This year I decided to branch out a little from triathlon and also try a little bit of single event type racing. I signed up for a bike race and an open water swim, with the idea that I might try some more of either one if I found them particularly entertaining. This morning was my first ever bike race, the 19th Annual Carl Dolan Memorial, a Criterium (or "crit") race that is located in Columbia. A "crit" is a group bike race that does a number of laps around a relatively short loop. Depending on who you talk to, there is an element of danger to riding crits and crashing; riding in a relatively tight pack at high speeds into corners can be a bit dicey, especially with a group of other relatively inexperienced cyclists. I was also forewarned that unlike triathlons where a sizable fraction of the field is not trying to win, but just trying to have a good race and maybe do a best time, the point of a crit is to win and just about the whole field at least in the back of their minds thinks they have a chance of winning. As a new racer, I would race as a "Cat5", which is the lowest category of bike racing. In theory, if you do more races, you can upgrade to higher categories, but everyone starts as Cat5, regardless of their cycling skill level.
Goals
Never having bike raced, I had no idea how I would stack up to the Cat5 field. I thought I was likely to be pretty aerobically strong compared to other "beginner" bike racers, but wasn't even 100% sure I wouldn't get dropped by the field. From everything I've heard, road bike racers (roadies) are pretty serious. My primary goals for this race were to avoid crashing, to find out what it felt like to ride in tight quarters in a big pack (I'd done some group rides, but nothing like this big and fast), and to figure out how strong I was compared to Cat5 bike racers. I also had the side goal of trying to get in a good workout (I'm still training for triathlons too). And of course, like every Cat5, I had it in the back of my mind to win the race!
Bike Setup
Since I bought my new tri-bike a year and a half ago, my old road bike has become mostly my trainer/bad weather bike after swapping aero-bars for normal road bars I certainly don't baby it anymore; it is pretty darn dirty. Good thing it is black. I had a little internal debate about what wheels to race on. On the one hand, I went to the trouble of buying Hed3 race wheels and some nice high end low rolling resistance tires for my triathlons. On the other hand, Hed3s scream "triathlete" (not a well respected term among road cyclists) and aren't even legal in some road races (UCI rules don't allow them, but USAC do). The aerodynamic advantages of nice wheels aren't as big a deal in road races where you spend most of the time in a pack. Also, racing the Hed3s would mean not having a power meter, which just seemed lame given that I own two of the darn things (a PowerTap and a Quarq). I would have switched my Quarq to the road bike, but my road bike uses a different type of bottom bracket than my tri bike(one more reason to get a new bike?!). After some back and forth, I decided on the Hed3s and think they look pretty cool. I gave the bike a nice wash and tune-up yesterday to get it ready for the race. I actually wanted to drop the handlebars a bit, but the spacers were so encrusted with gunk that I couldn't manage it.
Race Morning
One plus side of bike racing vs. triathlons is that there isn't so much overhead. You just show up with your bike, sign in, maybe warm up a bit, race, pack up and go home. Still, I was a little nervous, so I made sure to show up slightly earlier than was required. My race was supposed to start at 8:45, so after some breakfast I left the house around 7:00 and got to the location before 7:30. Check-in was easy and smooth, although I then spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how the stupid race number goes on the jersey. I literally pinned the thing on three times. The first two times I was informed that I had the numbers facing the wrong way (up and then right respectively). While setting up next to my car I had a little chat with a 10 year old (and his mom and dad) who was also doing his first bike race. They did inform me that it wasn't his first ever race, just his first bike race; he had done lots of triathlons!
Warm Up/Scouting the Course
The race was on a 2.1 mile loop in an office park going clockwise. This meant that the counter-clockwise loop was empty (except for very light car traffic) and could be used for warming up. I took the opportunity to do 3 laps to both warm up and scout out what the course looked like. The loop was mostly flat, with a couple minor rolling hills and one gradual but deceptively long hill to the finish line. I did one lap relatively hard to both get myself loose and to have an idea how fast I might be able to do solo. While warming up, I also got to see the junior race going on in the other direction. It was very spread out, which makes sense given the large age ranges and likely skill levels. You could tell there was just one real corner to the course; a hard right turn after a gradual downhill section.
