I can honestly say that all of the hard work I have put in has paid off!! Had my first “race†today and it could not have gone better. It was our first club event of the year and has been a tradition of our club and this area for quite some time. It is considered a race and you need to be licensed, although to some it is more of a ride. To the hard core though, make no mistake it is a race. The deal is that it is a mass start, there are no classes, so you are out there with everyone from the club, which consists of a lot of Cat 3, quite a few Cat 2, and a couple accomplished Cat 1 racers. So I don't need to mention that for a Cat 5 like myself this race can be very difficult. About 30-40 started the 55 mile "out and back" event, most of which knew they had no chance of staying with the main group. It was a fairly windy day with lots of very tricky cross winds, so the main group turned into 20 of us within the first few miles, and it was a neutral start for the first 2 of that.
The entire way out we had a cross wind into our left front and then a tail wind every time we turned. I found myself in the gutter fighting for a draft most of the way down, which made it insanely difficult, in fact sometimes I had to chase on the tail wind sections, reaching speeds of over 37 mph to get back on the main group. I managed to make it out, but was really worn down. Coming back we had a head wind and a slight cross/tail wind when we turned. This was better because we were actually organized on the head wind sections, although I found myself doing more work that I would have liked. At about mile 35 I found myself near the cracking point and I think the group had dwindled to about 15, although I spent a lot of time in the front so I am not really sure. At mile 40 or so a gap had formed with 4 of us off of the front, leaving 2 of the real strong Cat 1s back with some other really capable riders. I never had any hope that the break would work leaving the people back that we did and plus there was a strong head wind. I really thought that they were just letting us sit out there and debated going back. With about 8 or so miles left and with us still off of the front I started actually thinking we may make it. At the 3 mile point the main group was so close that someone was actually able to bridge up making the breakaway 5 strong, unfortunately a few moments later one of the 5 got a flat so we were back to 4. In the end we held strong and were able to defy the odds finishing as a 4 man breakaway. I won’t really give anyone the official win, as since this was not an official race the finish was a city limits sign that only one person in the group knew about, by the time he mentioned that it was the finish we were all crossing it. Honestly, no one really cared much, we all felt like winners for finishing the way that we did.
The entire way out we had a cross wind into our left front and then a tail wind every time we turned. I found myself in the gutter fighting for a draft most of the way down, which made it insanely difficult, in fact sometimes I had to chase on the tail wind sections, reaching speeds of over 37 mph to get back on the main group. I managed to make it out, but was really worn down. Coming back we had a head wind and a slight cross/tail wind when we turned. This was better because we were actually organized on the head wind sections, although I found myself doing more work that I would have liked. At about mile 35 I found myself near the cracking point and I think the group had dwindled to about 15, although I spent a lot of time in the front so I am not really sure. At mile 40 or so a gap had formed with 4 of us off of the front, leaving 2 of the real strong Cat 1s back with some other really capable riders. I never had any hope that the break would work leaving the people back that we did and plus there was a strong head wind. I really thought that they were just letting us sit out there and debated going back. With about 8 or so miles left and with us still off of the front I started actually thinking we may make it. At the 3 mile point the main group was so close that someone was actually able to bridge up making the breakaway 5 strong, unfortunately a few moments later one of the 5 got a flat so we were back to 4. In the end we held strong and were able to defy the odds finishing as a 4 man breakaway. I won’t really give anyone the official win, as since this was not an official race the finish was a city limits sign that only one person in the group knew about, by the time he mentioned that it was the finish we were all crossing it. Honestly, no one really cared much, we all felt like winners for finishing the way that we did.
