Mike's Bike Blog

I started the day by making apple cinnamon pancakes, a filling breakfast. I prepared 2 bottles of Heed along with espresso Hammer gel in the gel bots. I loaded up everything and headed out for the race around 9.

Since this was my first road race I've been asked a few times if I would be nervous. I would say I kept my nerves in check, I've been in plenty of big game situations so I was able to stay calm and approach it as any other ride.

I warmed up a bit riding up and down 1101, there were several people on their trainers. Next race I think I need to warm up better as when the race finally kicked off it took me about 6 miles to get into it. The Cat 4/5 field was packed. We rolled out, I was in the middle of the start. My goal was to stay as close to the front as possible. For the first 6 miles I averaged 24 miles per hour. When we turned off 1101 we went into a blistering head wind. This strung the pack apart. Not only did we have the wind we were on chip seal and the larger of the hills were looming. I found myself in the back of pack. I could see the lead pack was breaking up into 2, but there was a big gap and it was growing.

My back pack brothers weren't working together and the hills were taking their toll on them. Since nobody was organized and I was essentially riding solo into the wind I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I passed several people on the hills and cruised up the big hill. I should quantify the "Big Hill" statement, some of the cat 1/2/3 guys were giving some tips on the route to the guy parked next to me and they were calling it a big hill. It was a short hill maybe a 1/4 mile in length and probably a 10% grade at best at it's steepest. I was able to stay seated on it all 3 times up it. Anyway, when I crested the hill I was all by myself, I did contemplate waiting for someone so I would have someone to go into the wind with, but I saw a few people in the distance so I pressed on. As I would catch up to someone I would draft off of them for a bit to catch my breath a bit and then I would go on. I would like to especially thank #140, he and I rode together for a bit each taking turns in the lead. But for whatever reason he slowed so I was alone again. The worst part was the head wind leading up to the airport, I was pushing well over my 100% FTP max and only going 14 mph. Luckily I then caught up to an Aggieland rider to help cut through the wind. We were making progress on closing the gap to the group ahead. Not sure what happened with him as we got back to the beginning to end lap 1 I think he pulled off.

The group was in close range now. I finally caught them a few miles into lap 2, they were working together quite well. I slipped into the echelon. What a difference working together in a group is. The size of the group was 8 people for the most part. We would overtake some riders and they were welcomed to the pack. The largest we ever got was about 12 riders, but someone would cramp up or drop off the back on the hills. The one drawback to the group was we weren't going that fast, at least not fast enough to catch the leaders. However I couldn't do it alone and quite frankly at this point there was probably no real shot at catching them anyway.

Into the final stretch the group was down to 8 people and with the finish line on everyone's mind the pace finally picked up. I made sure I was in position for the final sprint when it materielized. With about 300m to the finish one guy broke away and I was right on his wheel. There was a groan and some exhales of frustration as we caught everyone in the group by surprise and they had no answer. It was just me and him and I was right on his wheel. As we got to the 200m marker I was right on his wheel. At the 100m point I started shifting and made my sprint. As I crossed the finish line I had at least 2 bike lengths on him and the rest of our group was still back there.

There you have my first road race, I'm glad to have it out of the way. Up next is Walburg Classic and then Pure Austin Road Race. I'll be riding straight up Cat 5 in both of these. They are a Saturday & Sunday but only 25 miles each so hopefully I'll be good.