Race Start/Lap 1
After a brief intro from the race organizer, we were sent off as a group. I lined up a few rows back and we were off as a large pack. For those unfamiliar, unlike triathlons, it is both legal and expected to draft in this type of bike race and there is a huge advantage to being in the pack. Being inside the pack can save 30-40% of your energy for the same speed vs. riding alone. Strategically, the way the vast majority of bike races like this are won is to save all your energy by staying in the pack, and then sprinting to the finish over the last couple hundred meters or so. Sometimes a small group of a few strong riders manage to break away and have someone from the group win, but that is much rarer. For the first lap, I stayed in the pack and just enjoyed the experience of being in the "peloton". A pack of 50 riders makes a really cool noise from the inside. We were rolling along pretty fast by a casual ride standard, but the effort seemed pretty easy still.
Lap2-4:Breaking Away?
After we crested the hill and passed the finish line on the first lap, there was a small downhill section. I found myself naturally passing the field on the left as I got a bit of a slingshot from the draft. Against all reasonable race tactics, I decided to take a flyer and see if I could go off the front solo. With the momentum I had, I got a gap pretty easily and found myself flying along right behind the pace car (how cool is it to have a pace car!). One big advantage of the solo break; I wasn't at all concerned about any dangers of the corner. I'm not entirely sure how big a gap I got, I think it was probably a couple of hundred yards. I then held that gap for about two full laps, which was pretty fun and probably really stupid. I wasn't gaining any ground on the field and was solo pushing 24-25 mph average for over 10 minutes. Near the finish of the third lap, I thought the field was catching me, which I was pretty much fine with. However, it turned out to be just one dude. I grabbed his wheel pretty easily and enjoyed a little respite. After about a minute, he does the classic elbow flick and moves over to let me take a pull. I stayed on his wheel and commented that I wasn't planning on pulling. He rightly commented that there was no point to staying away then, so I rethought the idea and agreed to work with him. I thought it was pretty funny that when I came around to pull he asked me not to push the pace too hard. Seemed a bit confused strategically (as if I am one to complain at that point). We managed to make it past the corner (so I got three non-group laps of corners) and then a bit past there he said he didn't think the break would stick. I agreed and sat up; I was looking forward to trying out riding in the pack again anyway and getting back that 30-40% energy savings.
Why did I do it? While it was pretty dumb from a strategic standpoint and surely left me worse off for the rest of the race, I had wanted to see how strong I was compared to the field (was I strong enough to just ride the whole thing solo? answer: no!) and I wanted to see what it was like to be in a break and how big a difference there really was between solo and pack riding. It sure does give some appreciation for those Tour de France guys.
Lap5-8: Sitting In
After my stint in the break, I was looking forward to "sitting in"; staying in the pack and saving some energy. I figured maybe if I rested a bit I could give it another shot at the end. As with the first lap, I found that riding in the pack was no problem. There were a couple of very minor scares as inexperienced folks (myself included) jockeyed for holding a particular wheel, but nothing that felt really dangerous. Even the one corner was starting to feel pretty mundane; there was a wide enough left shoulder that you didn't really have to take the corner that sharply. I still wasn't racing "smart". There were two other times that a single guy broke away by a little bit. Both times, I chased them down. I believe (although I admit I'm not 100% sure) that the first was for a "prime", which is an intermediate lap prize. After I caught him and held his wheel, I just stayed in his draft through the line. I suspect I could have come over the top, but wasn't even sure it was a prime and wasn't that interested in the prime. I just didn't want someone else to win in a break without me. Both chase downs were pretty clearly a waste of energy, oh well.
Lap 9: Final Lap
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best strategy, but I wanted one more try at seeing whether I could hold off the field on a solo break. About halfway in to the lap, I got a little momentum going and made a jump to get off the front. At this point, you could here someone yell a little warning "on the right", which I guess is letting the field know someone has jumped. I managed to gap the field, but seem to have picked up one big dude who managed to go with me. We hit the final corner, which I intentionally took a bit wide and then grabbed the wheel of the dude who had broken with me. I sure wasn't planning on leading out someone else to the victory. At this point we had a bit of a gap, but it wasn't huge. He was starting to blow up and the field was closing, so I made one more go at it and tried to power up the final hill. About 400 meters out, the front of the field caught me and I sat up and took it pretty easy the rest of the way to the finish. It was clear I wasn't going to win and I sure wasn't going to mix it up going for 10th. Turns out that wasn't a bad decision, although I didn't see it, there was a crash of 3 or 4 guys, including one guy who probably broke his collar bone.
