All Bark and No Bite
After pondering a day sicne competing in yesterday's 42 mile circuit race in Coxsackie NY, I seem to have compiled a lengthy mental list of suspense laden moments that could easily blossomed into an interesting story or two here at the Trainer Confessions. Unfortunately though for you readers today, today's post probably lacks much punch as my Trooper Brinkerhoff race memories are all bark and no bite.
The first threatening growls heard on Saturday came from Mother Nature. As I went out for a brief warm-up with teammates Jon, Jason, and Steve, we joked that the finishing sprint would be contested at speeds no greater than 12 mph as a fierce head-wind blasted away at us down the finishing stretch. It seemed so strong before the race that I privately questioned why the race officials spent so much time analyzing rider's number placements -- I speculated that the wind was going to slow us down so noticeably that a sketch artist could capture the image of each rider's number accurately reflected in artwork, rather than a computerized photo. But...while the wind did howl and certainly played a factor during the race, either the wind eased or it just had a louder bark than I should have given it credit for as I hardly even noticed it during the race's sprint finish.
Another seemingly ominous sign was that of the road conditions. Yesterday was the first time that any of us Expo guys had competed in this race, so we don't know what the course conditions had been like in prior years. I'm guessing though that this past winter had taken its toll on the Coxsackie hard top as it was riddled with pot holes, cracks, and loose tar. To the credit of the race promoter, each and every blemish was well marked with florescent red spray paint, but they were so numerous that they could not easily be avoided.
From what I heard afterwards, these obstacles actually did have a bit of a "bite" as they might have been the cause of a few flats, as well as being a big contributor to some squirrley riding. However, for me at least, I seemed to scoot on by them without incident. Or, better yet, as a result of the training I've done over the winter on some local dirt roads, I held my line and seemed to glide right over many of them, letting my elbows and knees absorb the rumbles caused by the rough road beneath me.
Speaking of holding lines, the race official did some barking at the peleton during the race. There had to have been close to 80 riders lining up for the B race, and for the most part the pack held together throughout. That didn't leave much room for passing and advancing up to the front, especially on an open course with a yellow-line rule in affect. Then when you throw in the wind buffeting riders, as well as the last minute swerving to avoid the rough roads, you might have a little compassion for a rider who briefly crossed over the line (especially on a few of the roads most in need of repair where all signs of yellow paint had disappeared years ago).
But yesterday the race officially who came up to hollar at the pack was in my opinion well justified as riders repeatedly crossed the line to shoot on up to the head of the pack. It happened so often that I really hoped and expected that the race official would in fact stop barking warnings and instead start pulling riders, but alas nobody felt the bite.
The race official wasn't the only one barking at riders during the race. I don't know what made yesterday's race so different from others in recent memory, but I can't remember one where I heard so many grumblings exchanged between racers. There were the frequent (and well justified) "Watch the Yellow Line" barks, which seemed to become a little louder and laced with a few extra colorful words as the day grew longer. There were so many "On your left" or "On your right" call-outs that it easily could have made someone dizzy. Then there were the angrier snaps between riders as folks got too close for comfort. But...while I heard later on that there might have been a minor crash or two, overall I'd say that the pack was a noisy bunch of safe dogs.
And then there was me. I too did some metaphorical barking, but in the end left without taking a good juicy bite in the race results. I started the day with no real big expectations as my legs felt like stale bread. The Coach's plan has me packing in some really tough work-outs now that the big April road races are approaching, so I started the race feeling more in need of a rest day as opposed to my 5th race in the last three weekends. But as I settled in and adrenaline brought to life my slumbering legs, I slowly grew more confident as the race progressed. By the third lap in the seven lap race I found myself at the front and made a go at a break attempt. Two other riders joined me, but we proved no match for the stiff head wind and were swallowed up by the peleton within minutes.
I recovered quickly (that seems to be an area where I've really improved over the winter) and while I didn't try to initiate another break on my own, I helped to chase down a few attacks initiated by others (one of which was valiantly sustained by a solo rider for over a lap before we caught him) and I never fell out of the top ten or so riders. That is, until the very end of the race.
Whereas the course follows the same route on the first six laps, the last lap has riders hang a hard left to funnel us down the finishing 200+ meters. Despite the fact that riders were all calling out the upcoming left hand turn, I didn't know quite what to expect in that final corner, so I cautiously eased off to ensure a safe passage through the corner. In hindsight, the extra caution wasn't needed as the turn wasn't too sharp, and the pack passed through it without incident.
That added caution cost me dearly as I fell ten or more spots after coming out of the turn. Somehow I miarcoulously regained the lost ten spots with my lack luster sprint, so while I haven't seen the final results yet posted, I might have cracked the top ten. But the results could have been a lot better had I let loose my inner dog on that final corner, rather than muzzling myself.
Hopefully I won't call off the dogs yet again when I give this well run race another go next week!
Final #s
- 1hr 52: 53 (from my PT, not the official race results)
- 42.68 miles
- 1307 kJ
- Norm Power 229
- Avg Power 193
- Max Power 761
- Avg Speed 22.6
- 10th? (awaiting the official results to be posted) in a bunch sprint with 80ish starters.
