So far my racing season is starting off with a bang! As in .... well, not really any ideas here, I got clobbered at Banana Belt 3. It was my first road race EVER (PIR doesn't count as a true road race as there are no hills) and I got dropped where I expected to get dropped - on a hill.
The Banana Belt Series runs an 11 mile loop around Hagg Lake just west of Portland, OR and has about 550' of climbing per loop. My race (CAT 4/5 35+) was four laps.
The race started out pretty nice; weather wasn't bad (previous week had mid 30's and snow) with high 40's and overcast skies, and the peloton didn't want to work too hard just yet. Pace averaged 21mph for the first two laps. I was doing ok, hanging out near the front of the pack and hanging in on the hills. At the end of the second lap I decided it was time to eat something, so I opened a gel and started chowing down - and lost my concentration a bit as I was thinking about how delicious blackberry GU is. This caused me to drop back towards the back of the pack a bit and then I got stuck behind someone who was in reverse. All in all, I had to start to chase to work back to the front - which was an issue because the pack had picked up the pace to about 23mph and everyone was trying to get on the front for the one "big" hill in the loop. I made it safely back into the back third of the peloton by the base of the hill and then I went into reverse.
At the top I was about three bike lengths off the back and I never regained contact as the omeba accelerated away. I chased for about 8 minutes at max heart rate, picked up two straglers, then gave up as I was the only one working. Our group of three became four as we picked up another dropped rider then we got passed by two riders who had been dropped earlier. Our group of six stayed together half a lap and then the last two dropped the four of us. Our foursome settled into a working pace and motored towards home. I was dropped again on the hill and had to chase for about three miles to catch back up prior to the finish. In the final sprint (uphill - of course) I was happily in fourth position and started to motor past our group. I thought "See ya Suckers" in my head and stood up to sprint. This is when my legs finally told me what they thought of my racing plans and seized up in horrid cramps. I had to sit back down and finish 4 of our little group of 4.
Overall: 34 of 36 riders who finished. Hey, at least I wasn't dead last! And I had a great time racing, as I always do.
Race results here.
Stay tuned for some out of state racing in my next installment. I have a trip back east in the future and plan on showing the East Coasters...... . again, not sure what, but I'll do my best to represent my State, my Team, and myself!
Ride fast and never quit!
Andy
The Banana Belt Series runs an 11 mile loop around Hagg Lake just west of Portland, OR and has about 550' of climbing per loop. My race (CAT 4/5 35+) was four laps.
The race started out pretty nice; weather wasn't bad (previous week had mid 30's and snow) with high 40's and overcast skies, and the peloton didn't want to work too hard just yet. Pace averaged 21mph for the first two laps. I was doing ok, hanging out near the front of the pack and hanging in on the hills. At the end of the second lap I decided it was time to eat something, so I opened a gel and started chowing down - and lost my concentration a bit as I was thinking about how delicious blackberry GU is. This caused me to drop back towards the back of the pack a bit and then I got stuck behind someone who was in reverse. All in all, I had to start to chase to work back to the front - which was an issue because the pack had picked up the pace to about 23mph and everyone was trying to get on the front for the one "big" hill in the loop. I made it safely back into the back third of the peloton by the base of the hill and then I went into reverse.
At the top I was about three bike lengths off the back and I never regained contact as the omeba accelerated away. I chased for about 8 minutes at max heart rate, picked up two straglers, then gave up as I was the only one working. Our group of three became four as we picked up another dropped rider then we got passed by two riders who had been dropped earlier. Our group of six stayed together half a lap and then the last two dropped the four of us. Our foursome settled into a working pace and motored towards home. I was dropped again on the hill and had to chase for about three miles to catch back up prior to the finish. In the final sprint (uphill - of course) I was happily in fourth position and started to motor past our group. I thought "See ya Suckers" in my head and stood up to sprint. This is when my legs finally told me what they thought of my racing plans and seized up in horrid cramps. I had to sit back down and finish 4 of our little group of 4.
Overall: 34 of 36 riders who finished. Hey, at least I wasn't dead last! And I had a great time racing, as I always do.
Race results here.
Stay tuned for some out of state racing in my next installment. I have a trip back east in the future and plan on showing the East Coasters...... . again, not sure what, but I'll do my best to represent my State, my Team, and myself!
Ride fast and never quit!
Andy
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