Mike's Bike Blog

The Fayetteville Stage Race was my first time at a stage race and as part of it was my first time in a time trial. I was looking forward to this race that took place in the small town of Fayetteville TX, population 283. Stage 1 was a 46 mile road race. Everything was going as planned, I was riding mid pack. I was really trying to stay up front as the yo yo effect was really in effect. The course is rolling, there is really only one hill to speak of, at least one where you have to shift down to the small ring, but the flow of the race was very much slow and go. There was constant breaking, there was a lot of joking in the peloton about this being a MS 150 training ride as we were only going about 18 mph then around the corners we'd kick it up to 24 then slow down. This constant slow and go was starting to take a bit of a toll on my legs. They were losing their freshness a lot faster than what I was hoping.

A few riders ahead of me I hear a blow out. I start to slow and then it happens. Bikes are up in the air, bodies are sliding across the pavement. Riders over the top of the fallen riders, guys going into the ditch. It was a major pileup, later I heard one guy broke his wrist and totaled his bike. As the skin was still scraping on the road the front of the group hears this and starts to hammer it. I slowly navigate through the carnage and really have to hammer it to catch on. It takes about a mile to make it back to the front group. At this point I'm pretty much spent, we approach the end of lap one and I go to stand to power up the hill and there's nothing there. My quads are aching and stiffen up, I have to sit back down, but I'm starting to get shot out of the back of the pack. My calf was starting to cramp up as well, in my effort to get back on I hadn't been hydrating properly and it left me vulnerable to cramping. As we make the turn and head into the wind the follow car passes me and I'm stuck out on my own. It was just me and the wind on this long stretch, but as I made the turn another rider caught up to me. We rode together along the back stretch, we didn't work together too much, not as much as what we should have. On one of the rollers as we crested I went for my water bottle and he kicked it in a little. I didn't have anything left in the legs to bridge the gap. For the remaining of the race he dangled out in front of me along with a few other riders that we came across, but I just couldn't bridge the gap to catch them.

Time Trial
Later in the day, 5 hours to be exact, was my start time for the time trial. The rider in front of me was one of the crashed out riders for the road race, so there was a dead spot. I was a little disappointed as I would have liked to of possible had the rabbit dangling in front of me to push me a bit. Waiting on the line there were some high dollar time trial rigs. Guys were decked out in skin suits and aero helmets. I was one of the few guys riding their road bike and those that were riding their road rigs had them outfitted with aero bars. The course for the time trial was again rolling but only 6.6 miles long. My goal was to ride between 280 - 300 watts for the effort, I was also hoping for a time between 18-19 minutes. I just didn't have the power in my legs, I averaged only 274 watts and in the end my time was 19:54. I also had the goal of not to get passed by more than 2 riders. As it were I was passed by 2 people, the guy that started directly behind me and one other rider, both on full time trial bikes with aero helmets, the whole works. The second rider that went by me, #511, John Bullock ended up winning the Time Trial, but also won the GC as well.

Photo courtesy of http://emoiselle.smugmug.com/

Stage 3

On Sunday I woke up and my legs felt fine so I made banana, apple sauce, orange Heed with Chai whey pancakes. Then I made the drive back out to Fayetteville for the 3rd and final stage. Stage 3 was 3 laps for a total of 49 miles. At the start line I was somehow positioned at the very front. The first section through town is neutral, we roll out at a slow pace, make a left and once we cross the train tracks the race is on. This morning the lead car missed the left hand turn out of town. Chaos and mayham ensued, luckily it was short lived. We all turned left and stopped short of the train tracks. The lead car showed up on the other side of the tracks and we took off. I again was up at the front and wanted to stay as close to the action as possible. Not only was I at the front of the pack, I took some pulls at the front as well. The only problem was when I would pull off nobody would let me back in. There seemed to be about 4 to 5 riders that would pull but getting a spot back in line was hard as the main pack was right behind us and wouldn't let you in. I had to fight a bit to get back in and you didn't want to be stranded out in the headwind after taking a pull. For the first 1/2 of the race I was up at the front till a hill before the feedzone. I was on the far right, right up against the shoulder when the rider right in front of me stands to ascend the hill, but he is only slowing down. I can't get around him in time and pretty much the entire field goes around us. I lost my placement and now found myself at the back of the pack fighting to stay on. Once again before the finishing of lap 1 the back of the pack started to get strung out. There was probably about 15 of us that was getting dropped, I worked my way up in this group and gave an effort to bridge up along with 5 others. I saw that I wasn't making enough ground on the main group and looked back to see there were 3 others starting to work together. I slowed up for this group of 3 and caught on. We worked well together and had our race group insight, but the junior race was between us and our race leaders. We were neutralized till the juniors got to the top of the hill where the hot spot was for time bonuses. Once we got to the top we formed our echelon again and within a few minutes caught back on. It was a thing of beauty to get back on, thanks to Mac Hooke (Texas A&M), Austin Throop (Texas A&M) and Trey Flores (UH Cougar Cycling/Sugar Cycles) we worked great together. Looking back at it instead of getting integrated into the pack we should have made our way to the front and continued on. As soon as we got on our race was neutralized for a little bit, not sure what for if there was another Junior race ahead of us or what. The break was nice, but a little too short for what I needed. I think if the 4 of us would have stuck together  when the race started again we could have put the hurt on. I'm not sure if I would have been able to hang with them, but I do notice I seem to be able to handle the constant effort like riding in an echelon better than the stop and go of the peloton. Not sure what it is about the area but the road right turn onto 2503 is my own personal Bermuda triangle as I got dropped at this point each time.

The 3rd and final lap was no different. So once again I was alone on 1291 heading into the wind and again I could see the string of riders in front of me. This time I made it a goal to catch at least one of them. Every time I'd seem to make a little progress the wind would whip up and I'd be blown back. I really closed the gap on the big hill. It took almost the entire stretch but I caught the 2 riders in front of me. As I caught on I asked what they were doing a straight paceline or an echelon. They really weren't organized, one guy seemed to be pulling his teammate the entire time. Not even a minute later I took my turn at the front, I didn't get much time to recuperate. I pull off to the side to let the next guy go and the guy in the back tells his teammate to go on that he had nothing left. His teammate tells him he's not going to leave him. Once again it's my turn to pull and I figure at the pace they were going at I was better off going at my own pace if they couldn't keep up, plus I wasn't getting much of a time off. I put my head down and slogged through the wind, I could feel they right on my wheel. We made the left at Lone Oak and got out of the head wind, I pulled off to let them take a turn pulling but there was only 1 guy. He said his teammate dropped out. He than proceeds to kick it up a gear and leave me. Glad I could pull you through the wind. <UPDATE> I later caught up to the rider, but didn't slow down for him to catch on.</UPDATE> On the back half before the feed zone one other rider came blasting by me, we rode at a good pace, but I also knew at this point I wouldn't be able to keep up 22-28 mph the rest of the way in. I backed off a little and let him go. I passed a few riders here and there on my way back to the finish. The worse part of the ride was the 3 miles back to the start/parking area, my feet hurt and my legs were mush.

In the end I finished 36 out of 50, I was 20 minutes back from the overall winner. It was a great time and I look forward to races further in the year when I have the conditioning and stamina to ride an entire race at 24+ mph.

Photo courtesy of http://emoiselle.smugmug.com/