It is about time. Finally a decent race on what is probably the best crit of the season. Those Velo Bellas really know how to sponsor a race. Last year was miserable racing in pouring rain, and a teammate broke his collarbone in a nasty crash. This year the weather was perfect.
For a change, I actually rode to the race. Normally I baby my racing tires, but I really wanted a good workout, and I figured there was just as much risk of flatting during the race as riding to it. The race was held at the U of M campus, about ten miles from home. After a long wait to register, I pre-rode the course for a half hour. At this point, I had no regrets about riding to the race. Had I not, I would have been poorly warmed up. The course was in rather rough shape, with every manhole cover and bump clearly marked in fluorescent orange paint. This made me a bit nervous that it would cause riders to be a bit squirrelly in avoiding the "obstacles."
I had a good place to start, in the front row. As the race began, the first lap was a reasonable pace as everyone settled in, but then the pace quickly escalated. By the third lap, it was positively painful. Miraculously I hung on after a few guys were shelled, and the pace calmed down. This particular course had a nasty hairpin turn in it. I think four guys went down during this race. Somehow, the pack was able to avoid a mass pile-up. My goals for this race were not to crash, not to cause a crash, and to finish with the pack. I knew on a flat course, I had no hope of placing. I should also mention that this race was 40 minutes. Most Tuesday night crits are a half hour. Anyway, I met my goals- which was all I could ask for.
When I analyzed the heart rate data, I noticed something a bit bizarre: my average heart rate was 179 bpm while my max was only 186. Usually I push it into the 190s for the max. I also was amazed that I held a 179 average over 40 minutes. With the average and max so close, it also shows I really wasn't recovering very well. I'm not sure what this means, so I'll have to do a bit of research.
Anyway, I consider the day a success. Two more races and the season is done.
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4 comments:
hey, it was cool to meet you in person yesterday. glad your race went well. :-) and way to be on top of the blogging. sometime today i might get around to writing a race report.... maybe....
Nice meeting you as well. See you tomorrow at Rosemount?
i'm actually way too poor... there's a certain amount of cash that it's okay to spend on race fees, and with the state crit sunday and the other dakota crit this coming weekend, i'm skipping tonight. i'll be there this weekend though -- you?
I wouldn't want to miss the last two races of the year.
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