Yesterday’s practice race went well. It was the perfect way to start the season. You have never seen a more low key road race. There were maybe 40 of us and we started as one group with the option of one or two laps on a 22 mile course. When we finished we were to sign ourselves in in the order we finished. No numbers, just an opportunity to train with other people on a challenging course. Each lap had 5.5 miles of “gravel” going both up and down. The climbs were very typical for east coast climbing… gradual mixed in with super steep sections that for the most part were fairly short, but in some cases were long. The day was warm (topped out at 86 in the hills yesterday) and sunny and the wind was steady at 10 mph gusting up to 20. We started at around 10:30 when it was just in the 70’s (thank goodness).
The course started through a covered bridge then climbed a little for a 0.5 mile neutral zone before continuing to climb into the wind. Almost immediately a small group of 4 went off the front and no one else in the field was particularly interested in chasing. I sat in the pack with the other 5 women who were there. When we started climbing in earnest I did well with using wheels in front of me to move up through the pack, only working to bridge when the wheel I was on faltered. Eventually I was in the second group on the road - 8 of us with one of the other women there. That group of 8 split up and came together again in a number of permutations through the first gravel climb (steep steep steep) and the steep loose descent with a tight S curve that ended in 180 back onto a paved road over broken up pavement. Initially I did not even notice we had transitioned onto the gravel because it was packed dirt. I certainly did notice it on the few wet spots where all the power and energy got sucked out of the bike and into the mud. It felt brutal on the 8% grade.
The down hill got loose. We were warned of this section before the start and I went through it very conservatively being dropped by my group. I was caught by two others and we bridged up to four ahead of us. We strung out on the second big dirt climb, and when that transitioned into a downhill again I just couldn't hang on. When I came through the loop/finish section, the only person I was around was stopping and there was no one visible behind me. I was not keen on 22 miles alone in the wind since most of those behind me were not planning on a second loop, so I called it a day with one lap. I was the second woman to finish and I think I was top 10 overall for the 1-lap folks
The morning ended with a nice BBQ in the promoters back yard. Then it was drive home, grab the camera equipment and off to find birds to shoot. I am trying to get the hang of my new lens. I had fun up at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and then at my parent's house. In all I spent at least 9 hours outside. Wow!
Tour of the Battenkill racer handbook is out and they finally listed the start times for the different fields (page 9). There are 26 fields!!!! I also got word that there was a cancellation at the race headquarters hotel and I had put myself on the waiting list, so I get to stay in town! That makes me very happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment