The Snowcone Training race #2

That's me in the black and green argyle! Awesome Job Bryan!

     This was Team Integrity's First race together and I had a blast! It was nearly a 3 hour trip down to Richmond, Va and we took the time to plan our race strategy. This took all of 5 minutes and our individual goals were pretty similar, don't wreck and don't get dropped from the main pack. The rest of the trip I spent getting to know my teammate, which was very cool, he is very interesting and much more mature than my goofy ass. We also discussed how we were feeling and we were on opposite sides of the spectrum before the race; he was suffering from lack of sleep and fatigue from a hard day of training for his job; and I was feeling good and slept like a champ the night before.
     We arrived at our destination just before 11am, perfect! We had plenty of time to check in and warm-up before the race start. We got our bikes together and headed over to the course to check it out and warm up. The course had five turns, with one of those turns being a 180 degree turn before the finishing straight. After some hard efforts and a couple of sprints we took a couple of minutes to take in some gel and cool off. We got to the start, listened to the race instructions, and checked our computers while Bryan prepared his GoPro video camera(video here).
      I was nervous and jittery, as usual, and with the Official saying "riders ready, GO", we were off and hammering in no time. The Boys from Richmond velo sport kept the pace hot for the first couple of laps and we ended up shedding a lot of riders early on, but I was right there with the pack. I had been so focused on staying attached to the pack, that I had lost my teammate and was worried that he was dropped, but low and behold he was right there with me (awesome).
      The first 30 minutes I spent figuring out what lines to take and who to avoid. After I got comfortable with the pace I headed up to the front of the pack to take a turn with the pace setting and to see if I could pull away from the field with a hard steady effort, but it was going to take more than that with this field(note to self, if you going to make a break for then go all in or don't go at all!), I was over taken by the peloton and I settled in to recover before the final laps. The lap after my effort, the officials announced that we had 3 laps to go, and it got a little tenser in the group. The next two laps were quick but uneventful. Just before we got the bell for the final lap, I had got it into my head that I couldn't sprint for the finish, so we passed the finish line and I found Bryan to see how he was doing, because if he said good, I was going to kill myself to lead him out! So I rolled up and asked and his response was unexpected, "I hurt my back", "okay" I said and headed on up the road. The last lap was not as fast as the previous two, but people were getting really squirley, and it was making me nervous. The last thing I wanted to do was get into a wreck in a training race where a win would net me nothing(except boost my ego), but I wasn't going to give up. With all that being said I chose the wrong line going into the 180 turn got blocked out of the sprint and captain "hurt back' finished in front of me, because quite frankly he's a better/smarter racer than me.
     We both accomplished our two main goals and I earned another mass start to add to my resume'. I look forward to the next race with my new teammates and getting some more race experience. Next weekends goals will be very similar, except maybe some more time at the front and I've got to try and make a break even if it kills me! After all it is a training race, right? What better way to try something than in a training scenario.

No Regrets

     Next Saturday the Team is heading to Richmond, VA for an early season training race. I participated in one of these last year and had high ambitions going into it and ended up getting a huge reality check. Apparently riding the trainer twice a week and going to spins class once a week is not enough to race competitively, none the less I came away with more experience than I had going in.
     This Saturday I return to this same training race with some back up. My Team Captain and training partner will be on hand and I'll also have a solid training base going into it this year. That doesn't mean I'll be looking for the win, but I definitely have more realistic goals this year. Two things I'd like to achieve: 1; Finish with the main pack, last year I got dropped early and ended up getting lapped with 4 to go. 2; Try and launch a breakaway, I think this is something I really am going to focus on in the second half of the race. With this race being a little over an hour long, if I have the will and power to do this, I'll know my training is heading in the right direction.
     Some other things I need to focus on are, staying in the peleton, like buried in it, also working as a team. That is the unique thing about cycling, even though your part of a team sometimes your working for the glory of one. If my team mate is feeling better than me, then maybe I could use one last burst of power to launch him away from field or lead him out for the sprint. The only way to work on these skills is to race and practice them in the setting that is perfect for it.

Jens Voigt the Master of Pain!

Matt Bunting the Master of Lame!