My First Road Race Ever...

(well...almost ever)

I was planning this year on trying out road racing, since Scott had been telling me that he thought I’d be really good at it. Cody had earlier tried to convince me that Copperopolis would be the best place for me to try it out, but I was skeptical after hearing about how bumpy and hard it was. I was on the fence about it the whole week leading up to the race, but figured it would be the best training for Sea Otter since I hadn’t had much opportunity to ride.

I finally committed to doing it when I registered at the race that morning during Scott’s race. I just told myself that I’d either drop off the back or drop out if I really didn’t like it.

Since I hadn’t set any expectations, I wasn’t nervous at the start at all…at least not as nervous as I get at the start of a mtb race. Some of the 25-30 girls looked intimidating, but others were talking about their “one ride a week if I’m lucky” training policy.

I started the race out at the back of the pack after a last minute front wheel swap with Scott. The pace was slow enough that I felt totally fine, but I still wanted to move up, since I knew the hill started right away and I didn’t want to get trapped in the back. So, I tried to move up with other girls as they were coming around me.

Then the climb started. I was about mid-pack, but still wanted to move up. A girl in pink and red came around me, so I moved over onto her wheel, and we slowly moved up a little bit. I was actually suffering quite a bit, so didn’t pay too much attention to where we were in the pack. One girl was already a bit off the front, but the rest of the girls were sticking together like glue. I glanced down at my HR monitor ( I had strategically turned off the beeps for this race) to see that I was nicely above threshold , and when I looked back, I was a bit devastated to see that it looked like the entire field was still right there. “I’m supposed to be a good climber, but I’m frickin’ gassed and the entire group is still right with us?!?!? I am NOT cut out for this” I thought.

Then the climb began to pitch up a little bit. The one girl was still off the front, pushing the pace. I was already bottomed out in my middle ring, and desperately wanted to shift down into my granny gear, but I figured that everyone else would notice and take me for a total joke, so I stuck it out.

I peaked over my shoulder at the next turn and saw that… no one else was behind me. Whoa, when did that happen?!?! A bit of relief sank in, but as we reached the top as a group of five, one, one woman immediately started cheerleading and organizing us into a paceline. Ouch, active recovery!

The one girl was still off the front, but visible, and within minutes, we swallowed her up and now had a group of six. But, when we hit a short little uphill kicker, she powered up it and dropped the rest of us. Let her go, she’ll tire herself out, we agreed. Meanwhile, I was in the rear, and the girl in front of me was quickly dropping off the back. “Come on, let’s stay up with them” I pulled around her, and dragged her back up to the group.

“Are we all on?...Okay” , so we set off in our 5 girl paceline again. As we came up to a bend in the road, the girl off the front took a sharp left turn, and began descending down an obviously wrong direction. Where did she get that idea? Oh well….

So, the five of us rounded the bend and whooshed down the hill. We quickly dropped the same tired girl for a third time. This time, we didn’t wait for her to catch back on.

As we continued on in our paceline of four on the flat road, there was a bit of a crosswind. One of the girls was giving instructions to echelon left…or right….or, “what? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” One of the women was nice/irritated enough to give me some one on-one instructions-- “Think like a flock of birds.”

A couple of times, whenever I pulled through for my turn at the front, I pulled too fast and quickly dropped the other ladies. “Sorry, I don’t have a computer…I don’t know what I’m doing.. this is my first road race” I felt like such an idiot. I saw them talking to each other here and there, and figured that they were probably discussing a strategy to drop me since I was annoying them so much.

They kept looking over their shoulders the first lap to see where the pack was, but we managed to get to the top of the last hill without another girl in sight.

I was nervous about the descent since all the rumors about how scary and bumpy it is, and since I’ve never descended as a group before, I dropped back a little bit. At the bottom, I was worried that they were going to attack to drop me, as per their strategy that they had likely been discussing, but they didn’t. I guess I was feeling a little overly sensitive. We reformed as a group, and went charging on into the second lap.

As we came through the feed-zone, I announced that I wanted to grab a bottle, so they all slowed down a bit for me…definite evidence that they didn’t want to drop me…just yet, anyway. Scott was near the top of the hill, I was stoked for him to see me in the lead group.