Conclusions
I was very happy with this race. I didn't win or place that well, but I had a great time. I learned what it was like to ride at speed in a peloton and found I was comfortable doing it. I learned what it was like to try a break and learned how hard it really is to make that work. I also learned that I definitely have the bike strength to do ok in these types of races. It would be stupid to conclude that I was the strongest in the field and just strategically bad. For all I know the guy who won is both stronger and better strategically. However, it was pretty clear that I was plenty strong to compete if I actually used some more reasonable strategically. I also got a pretty darn good workout in. For the curious, here is a look at the ride data from my garmin: http://app.strava.com/rides/6794852.
The Keys!
After the race I bike over to my car and start to pack up to go. Bike in the car: check. Helmet, gloves, bike shoes in the car: check. Jersey in the car: check. Close trunk: beep, the car locks. Oh oh! I realize my keys were in my bike jersey and I just locked them in my car. For whatever reason, I had my cell phone still in my hand, so that saved my bacon (that and my lovely wife). After a bit of a panic when I didn't get through to my wife at home or on her cell, I wandered around and started asking the organizers about AAA, or the some equivalent car mechanis. Fortunately, after a few minutes I tried calling my wife and she very graciously volunteered to drive home, get my spare keys and rescue me. This actually gave me a few minutes to sit around and chat with the other cyclists and even watch the end of the race after mine. That was pretty cool. In the end, it worked out fine.
Edit: Video
Just noticed that the winner of my race put up some video from the race on youtube. It is pretty neat to see the race from that perspective and to see how this kind of race is won. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOKYaThT4dY You can see me a bunch of times. I'm the guy in the grey shorts. You can see me pretty well about 35 seconds in, then 1:20 in, then at 2:20 I pass on the right going for my break, then at just about 4:00 you can see them catch and pass me.
Edit2: More found photos
Amazing how much stuff there is if you google around a bit. Found some very nice photos of the race. Here is a sequence showing me covering the attack I mentioned:
Too bad that wasn't the last lap! For more images from the race, you can see: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115936314143919029140/albums/5732008639623777969
Goals
Never having bike raced, I had no idea how I would stack up to the Cat5 field. I thought I was likely to be pretty aerobically strong compared to other "beginner" bike racers, but wasn't even 100% sure I wouldn't get dropped by the field. From everything I've heard, road bike racers (roadies) are pretty serious. My primary goals for this race were to avoid crashing, to find out what it felt like to ride in tight quarters in a big pack (I'd done some group rides, but nothing like this big and fast), and to figure out how strong I was compared to Cat5 bike racers. I also had the side goal of trying to get in a good workout (I'm still training for triathlons too). And of course, like every Cat5, I had it in the back of my mind to win the race!
Bike Setup
Since I bought my new tri-bike a year and a half ago, my old road bike has become mostly my trainer/bad weather bike after swapping aero-bars for normal road bars I certainly don't baby it anymore; it is pretty darn dirty. Good thing it is black. I had a little internal debate about what wheels to race on. On the one hand, I went to the trouble of buying Hed3 race wheels and some nice high end low rolling resistance tires for my triathlons. On the other hand, Hed3s scream "triathlete" (not a well respected term among road cyclists) and aren't even legal in some road races (UCI rules don't allow them, but USAC do). The aerodynamic advantages of nice wheels aren't as big a deal in road races where you spend most of the time in a pack. Also, racing the Hed3s would mean not having a power meter, which just seemed lame given that I own two of the darn things (a PowerTap and a Quarq). I would have switched my Quarq to the road bike, but my road bike uses a different type of bottom bracket than my tri bike(one more reason to get a new bike?!). After some back and forth, I decided on the Hed3s and think they look pretty cool. I gave the bike a nice wash and tune-up yesterday to get it ready for the race. I actually wanted to drop the handlebars a bit, but the spacers were so encrusted with gunk that I couldn't manage it.
