Carreras Es Bueno

Posted by Dan on 30. March 2009 19:16

Sunday Team Fitness Together headed west for a day of racing in the rolling hills of Charlottesville at our first attempt at Jeff Cup, one of the only road races we see here in Virginia. Tim and I left Norfolk around 8:00 AM for a 3 hour drive. Wick was driving up with Kyle Knott, a Cat 4 rider from Team TriPower. About 30 miles out, the fog set in and brought light rain with it. The rain stopped and the fog lifted by the time we arrived. In fact, the sun was out, drying the roads.

Jefferson Cup is run in rural Virginia about 10 miles south of Charlottesville. All riders set up camp in an elementary school parking lot about 3 miles from the start/finish line. Registration was inside the school and they graciously allowed us use of the facilities. There were three general start times, 9:30, 12:30 and 2:30, with 3 groups starting at each time. Registration was opened about 2 hours prior to your start time to eliminate the possibility of a river of riders pouring into the school's lobby.

As our race wasn't until 2:30, we couldn't register until after the 12:30 group rolled out. We got Tim registered, then sat around eating bagels and jelly while Tim changed, got his bike ready and warmed up. Right around the start time, they form all three groups up in the parking lot. The head ref gets on the microphone and delivers the instructions for this unique start. Three groups were leaving the lot for a controlled start. On their signal, the Cat 5 group rolled out behind a squad car, slowing making their way to the start/finish line. Immediately following them was another squad car and the Women's Cat 4 race and finally another squad car and the junior's group. The caravan would exit the parking lot, head down the road a bit, make a right, ride another mile, make a left and ride the mile and a half or so to the line. The Cat 5s, assuming they were all together, would be allowed a rolling start while the other two groups were stopped. The women would wait about 6 minutes and then roll out. Same with the juniors and so it goes.

Tim put in a fantastic effort. His race was 3 laps of the 10 mile course. The first time around, he was showing peak form, kicking back in the last third of the pack. The second time around, he was in the front third of the pack, still looking strong. At this time, we had to head back up to the parking lot to register, dress and warm-up, so we didn't see the finish. Tim's report was that he bonked on the last lap, having nothing left in the tank. He finished 23rd with a field of 50 riders. You have to keep in mind Tim hasn't been on the bike more than 2 or 3 times since December with one of those times being the Snowball Crit I.

The Men's 1/2/3, Masters 35+ and Cat 4s massed up around 2:20 and stayed there until 2:45. Apparently there was a pretty bad crash at the finish of the Cat 5 race and three riders were being extracted. We finally rolled out with 125 1/2/3s, 122 Masters 35+ and 125 Cat 4s. It was a sea of obnoxiously colored polyester and overpriced helmets. We slowly wound our way down to the line and stopped. Several minutes later we moved up into the on-deck position and were briefed on the rules again. There was no double-line rule in effect, so we had use of the whole road provided we were in the rolling enclosure. That consists of a lead vehicle and a following vehicle with a third one moving back and forth between the two on occasion. If you get dropped and fall out of the enclosure, you were on your own and had to deal with traffic, so 'road rules' applied. Otherwise, you DID own the road.

I believe Wick was on the front when we finally got the green light. The pace shot up to a nice 24+ mph while we started the first minor climb. Overall, the climbing was nothing spectacular. The length and grade were similar to some of our larger bridges here in Hampton Roads, but they did tend to come at you with greater frequency and little time for recovery. There were several nice descents that would deliver 40+ mph with zero effort. It's important to keep in mind that when there are climbs, the lighter guys tend to move to the front and make the summit first. Unfortunately, their tiny 130-140 pound bodies just can't descend like the rest of us so we in the back spend all our time on the brakes. I love the smell of burning cork in the morning.

Having done only crits and TTs in my brief racing career, I've never raced in a field bigger than 50 riders. Sharing the road with 124 other riders that all wanted to move up from the back of the pack, but not so far that they were on the front was challenging. There was a lot of contact yesterday. Experienced riders were able to take it all in stride, making a brush with a neighbor a non-event. For example, I witnessed two riders in front of me both drifting slowly towards each other. Their upper arms touched, they slowed their lateral movement and reversed. Neither looked at the other and more importantly, neither overreacted by pulling hard in the opposite direction. They just slowly bounced off each other and kept going. No problem. On the other hand, we had riders ram into other line-minding riders, overcorrect and start a pinball-type reaction that ALWAYS results in a lot of yelling and cursing, then a meek apology. Aside from "SLOWING", the most commonly heard phrase was "WATCH YOUR LINES". Anyway, there was a healthy dose of experienced, steady riders and sketchy pinballs and everything in between. But there were no crashes, so that's saying something.

There were 125 starters and 74 finishers. I think we started losing people from the very first climb. The main field stayed together for the first 3 laps. I believe 2 riders went off the front on the final lap, but it was tough to tell because the only two riders I saw were about two bike lengths ahead of the front pace car, which led us all to believe they were Masters 35+ riders that were shelled out the back. At any rate, the pace started picking up after the second turn. There was quite a bit of dicing for position in areas we generally recovered in on earlier laps. The best place for moving up was always the climbs and turns. With only one turn left and no real climbs, everyone was getting desperate. At this point, I had consumed nearly one bottle of Gatorade and one PowerGel. I was feeling very strong and started making my way to the top 15. Wick was about 10 wheels ahead of me and Kyle was on my left making his way up the side to the front. It was at this point I thought maybe I should get on the front and give a lead-out to Kyle or Wick - maybe take the pace up to 30+ about 500 meters from the line. I came around the final corner and stood up to take advantage of the gaps and make up some positions. It was at this point my right calf cramped up and refused to participate in any more of this nonsense. Following that example, my other calf and at least one thigh cramped up. I think my neck may have cramped too, but I was in a fair amount of pain and didn't care. I had no choice but to sit down and ease up. I was still capable of staying with the pack, but moving up was out of the question. We passed the 1k to go sign and the pace picked up yet again. I tried standing again and was immediately reminded of why that was a bad idea. I was a hostage to my lower legs. I coasted across the line in 54th place. Kyle was able to weasel his way to the front and got 2nd in the sprint, 4th place overall. Wick got 13th. Congratulations to them both for hanging in there for extremely respectable finishes.

The moral of this story is stay in school and join the chess team. Or make sure you drink a lot. My preliminary research says it was either dehydration or simple overuse of the muscles. We've been doing 50+ mile rides at a breakneck pace for quite a while, so I think the muscles were accustomed to such abuse. That leaves dehydration. I will now embark on a quest to become an expert on fluid replacement. Or resolve to stay away from Charlottesville. I'm not sure which yet.