 criterium at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Never having raced before, I wanted to see how fast I they go and more importantly whether I could keep up. My fitness has increased dramatically since I started riding last year but you never really know how fast you are unless you test yourself in a race.
(that’s me in the orange jersey)
The race started out incredibly fast and I was immediately on the back “in a spot of bother” as Phil Ligget would say. I struggled desperately to hang on and improve my position and within 5 laps or so the peloton settled down a bit and I found myself in the middle instead of the back. It’s VERY easy to lose your position. Every time the peloton slows a little, riders behind swarm past you and you fall back. Every time you touch your brakes in a turn you lose 5 positions. If you get out from behind your draft and slow down, you start going backwards.
The next thing I know they are counting down the last 5 laps. The pace got turned back up and I was soon diving into and sprinting out of every corner to maintain my position in the middle. Finally I got the bell (starting the final lap) and I focused more on just hanging tough than when to “make my move”. I finished #28 out of 38 riders which I am very proud of.
Mark pointed out that there were only small differences between myself (who finished 28th) and the person who actually won the race. The winner paid attention to his position a lot more, made sure he stayed in the first 10 places. He probably made sure he didn’t use too much energy and stayed on someone’s wheel. Most importantly, the winner believed he could win and went for it at the right time. Something to think about.
I had (by far!) the largest fan section of any other rider - no one else had hordes of screaming fans waving cow bells - thanks to everyone who showed up to cheer me on. It made a huge difference.
Later in the day, I started the Mens 35+ race with Mark. I started on the back of the peloton (mistake #1) and when it started out ridiculously fast like the Cat 5 race did, I did not move up (mistake #2), telling myself that I would just hang tough in the back until the pace settled down. Mark flashed by me, up 5 or 10 positions immediately, saying “We gotta move up!”. I stayed on the back row and within 5 laps there was a gap between me and the group. I was sprinting to regain contact with the peloton and then was too scared to keep sprinting to move up. The gap between myself and the peloton grew until I was off and not able to regain contact. Once you have to cut the wind yourself, it’s VERY hard to get back in the group. I took two more laps hoping they would slow a little and I could catch up but the gap just widened with them working cooperatively and my struggling in the wind. I ducked out once it became clear that I was permanently popped.
I was nervous about racing the second race - I didn’t want to fail after having done so well in the morning. But I choose to look at it as an opportunity to get experience and that’s what I got. Even if I got dropped. Next time, I won’t be dropped so easily.
Get out to a bike race. They are a lot of fun.