Race Morning
One plus side of bike racing vs. triathlons is that there isn't so much overhead. You just show up with your bike, sign in, maybe warm up a bit, race, pack up and go home. Still, I was a little nervous, so I made sure to show up slightly earlier than was required. My race was supposed to start at 8:45, so after some breakfast I left the house around 7:00 and got to the location before 7:30. Check-in was easy and smooth, although I then spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how the stupid race number goes on the jersey. I literally pinned the thing on three times. The first two times I was informed that I had the numbers facing the wrong way (up and then right respectively). While setting up next to my car I had a little chat with a 10 year old (and his mom and dad) who was also doing his first bike race. They did inform me that it wasn't his first ever race, just his first bike race; he had done lots of triathlons!
Warm Up/Scouting the Course
The race was on a 2.1 mile loop in an office park going clockwise. This meant that the counter-clockwise loop was empty (except for very light car traffic) and could be used for warming up. I took the opportunity to do 3 laps to both warm up and scout out what the course looked like. The loop was mostly flat, with a couple minor rolling hills and one gradual but deceptively long hill to the finish line. I did one lap relatively hard to both get myself loose and to have an idea how fast I might be able to do solo. While warming up, I also got to see the junior race going on in the other direction. It was very spread out, which makes sense given the large age ranges and likely skill levels. You could tell there was just one real corner to the course; a hard right turn after a gradual downhill section.
Race Start/Lap 1
After a brief intro from the race organizer, we were sent off as a group. I lined up a few rows back and we were off as a large pack. For those unfamiliar, unlike triathlons, it is both legal and expected to draft in this type of bike race and there is a huge advantage to being in the pack. Being inside the pack can save 30-40% of your energy for the same speed vs. riding alone. Strategically, the way the vast majority of bike races like this are won is to save all your energy by staying in the pack, and then sprinting to the finish over the last couple hundred meters or so. Sometimes a small group of a few strong riders manage to break away and have someone from the group win, but that is much rarer. For the first lap, I stayed in the pack and just enjoyed the experience of being in the "peloton". A pack of 50 riders makes a really cool noise from the inside. We were rolling along pretty fast by a casual ride standard, but the effort seemed pretty easy still.
Lap2-4:Breaking Away?
After we crested the hill and passed the finish line on the first lap, there was a small downhill section. I found myself naturally passing the field on the left as I got a bit of a slingshot from the draft. Against all reasonable race tactics, I decided to take a flyer and see if I could go off the front solo. With the momentum I had, I got a gap pretty easily and found myself flying along right behind the pace car (how cool is it to have a pace car!). One big advantage of the solo break; I wasn't at all concerned about any dangers of the corner. I'm not entirely sure how big a gap I got, I think it was probably a couple of hundred yards. I then held that gap for about two full laps, which was pretty fun and probably really stupid. I wasn't gaining any ground on the field and was solo pushing 24-25 mph average for over 10 minutes. Near the finish of the third lap, I thought the field was catching me, which I was pretty much fine with. However, it turned out to be just one dude. I grabbed his wheel pretty easily and enjoyed a little respite. After about a minute, he does the classic elbow flick and moves over to let me take a pull. I stayed on his wheel and commented that I wasn't planning on pulling. He rightly commented that there was no point to staying away then, so I rethought the idea and agreed to work with him. I thought it was pretty funny that when I came around to pull he asked me not to push the pace too hard. Seemed a bit confused strategically (as if I am one to complain at that point). We managed to make it past the corner (so I got three non-group laps of corners) and then a bit past there he said he didn't think the break would stick. I agreed and sat up; I was looking forward to trying out riding in the pack again anyway and getting back that 30-40% energy savings.
Why did I do it? While it was pretty dumb from a strategic standpoint and surely left me worse off for the rest of the race, I had wanted to see how strong I was compared to the field (was I strong enough to just ride the whole thing solo? answer: no!) and I wanted to see what it was like to be in a break and how big a difference there really was between solo and pack riding. It sure does give some appreciation for those Tour de France guys.
