Not only would this be my first race in the new BOB-Stonyfield Farm-Shift-Ariza-Goodales colors, but also my first race ever with a long sleeve skinsuit! That's right, I've never had one before, and just a few years ago my girth was such that wearing even my shortsleeve versions in public was forbidden by many local ordinances. We must protect the children... The Automaton captured a few images at this event, but none of me, so you'll have to wait to see my svelte new physique inside this lycra masterpiece.
Those warming up around me appeared all bundled and layered, but I went with just a longsleeve base layer, the skinsuit, knee warmers and lycra booties. Emerging from the car, the Cronoman, on his way to visit the bushes, "swung by" and informed me the 1-2-3 race currently had one lap to go. We were up next, but it was only 12:30 and they can't start early, so I had fifteen minutes to warm up. This was also my first ride of the year on the race bike, so I took a few laps and got used to the light touch brakes and shifters, making sure everything was working OK. I arrived on the starting line just as the official gave us the thirty seconds to go call.
At registration I was 69th on the list, woo-hoo, bonus. There looked to be about that many in the race, but only 50 finishers were listed, so there might have been a few no shows. I can't believe that many could have been dropped. The Ninigret course is layed out on an abandoned military airfield, right on the beach. Think windy, all the time. The direction may change, but the wind is ever present. The serpentine course layout has either seven or nine turns, depending on what you decide to count. Saturday the headwind gale blew right in the face of the pack along the more-twisty "backstretch." Along the front straightaway where the sprint line lies, we had a straight tailwind.
As stated earlier, I came into this with no idea of where my fitness was. My training over the winter and spring included lots of running, with three races thrown in, but sparse bike mileage, none of it really hard. Combined with a minimal warmup, this should have been a recipe for disaster. It wasn't. Even though the 45+ field including several former and current national champions, I was quickly reminded on the first lap that my peers are a bunch of old men. The wind held back the lead riders and sitting in was cake. It actually took me two or three laps to figure out how far ahead of time I had to start coasting in order to time the accordian effect correctly in and out of the many tight turns. From my vantage point near the tail of the group, I could see all kinds of attacks and action up front, but nothing was going anywhere before dying in the wind. The accelerations barely filtered their way all the way to the end of the line before they'd peter out and bunch back up.
The first half of the race my average HR was 148. That is zone 3, an unheard of low in a criterium. Was this that slow, or was I that fit? Team BOB-Shift had a large contingent in this race. Besides the usual suspects of the Cronoman, Duano, Tim-mee!, myself, and JWR4, we had new acquisition sprinter John Grenier, fresh back from the Fireman's Games in Oceania Les Merrill, and returning to the fold after a multi-year hiatus Wayne Santos. Duano just about owns Ninigret, so without question he was our guy. JG and Duano have sprinted it out on many occasions, but besides being an all around great guy, Duano also signed John because as he puts it, "the best leadout man is another sprinter." Duano and John will be able to work off each other, diving through holes and using their speed in the hectic final few hundred meters of the crits. This is good news for me, because now I'm relegated to being more of a setup man, keeping the fields together and using my pursuiting abilities to keep things strung out during the final few kilometers.
Around halfway I worked my way up to test the lungs. Not long after moving toward the front, I got chopped in typical Ninigret fashion and had a fifty meter foray onto the grass along the backstretch. This set me back twenty spots, but my recovery was quick. Once again I went to the front, and JG was slotted in about 5th when the bell rang for a $20 prime. Thinking he might go for it, I did a half lap pull to pace it up onto the sprint stretch, but he didn't contest it. My wind wasn't that great, but again I recovered quickly, very encouraging. I took a breather for a few laps, but since this was a timed race of 60 minutes and we were past half way, I headed back up front, claiming a spot in the rotation. Nothing was getting away, but people were still trying. They brought out lap cards at five to go. Duano was up there, and I did a bit here and there to keep things together. With about three to go the most promising trio of the day formed off the front when Eric Pearce (Bethel), Joe Rano (Gearworks) and I think David Kellogg (Arc-en-Ciel) moved ahead of a slightly larger bunch that had been dangling and playing games. These three probably had ten seconds at best. Tim-mee! put the pressure on at two to go and we reeled in the others, and as I pulled around I heard Duano shout "I'm here." Ok, good, so now it's time to keep it fast. As we crossed the line for the one to go bell, the leaders still had a gap but for me it was not a question of if I could bring them back, it was how long should I wait before doing so?
Onto the backstretch they were right in front of us. What I did not know was that we had split the field and there were now only fifteen in our group, plus the three ahead. That's what I get for not looking behind me. We were not in danger of getting swarmed, but I didn't know that, so I kept it fast and went around the break on the backside, and just kept the train rolling as fast as I could. The idea was to keep it strung out all the way to the frontstretch where the tailwind was, but 800 meters is a long way into the wind at 48 kph. Nobody came around me, and I thought it was weird, so in the last turn I glanced back and it was only then I realized there was no pack back there! Shit, I could have waited a lot longer. Gassed, I swung off and the sprint opened up from behind me. Duano later said it wasn't quite fast enough and he bogged down a bit in the 12 before retreating to the 13, and it was here Curley and Rano got a jump on him, so he got only third. JG went across 7th and I rolled in 11th, just ahead of the shattered remnants of the front bunch.
On the cooldown I saw Murat and his handlebar cam, and said hello. Many of the others stuck around to mix it up with him and the other kids in the 35+ race, but I was very satisfied with my efforts and just spun around the park a bit before heading home. It's hard to tell much from Ninigret, as it's flat as a pool table, but I was pleased to be able to handle myself well in this race with so little training behind me. Running has tuned the cardiovascular system well, and the rest should follow more easily. Sunday KL and I headed back out into the cold with plans of a three hour ride at slow tempo, but the winds and cold had us cutting it short at about 2:15. We then went right out for a 7K run just for punishment, and punish me she did with a 7:15/mile pace until we both started to bonk after about three miles. Not enough food and drink on the ride. For me this concluded three eight hour weeks in a row, not stellar, but an increase over the winter in both duration and intensity. If the warm weather ever gets here, I should be OK. Here is a Polar chart, but I had no speed nor cadence sensors on the race bike. The Cronoman said we averaged a mere 45.3 kph, but with his numerous jumps to contain anything that moved at the front, he averaged 303 watts for the hour. Thanks for reading.
great race, great chart.
ReplyDeletebut, no solo break.
guess the season is still young...