Velocity Road Race

Saturday Devin dropped by my house too shortly after 6am to make it feel like much of a Saturday morning for me, but that's the gig of driving NE of Edmonton for a road race. It'd been a few years since I visited Josephburg.

We picked up Craig, some Tim Hortons, and after a few car packing rearrangements had a smooth drive out there.

This was a very well attended road race, I think my sign in sheet count showed 55 in Cat 2. I can't say I felt very good about reading down the list of names, especially since I'd worked past midnight a few days this week, and just managed to shake my cough from the pre and post-Lethbridge race days.

After a super efficient sign in (thanks Velocity, thanks Karelo!), we did a little warmup and it was off to the races.

I decided to play it conservative, considering I've once again followed the worst possible pre-race week preparation routine of under resting and over working. My view of conservative is minimize Watts on accelerations out of corners, no pulls, etc. Why do 750W for a few seconds out of a corner, when a little extra coast and 400W will do the trick? Maybe that sounds lame, but I didn't want to be spit out after two laps, and being an ibanker + racer needs a little different approach, especially since I'm not on EPO and wasn't born with wonder-genes... but I digress.

As we're approaching the end of lap two, I assess that things are going well. I'm riding efficient and feel I haven't burnt much energy. I can handle the accelerations. Almost two laps are done. It seems that doing one more lap "easy", then possibly moving up to ride more mid pack might be wise, then see how things unfold from there.

Alas, just like last weekend, my ability to gaze into a crystal ball and plan for the future is highly inept. Not minutes later, riders and bikes are inverted a few positions before me, with the members of the peloton behind this event pursuing three courses of action - center line straight into the mess, right hand side into the ditch, or left onto the other side of the road. My luck has it that left is the way to go, and it works out just fine. The image I recall is the front wheel of the guy riding in front of me riding over the neck/face/upper torso of the guy in front of him...

The second week in a row, I'm all of a sudden detached from the group. On the positive side, I feel full of energy, it's not as isolating of a course, and I'm pumped to burn a few calories, as it'll be good practice for TransPortugal. So on the gas it is... and within seconds I'm in a group of 2, then 3, then 4. It's full gas for 20 minutes, and some drop from our group while we engulf a few other chasers. The gap closes slowly, and with a 10 second gap left, some are fading... and in desperation not to ride the rest of the race alone, I ignore the fade of the makeshift chase "team" and catch on. One other joins a few seconds later, and the other two only a long while later. Spent a good chunk of energy, and felt strong/good doing it. Home in the peloton at last.

That works out well for another 1/3 of a lap, until apparently it's attack time again into the challenging headwind section, which of course makes the most sense for the attackers. I, and a few other of the more tired and weak, are off again. Nearly the same spot as the crash last lap... funny almost. I know this routine, so it's head down TT time again, and a few guys are in the same boat. We're able to see a few who have abandoned the race as we pass, and a few more who are doing the attrition thing since they don't view chasing for lower spots as the worthwhile thing to do. But this time around it's more tiring, and the legs aren't as fresh. We keep pushing along, with my hopes and energy fading, until...

... I hear Devin's voice saying "get on, let's go". He's in a chasing group with Kyle Marcotte and another, who have been out solo since the crash. I'm so glad to see he wasn't crashed out again this week... and since I'd better get used to riding his wheel before BCBR, there's no choice but to suck it up and start pedalling harder.

The group is fun and rides hard - primarily courtesy of Kyle Marcotte, whom I haven't previously had to observe up close, but his reputation well proceeds him. Very Dallas like - just as strong as a horse... doesn't care if he pulls non-stop, and I'm pretty much on the rivet trying to draft. Mid way through this lap, we see another Speed Theory jersey in the distance - it's Dallas.  Kyle ramps up.  The chase was on, and eventually we caught up.  Riding with those two into a headwind is like riding behind a freight train, impressive.  Dallas however had other plans today and pulled at the end of the 5th lap.  This is a one lap endeavour with Kyle still leading... taking us to about lap 5 and a quarter. At this point, he calmly states "I think I should attack soon", and proceeds to ride us off his wheel. We all looked at each other, and frankly didn't do much. I could have dug in and stayed on a while longer... but probably only a short while. The option of hanging on for an extra few km, then riding in the rest while feeling very empty didn't appeal much, so we did our three man thing - Devin, myself and Ted of Pedalhead. We kept a smart pace to the end, and rode out the last lap and a bit through a little hail, a little rain, and a good dose of wind.

At the end of the day, we rode 3 up across the line, without so much as a millimeter difference in "placing". Apparently we finished as the three last riders - 23, 24 and 25. So out of 55, that's a somewhat high attrition/crash rate. (side note the ABA results show Ted as having a very impressive sprint that blasted 23 seconds ahead of us... OK, Erik you're going to have to relax your mind soon and realize that nobody in cycling or the ABA is going to adhere to, or care about, the accuracy levels of private enterprise, a-type, totally nitpicky investment bankers...).

I was happy to ride in with Devin and Ted. And despite my energy being used to merely "hang on" for last, I'm actually feeling quite good about my fitness this year so far... just haven't had the luck to show it for the positive.

More impressively, Bunnin aka Boonen happened to finish ahead of all the other starters, which is no small feat. Good job Shawn. And Trev, who's perenially #2, again showed remarkable road abilities again in his familiar #2 spot. Very impressive year thus far Mr. Williams.

Craig found his way to 4th in the Cat 3 field, which is awesome for the first upgraded race.

For a long list of odd reasons, we got home at about 9pm. 6am to 9pm and a bike race in between makes for a tiring day... and I haven't been in short supply of tiring days lately. Good times all around!