Lap5-8: Sitting In
After my stint in the break, I was looking forward to "sitting in"; staying in the pack and saving some energy. I figured maybe if I rested a bit I could give it another shot at the end. As with the first lap, I found that riding in the pack was no problem. There were a couple of very minor scares as inexperienced folks (myself included) jockeyed for holding a particular wheel, but nothing that felt really dangerous. Even the one corner was starting to feel pretty mundane; there was a wide enough left shoulder that you didn't really have to take the corner that sharply. I still wasn't racing "smart". There were two other times that a single guy broke away by a little bit. Both times, I chased them down. I believe (although I admit I'm not 100% sure) that the first was for a "prime", which is an intermediate lap prize. After I caught him and held his wheel, I just stayed in his draft through the line. I suspect I could have come over the top, but wasn't even sure it was a prime and wasn't that interested in the prime. I just didn't want someone else to win in a break without me. Both chase downs were pretty clearly a waste of energy, oh well.
Lap 9: Final Lap
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best strategy, but I wanted one more try at seeing whether I could hold off the field on a solo break. About halfway in to the lap, I got a little momentum going and made a jump to get off the front. At this point, you could here someone yell a little warning "on the right", which I guess is letting the field know someone has jumped. I managed to gap the field, but seem to have picked up one big dude who managed to go with me. We hit the final corner, which I intentionally took a bit wide and then grabbed the wheel of the dude who had broken with me. I sure wasn't planning on leading out someone else to the victory. At this point we had a bit of a gap, but it wasn't huge. He was starting to blow up and the field was closing, so I made one more go at it and tried to power up the final hill. About 400 meters out, the front of the field caught me and I sat up and took it pretty easy the rest of the way to the finish. It was clear I wasn't going to win and I sure wasn't going to mix it up going for 10th. Turns out that wasn't a bad decision, although I didn't see it, there was a crash of 3 or 4 guys, including one guy who probably broke his collar bone.
Conclusions
I was very happy with this race. I didn't win or place that well, but I had a great time. I learned what it was like to ride at speed in a peloton and found I was comfortable doing it. I learned what it was like to try a break and learned how hard it really is to make that work. I also learned that I definitely have the bike strength to do ok in these types of races. It would be stupid to conclude that I was the strongest in the field and just strategically bad. For all I know the guy who won is both stronger and better strategically. However, it was pretty clear that I was plenty strong to compete if I actually used some more reasonable strategically. I also got a pretty darn good workout in. For the curious, here is a look at the ride data from my garmin: http://app.strava.com/rides/6794852.
The Keys!
After the race I bike over to my car and start to pack up to go. Bike in the car: check. Helmet, gloves, bike shoes in the car: check. Jersey in the car: check. Close trunk: beep, the car locks. Oh oh! I realize my keys were in my bike jersey and I just locked them in my car. For whatever reason, I had my cell phone still in my hand, so that saved my bacon (that and my lovely wife). After a bit of a panic when I didn't get through to my wife at home or on her cell, I wandered around and started asking the organizers about AAA, or the some equivalent car mechanis. Fortunately, after a few minutes I tried calling my wife and she very graciously volunteered to drive home, get my spare keys and rescue me. This actually gave me a few minutes to sit around and chat with the other cyclists and even watch the end of the race after mine. That was pretty cool. In the end, it worked out fine.
Edit: Video
Just noticed that the winner of my race put up some video from the race on youtube. It is pretty neat to see the race from that perspective and to see how this kind of race is won. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOKYaThT4dY You can see me a bunch of times. I'm the guy in the grey shorts. You can see me pretty well about 35 seconds in, then 1:20 in, then at 2:20 I pass on the right going for my break, then at just about 4:00 you can see them catch and pass me.
Edit2: More found photos
Amazing how much stuff there is if you google around a bit. Found some very nice photos of the race. Here is a sequence showing me covering the attack I mentioned:
For the record, those HED 3 Trispoke carbon wheels are NOT UCI mass start race legal (a minimum of 16 spokes are required). You are lucky you were allowed to race on them ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a UCI event, it was a USAC event. They have different rules.
Delete