Monday, August 20, 2012

Regulating in Millersburg


So my most recent mental training objective has been "emotional regulation."  I'm supposed to leave my fears aside and just race with my legs and brain.  This is hard when you have the emotional capacity of a 2-year-old, but I came to Tour de Millersburg feeling thinking that I was pretty well regulated.  The problem turned out to be that my sprint could use a little less Gramm-Leach-Bliley and a little more Warren G.

The time trial was a 10-mile flat course.  I passed 5 people and took 2nd place, with teammate Jenny taking 5th.  Although the GC was based on points rather than time, the leader's 34-second cushion suggested that it would take some serious teamwork to race with the strong riders of ABRT.  The team rolled back to the hotel to discuss the plan.

With our GC standings to protect, Kace Dogg and Jenny I. had to regulate on the technical crit course.  Jenny attacked with me on her wheel, while Jenn and Emily worked to control the pace in the pack.  We got away with two other riders, including the GC leader.  The leader attacked on the final lap, taking the win, and Jenny and I took 2nd and 3rd. 

The 54-mile road race was mostly flat with a few tight corners.  The slow first lap kept the pack messy, and I was on a mission trying to find Ms. Jenny I.  I fought my way to her wheel just in time for us to get away in a break of 6.  As we rolled into town for the last time, the GC leader attacked, with 2 of us along with her.  After the finish I was relegated to 2nd place for irregular sprinting.  Luckily, our team has some talented riders to help me work on this, including Emily, who arrived with the main field and took the sprint!

In spite of my screw-up, the race was great for the team.  I was 2nd in the GC and Jenny 4th, and the team taught me a lot about working together and racing aggressively.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Catskills: Satisfying, Embarrassing, Wet

Satisfying:
Tour of the Catskills was the best racing experience I've ever had, and it's not like I exactly won or anything.  I did, however, help with some successful teamwork and learn a lot.  The first stage was my kind of course: a 12-mile time trial that was mostly flat with a little kicker hill at the end.  Kristen had the best result for the team, taking 3rd, with me coming in 2 seconds behind in 4th.  I was pleased with our team's standing, and Kristen and I went into stage 2 being protected by our teammes.

Embarrassing:
Stage 2 was a 65-mile road race with the famous "devil's kitchen" climb.  I had heard stories about this climb making Appalachian Gap look like a cakewalk by comparison.  We pre-drove it the night before, and I thought if my car could make it up the mountain, I certainly could on a bike (anyone who has seen my car knows this is a reasonable statement).  I spent the majority of the stage at the back, while Kerrin and Kate brought back attacks at the front.  It was cool to have that kind of support, so I hoped to do well on the climb and uphold my part of the deal.  I started up the climb at the front, until I heard that familiar heavy-breathing-zombie-chase noise when the pack creeps up on you in slow motion.  It was so steep that my front wheel kept coming up off the ground.  Every man woman and child on that mountain was suffering.  And for the record, I know that there are plenty of people in the world who encounter gut-wrenching suffering without traveling to a resort town to suffer in a semi-controlled context while being followed by support vehicles.  That makes me feel both privileged and embarrassed.  Additionally embarrassing was the realization that I was getting dropped.  If I had known this would happen, I would have worked to protect my teammates instead of vice-versa.  Kristen took an awesome second place, moving up to second in the GC, and I...um...completed the stage without dying. 

Wet:
Stage 3 was a 60-mile race with 2 major climbs.  After blowing my load on Devil's Kitchen the day before, I was now working for the team at the front.  That's a scary place for me, and it was good to force myself to be there.  I brought back attacks and learned a lot.  When the first QOM was close, Kate went off the front alone.  It was now our job to keep the pack as slow as possible and not catch Kate. She got the first QOM, and as long as she was out of sight, the team kept things slow.  It started to pour while we slowly climbed Airport Road.  Several miles of descending followed, and there was a crash in the slippery conditions.  Luckily everyone was ok, and we rolled in to find out that Kate had won the stage, snagging the polka dot jersey along the way.  When I asked her what was going through her head for the 40 solo miles, she said that she was confident knowing that she had teammates in the pack who were controlling the pace.  Wow.  That may have been my greatest contribution of the race, but I don't know if I really did that much.  Final GC: Kristen 3, Kate 5, Kerrin 8, Me 9. 

Kristen at the stage 2 podium