The second time up the hill, the pace dropped of significantly. The other girls were chatting, and I started to get a bit worried that we actually WOULD get caught on the hill. I glanced down at my HR monitor, it was definitely too relaxing of a pace. So, I moved to the front of the group and tried to push the pace a little bit. When we reached the top, I stayed up in the front and took a long pull, hoping that everyone would get focused again. Two of the other girls thanked me for pulling as they finally came around me.

On the backside of the second lap, our pace dropped off significantly, though. I don’t know if it was just lack of attention, fatigue, or strategy, but even without my computer, I felt like we were going slooooowwww. This time, I was the one getting nervous and repeatedly looking over my shoulder because I’d already convinced myself that I was going to be stoked on a top four finish in my first road race.

We were going so slow that a group of the 55+ men caught us and came around us. The second they moved around us, the slowed up (it seemed). Great, now we were going to have to ride their pace the rest of the way. Thankfully, as the Touchstone girl took her position in the lead, she picked it up to move around them. I actually wasn’t sure if she was just trying to attack or not, but I was second wheel and managed to maintain. I looked back, and it looked like we had everybody, but it was hard to tell in the mix. I took a pull, and tried to pull hard into the wind to stay away from the men, but as I dropped back for me rest, the pace slowed, and they passed us again and slowed down immediately.

Luckily, one of the men recognized that we were the lead group, and told the rest of the group that they should let us go by. We came around them for the last time, and they dropped back into the distance. That motivated us to pick up the pace for a bit.

As we neared the final short climb, I started thinking that our break was actually going to stick. Now what? I wasn’t really in this race to win it—should I just lead out the group and take fourth place? But fourth place sucks…one off the podium. I want top three. I figured to do that, I’d have to get to the top of the hill first. These other three had way more experience racing than I do, they’re going to out-strategize me if I don’t.

So, after my next pull, I moved to the back and ate the last of my hammer gel and drank the last of my water. I figured at this point, I could probably maintain threshold or higher until the finish (especially with all that rest during such a slow lap).

But, as soon as I finished eating, the paceline broke up as everyone else started to eat and drink, and I quickly found myself at the front of the group, leading everyone up the last mellow grade into the wind and tiring myself out. Should I just attack now? I picked the pace up a little bit. After we rounded the bend into the wind, I decided that that had been a dumb decision, so I slowed up to let someone else come by, and of course, no one did.

So, as I rounded the corner to begin the climb in the lead, I gradually increased my effort. Probably not the best plan of attack…but I really don’t know what is. I was working hard to get up that hill, but could hear heavy breathing behind me. I looked back at my rear wheel and saw a pair of white shoes. Note to self…pay more attention to shoes. I was getting gassed, but wanted to get to the top first, and I still didn’t know if the other two were right behind Ms. Whiteshoes, so I stepped it up as much as I could. As we neared the top, I glanced back…Ms. Whiteshoes was Ms. Touchstone….only! She told me “great job, keep it up.”

I figured I just gave her a great lead up the hill, and now I would be racing for second, since I couldn’t tell how far back the other two were. As we started to descend, she moved around me, and I told her “Great job girl, you got it now” figuring that she was pretty fresh, and probably a better descender and would crush me the rest of the way.

But, I had learned the descent was nothing to be feared, especially now that there was only one other. A passed her briefly on a short uphill, but she came flying around me again. She managed only to put a couple seconds on my on the descent, and mostly those seconds were just me giving her a little bit of space. So, as the grade flattened out, I realized I needed to be up on her wheel, and I would still have a chance to win.

So, I powered up, and easily got on her wheel. I rode right there for a bit, but I really wasn’t sure what to do from there. When do I attack? Should I just go around her? When should I start sprinting? We hit another kicker up hill, and in my indecisiveness, I found myself riding shoulder to shoulder with her to the bottom of the hill coming up on the 200 m mark. Well, this probably isn’t the best place to be, but it’s too late to drop back, cause she’ll probably out sprint me. So, we hit the bottom of the climb, and I hammered and moved in front of her. Now this is probably a really bad place to be. So, as the grade mellowed, and with the finish line in front of me, I stood up and started to sprint for it. Since I don’t ever sprint, I can’t be sure that my standing sprint is faster than my seated sprint, or that my standing sprint is even actually a sprint at all….but I faked the motions, figuring at any second she would fly around me. But, the line came up faster than she did, and I crossed in FIRST PLACE!

After all the waffling, I’m definitely glad I raced, although all I won was a t-shirt. I’m not totally hooked just yet, but will probably try out another road race or two this season…especially the climbing ones.