Cycling
First Race Report
Last weekend I traveled to Hamilton with the team for my first cycling road race. Having never been involved in a race, I didn’t set any goals aside from learning. I believe that I started the learning process, but little else…
We arrived with plenty of time to warm up and also watch fellow teammates finish. After the early races were over, we had about a half hour and then we were lined up and set to go. A few warnings from the organizers, and we were on our way.
The pace immediately jumped up to what I figure was about 40kph (I decided not to ride with my computer). Not bad, the pace was fine. I would immediately find that my biggest problem was riding in the pack. I have plenty of group riding experience, but not in race conditions, where people are slamming the brakes for no reason and aggressively trying to take your spot in the group. Although I knew it was a bad strategy, I let myself slip towards the back of group, and once there, figured I would rejoin my teammates on the first hill of the race.
About 5km in, we encountered our first hill, the smallest of the group. As the pack began the climb, I got out of the saddle and was ready to jump ahead to regain my spot. Suddenly, a crash in front of me takes down about 10 riders and, due to yellow line rules (which I should have ignored), I had to clip out of my pedals and walk through the mess.
5km in and I’m off the pack. Very bad situation. I immediately powered up the hill and turned on the speed to try and catch the pack. A few other riders jumped on my wheel to get back, but nobody would work with me to bridge the gap. As I finally started to bridge, the group went up the first real climb of the day, and I was tiring fast. I tried to catch on the climb, but quickly found out that wasn’t going to happen. By the time I had reached the top the gap was wider than ever, and I knew the race was over for me.
So, my first lesson is not to get caught at the back of the group. This is almost always where the crashes occur. It had been said to me many times before, but it was something that I had to experience to understand.
This weekend I have my second race in Calabogie. Hopefully I can build on last week’s ride to at least finish with the pack.
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