Speed Week

Or should I say Speed Day? Right after Tour de Ephrata, I spent Sunday night in Philly and drove all day Monday down to Savannah, GA for a couple of the speed week races. I took at quick detour to my house in Richmond, did a joggy jog, showered, and jumped back in the car to continue the 700 mile drive south. It weird how some days driving can be fun, and other days it’s a complete drag. This was one of those days where I did not mind at all, especially once I got through the Philly/ Wilmington/ Baltimore/ DC traffic. Once you get south of Richmond on Interstate 95, its smooth sailing all the way to Jacksonville, FL. After leaving Philly at 8am, I finally made it to Savannah at 7:45 that night, nearly 12 hours later.

The USA Crits Speed Week series is a week long event, with each crit having around $10,000 of prize money, with races ranging from southern NC, GA, and SC. The 2 races I signed up for were Beaufort, and Walterboro. I had to get back to work on Friday, and I was also racing the rescheduled Jeff Cup race in Charlottesville, VA on May 8^th.

To my luck, both of the races were at twilight and went on until the sun went day. The start time for Beaufort was 7:30pm on Tuesday, which gave me a little bit of time to recover from the drive and get my mind set on racing. The day leading up to the race was chill and relaxing. I didn’t do anything too strenuous, unless you count walking as hard work. I ended up going over to Oatland Island Wildlife center, and lurked on the animals they had. I will never remember the difference between bison and buffalo, but they had 3 of those, a pack of wolves, bird, deer, gators, foxes, panthers (or something resembling them), and a lot of other stuff I don’t remember. Other than the obnoxious horseflies, the place was pretty awesome!

Around 4:30ish that afternoon, I rolled on up to Beaufort to throw down some big watts. The womens’ pro race was right before the mens, so it was nice walking around the course to see how people took the corners. The crit was only 1km in length, and had 4 corners. Not too technical, but I knew with 100 guys in the field, I would need to get a decent start spot or else I would be up the creek without a paddle. Unfortunately, everything I say I am going to do, I end up not doing it…so yeah, I rolled up and basically the whole field was there already. Crap, in the back again!

I knew to keep calm the first 20 minutes because that is usually when the pace is super fast. I rolled around, just following the people in front of me because I could not do anything else. The course was so short, and so fast, that it was nearly impossible to move up once the pace got rolling. About 30 minutes into the race, I found my sitting comfortably in the middle, but by then a breakaway already got out and was coming up on lapping the field. As I rode around in circles, I find that I get really bored. My race had 75 laps, and turning the laps around in 1:20 meant it would take around 90 minutes. As the race went on, it was fun to notice that the light was getting dimmer and dimmer each lap as the sun was setting. The turn one corner on the course smelling like a farm because it was stacked with about a ton of hay. Turn 2 smelled like all the chain smokers found each other and were lighting up. Turn 3 had the pungent smell of burnt rubber, from the brake pads slowing down the wheelsets of 75 riders. And the last corner smelling like sea water, since the wind was blowing from that direction. About 45 minutes into the race, my back was in agonizing pain, which I assumed was from the long drive. I stuck with the race though, and was definitely holding my own. Unfortunately, 30 minutes later I ended up pulling out due to back spasms. I figured everything would be ok, and the next day I could race again. I was exhausted, in pain, and all I could think about was how much ice cream would help the healing process…

Tour de Ephrata Day 2

The last of the 3-stage omnium in Ephrata was the crit. After some lunch at the closest Panera I could find—which was 10 miles down 222 in Lancaster, I proceeded to Wal Mart and Giant Food to lurk around. I didn’t find much, just some Powerade, and a thingamajig. No joke, that’s what it was called. Essentially it’s a candy bar with coco crisps, peanut butter, smothered and covered in a smooth delectable chocolate. Can you tell I enjoyed it?

I arrived to the crit about 2 hours before the start to walk around and figure out how the TT went from earlier that morning. Of the 60+ guys, I ended up with a solid 10^th. My time was 22:45, just outside the money which was Top 8. The winner was, *surprise* Bobby Lea with a 21:13. Not too bad considering I’m just getting into racing again…and racing a TT on a road bike decked out with “Jan Ulrich Alpe d’huez style” aerobars.

