I am sitting here typing this and looking back at a weekend that went by in a complete blur! This was to be a weekend of racing and officiating for races put on by my team,
Fat Frogs Racing. Both the Langley Speedway Criterium and the Conquer The Canal Time Trial were scheduled to happen this weekend. My wife, Amber, I am sure is in a fog today. She committed herself to two days of getting up earlier than she does for her normal work week and working registration for the two races this weekend. I love my wife! She not only puts up with my crap, but she also is willing to go out and put up with everyone else's to support the events too!
Friday night was all the preparation, cleaning bikes, making minor adjustments, and getting all of the items and gear required to be prepared for the unpredictable weather in Hampton Roads.
Saturday brought the first race of the weekend. The Virginia Beach Farm Bureau Conquer the Canal Time Trial on the Old Route 17 trail in Chesapeake. The Route 17 trail is a nicely paved, straight, and flat, former section of Route 17 that was opened a couple of years ago as a multi-use park. The time trial course was set up as an out and back of approximately 13 total miles. The temperature was nice and there was what felt like a solid head wind to make the ride out "fun". I wasn't feeling all that great, my stomach was doing more than the normal nervous rumbles, and overall I just was not excited about the ride. Seeing as I don't do well with the whole self motivation thing I have been experimenting with different methods to trick myself in to working harder. For this ride the plan was to go strictly on heart rate. I taped over my computer display like I do in criteriums and only had the display on my heart rate monitor to go on. The theory was that my heart rate would give me a better judge of my effort than a speedometer. A power tap that showed watts would have been nice, but at this stage in the sport I can not warrant spending the money for one of those. Anyways, the theory bombed horribly. I rode what I thought was hard on the way out by reading my heart rate and I tried to pace myself so my legs were not screaming until the last 4 miles. I figured that I would hit the turn around and hammer back with a nice tail wind. Well, I made my turn around and something was wrong. I misjudged the wind direction and had to fight a crosswind most of the way back, oops. The results showed that I didn't ride hard enough, my average speed was far less than what it should have been. I do not recall my actual time but it was a little over 33 minutes. The time put me in 16th place, only 2 seconds from placing in a points place! Matt Keane posted a super fast time to when the Cat 5 category. Lesson learned, watch your time and speed on a time trial!!!
Day 2 of the race weekend...The Towne Bank Langley Speedway Criterium and Track Race. This day started with me being a part of a great team of officials for the first few races, then at 11 removing the officials "hat" to start warming up for my first of two races for the day. This would be my first ever track race. This was bound to be interesting... a bunch of people on bikes going real fast with no brakes and no freewheels. After seeing
Chris Dinsmore on the confirmed rider list at
bikereg.com for the Novice Race I was really concerned that I would get spit out off the back in no time at all. It wouldnt matter though, I was mainly going to use this race as a warm up for the Cat 5 race that started shortly after. Things started with us lining up on the back wall to prepare for the neutral 1/2 lap start. I was nervous! We hit the start line and the pace picked up. Matt Tessitor from
Fat Frogs Racing and a female rider took off and set the pace for the first 1/2 to 3/4 of a lap. I am not sure who that female was but she was FAST! The 10 laps made for some fast riding and a LOT of fun! When the bell rang for the last lap the pace picked up even more and one of the Frogs, Matt Keane, took off! We tried to stay on but he was moving too fast.... we came around to the final stretch and I am not entirely sure who or what other teams were in the top five, but there Frogs had some great finished. I finished fourth and I believe another Frog George Scheel finished third. This race was a BLAST! The pace was a lot more consistent than the Cat 5 races I am used to and the shorter time for the race kept the pace much faster and more interesting. I felt good in this race and . Now I can not wait for the
Go Fast Turn Left series to get going!!
After a short break to switch numbers and keep warm it was time to start the real race of the day, the "Crash" 5 race. I was feeling GOOD, I was warmed up, my legs felt strong, and I still had the adrenaline pumping from the track race. I was ready to go! I had forgotten my heart rate monitor and my computer was taped over so I was going blind. Maybe this was a good thing becuase this group turned out to be SCARY! We rolled off of the start and went in to the first turn. This is where the fun started. I was sitting in the middle of the pack, riders on all sides of me in about 10th position. A few riders up was a team rate Ritchie in between two Casey riders. It appeared that one of the two Casey guys decided that Ritchie shouldn't be there and threw his shoulder in to him. This wasn't a little bump he was leaning in to him. I hoped that the whole race would not be like this. It got better, but as with all Crash 5 races the skill levels are all over the board. I may not be the best rider out there, but most of the time I can hold my line and for the most part a consistent pace. This group was EVERYWHERE, there was one team that I think were all converted triatheletes... they rode like they you see people ride on tri-bikes. Weaving all over! Dont get me wrong, they had some strong riders, but they just need some more group riding experience. The Fat Frogs team was truly working like a team. They were keeping up the pace and even allowed a short lived break away by one of the Frogs. Throughout the race I was determined to sit in the pack and not do any stupid stuff like I had in the past races. I was not going to shoot off the front and burn myself out in the early stages of the race.
The race went on and on, fast then slow, fast then slow, weaving around. At one point all I could do was just shake my head, it was pretty ridculous,riders were all over the place. Then finally after what seemed an eternity of laps I saw 4 laps to go. It was time to make some stuff happen. I started to work my up through the pack to about 5th or 6th position. It was even more frustrating because the faster pace of the race was bringing out even more squirrley-ness. I finally got to where I wanted to be and I was feeling "froggy". I wasn't where the other Frogs were, but I didn't see anyone in front of me and no one was trying to break away from the pack. The bell rang, it was time to see what I had left in my legs. I hit the first turn on the inside and the weaving started. I wasn't going to let that screw up my finish, I was still feeling strong. I started yelling that I was on the inside coming through hoping that the squirrels wouldnt run me off the road. As I came out of the turn there was a Tripower rider about 25 yards off the front. I hammered it down and caught his wheel and let him pull me towards the final turn. I looked over shoulder right before the turn and saw some blue jerseys awfully close. Images of a sprint to the finish in this group scared the hell out of me. I wasn't going to let them pass me! I threw down the little bit I had left through the turn and some how managed to break off and cross the finish in first!
The first place finish felt awesome, but somehow something does not feel quite "right" about it. Almost like I did not deserve the win. The other Frogs worked hard throughout the race, I sat in the middle of the pack holding my reserves. During the majority of the race I felt awesome. I wasn't breathing hard and had to fight hard to control the urge to jump up to the front, but I stayed where I was, comfortably riding in the pack and pacing myself. Then in the final laps the Frogs that were pushing so hard, the ones that deserved to be in the front for the finish, weren't there but I was. My win was not because I was strong, it was because I had an incredible team and I happened to be lucky enough to be in the right position going in to the final laps race. Possibly the feeling is me being relatively new and not being used to the way a team works in racing. Either way it's BAR points for the team!
All in all it was a pretty good weekend, a 16th, a 4th, and a 1st. I have a little motivation to get going and train for the upcoming weekend of racing.
Tour De Beach on Saturday and the
Casey Crit on Sunday.
