Race Report – the dog loop Freddy beach.

By TJ on May 19, 2009 |

so. bike racing. kind of the antithesis of a triathlete. however i grew up as a bike racer. running and swimming, not really my thang. but in fact, i started triathlon as 1) a way to cross train, biking was just too much 2) the tri group is much less anal retentive. but having not raced a bike for 2 years, i was nervous about my skills. ironically enough, the same people i rode with 2 years ago, were the same this year. not that it helped. so,… i show up race day, anticipating id be late. luckily, i was early! 1.5 hrs early. so, i registered, and usually i get a one day license. in the past, this hasnt been a problem, as i get stuck with the sr 4s, who are doing one race a year, or beginner roadies. the sr4 pack, usually gets stuck with the master As, the +30 guys who are usually pretty good. alas. not the case anymore. see cycling has taken a bit of a membership tumble in the past years. so to a) encourage racing, and b) to make smaller packs of riders, Velo NB has got 4 categories. A=Hardcore B=Hardcore women and good guys C=amateurs D=no license. I was CAT D. which meant a couple of things. before starting i won my group. i would start in the last pack with 2 14 year olds. i wouldnt be given a time. i could ride as many, or as few laps thay id like. this, too me, would be like tri a tri for bikies. not so bad, but it took the wind out of my sail.
needless to say, the morning consisted of a TT. always hard, irregardless of what Cat im in. 11k rolly course = 34k/h avg pour moi. funny thing was… i had a 5min warmup, which on a rainy 10C day makes the race of truth a bit harder. i looked at my Heart rate as the timer yelled go, and i was already at 175. im pretty sure it didnt get much lower than that.

Race #2 on the day had me starting with my 3 person pack. it was good cause i got to teach these two kids how to ride in a pack, tho, at 14, who really wants to be told, ride together, take turns, dont race until the last lap? i was punished for preventing youth from doing there thang by flatting in the first 5k. in the sag wagon i go. i finished the first 18k lap in 50min. i quickly grabbed my spare wheel (no wheel car for the D group) and hopped on with the B group. Because i was in a different group i was told quite adamantly i was not supposed to affect the outcome of the race, that id have to ride at the back. i guess its hard to race isnt it? so, i jumped in the pack, and my competitive side started kicking in, i started taking pulls on the front of the pack… not nice easy ones either. but the kind that make the line of cyclists string out, your heart rate explode and your legs fill with lactic. but its a good feeling. i wanted to feel like i was working hard. this was trainig after all. so as i pulled to the side for the train to come through i got mixed reactions, “good pull” from the Rad Edge riders, “dont go to the front” from others. oops i guess 35k into a 65k race people thought i may be affecting the race. so from then on, i would take the lead of the peleton only for others to have break. until the last 10k. the course was an uphill, then a downhill, in the shape of a rectangle. so on the quasi downhill section, i went to the front and ramped it up. anyone who was to hang on, would be the final ones to the line. so i went to the front,… and watched my HR max out at 190, and it stayed there. i felt good, really good. surprising by the lack of speed work. after the work, i pulled off to the side, and watched the group go (i couldnt sprint.) so it turned into my recovery, a nice spin down the hill. what i realized is that miss bike racing. its fun. not for everyone,… i felt, at times, like i had a killer instinct, but that it was confined to the stigma attached to the D Cat i was riding in.