Im not sure what it is, but the last hour before a race always seems to fly by. Also, I don’t know if I am just lucky (sarcasm) but I always seem to unintentionally end up on the very back row at the start line. Being in that position is not conducive to racing a crit. The first 20 minutes were super fast and nearly impossible to move up on the 4 turn, .7 mile course. I sat in, went fast and turned left a good 60 corners before the field became tired and I could attack. In 1 lap, I went from nearly last, to top 10, to off the front. This course for some reason was impossible to get away. I’m guessing because the race was only 25 miles, guys were going pushing extra meat the whole time, and there was no rest for the weary. Occasionally I found myself daydreaming, and I would slide to the back of the field until I realized what was going on, and then I would move up again. Oops. My friend from college, Owen Hassig, who was also there racing, mentioned something I never really thought of. I think my concentration, or lack of in a race, is due to the fact that it just gets boring. Yes, cardiovascularly I find myself in a heap of pain, but when it comes down to it… doing 35 laps around 4 streets in an hour is not entertaining.

At the end of the race, I went off the front a good 4 to 5 times, and never made it. In my opinion this race was more for tuning up and getting into racing shape for some Speed Week races. At least I ended the day with an epic feast of Tommy Guns BBQ with my host for the weekend and best friend, TJ Storm. Everything at that place was amazing—from the deep fried macaroni, to the freshly cut fries, to the hawg. Definitely looking forward to that place next time I’m up there!

Getting back into it

Tour de Ephrata

It’s been a while since I’ve been on this thing. I guess the past year was uber busy so I never really had the time to write anything. All summer I worked at NASA, and tried to get decent riding in… When it’s all said and done, working 40 hours a week and trying to ride at the competitive level takes a lot out of you. To get you up to date, I am now working at Endorphin Fitness bike shop in RVA, and riding for myself. I am no longer part of RichmondProCycling, excuse me…RichmondCyclingCorps. Don’t get me wrong, working with the inner-city youth, tutoring, and riding bikes with them was awesome. I just have other aspirations.

Now that it’s May, I am starting to get into the swing of things. Right about this time last year, I was in solid fitness shape from racing collegiate cycling for 3 months. Instead of having a good 25 races under my belt, I have 3 races. Two of which occurred in the past 24 hours~ Tour de Ephrata.

Yesterday was an 81 mile RR, that included a windy, but scenic course, with rollers and kickers, and 1 hard 9% climb. Each lap was 9 miles, so it seemed rather long. Through the first half of the race, I felt solid and was pushing some decent meat. I got out on a breakaway in lap 2 and was away with 6 others guys for a good hour until we got caught. About that time, Bobby Lea (2 time Olympian) attacked hard and I jumped his wheel, with Kyle Wamsley following. We were rolling good, bringing back the 2 man break that was 2 minutes up with road. With 18 miles to go, I started getting horrible cramps in my legs. On the last climb, in the 9% section, I locked up and pulled out of the Lea group and drifted back to the chase group following a minute behind. I had my best friend at the race to feed me, but somehow he got caught up in the excitement and took pictures the whole race instead of give me water! Lol. All good though, the water would have helped, but I think what I really needed was electrolytes. Being out of the race circuit for 7 months almost made me forgot how to race. Live and learn, and I definitely learned that race. Of the 81 miles, I raced a good 73 of them and was in contention for the money. Had I not cramped, I would have been in the lead breakaway, but instead, I decided to pull out and try to save myself for the TT and crit on Sunday (Today!).

The TT was this morning on a rolling course, that was 4 miles flat, 2 miles of steady climbing, and 2 miles of steep climbing. At the finish, I realized why the race promoter called it “Pain Mountain TT”. I rolled the first 4 miles fast, and caught my 30 second, and 1 minute man within 9 minutes. The next 2 miles were not horrible, but the last kilometer killed me. I managed to almost catch my 90second man, but alas he stayed away! In the end, I ended up with around 22:45 for the 8 miles. Im not sure where that placed me, but hopefully I was in the top 8 so I can get a little gas money/ race entry back. I guess I’ll find out later today and put it on my next post, talking about the TDE crit. Insha3allah the rain will hold off for it. Crit + rain + 60 guys = crashes, and I think I would rather save myself for the speedweek crits of Beaufort and Walterboro, SC.

At least I get to look forward to bbq, brownies, and ice cream tonight. There’s always a bright side to racin bikes!