Last Saturday I drove out to the plains east of Denver for the Deer Trail Road Race. The start time for my class was at 8:30AM, so I woke up at 5 and left my house by 5:30. Let's hear it for early start times! Thankfully, the ride down was uneventful and I made it to the parking time with plenty of time to register and get everything ready.
The start was a little quicker than I expected for a 61 mile race, but I quickly settled into my rhythm in the middle of the pack. Maybe it was because it was the last race of the season, but I felt more relaxed during this race than any other of the year. It was nice to look down at my heart rate monitor and see that it wasn't at an anxiety induced high level.
The course was basically a T shape. We started at the center of the T, and doubled back when we reached the end of each leg. When you're anywhere except the front of the pack, the 180 degree turnarounds are killer. While you're slowing down to a near stop to get around the cone in the middle of the road, the front of the pack is riding full speed in the opposite direction. Around the first cone I worked with 4 other people in a rotating paceline and caught back up with the main pack after a hard chase. I tried to work my way up through the peloton but I didn't get very far because the road was pretty packed and I'm not all that great at navigating through a group like that yet.
The second turnaround was a similar situation, but luckily the chase wasn't as difficult. A few miles afterward there was a crash, and it payed to be a little further back in the field because I was able to ride around the downed riders without slowing down too much.
I was able to stay with the lead group all the way until about the 50 mile mark and then coming up the hill through the feed zone I completely blew up. First my calves started to cramp up. After I stretched them out a bit my quads started to cramp up. By the time I crossed the finish line I had lost 10 minutes from the group I had previously been riding with.
I didn't finish all that well, but I felt like this was probably my best race to date. I was very relaxed riding in the group. I didn't get dropped when I had to play catch-up around the cones. I did a much better job of watching the riders in front of me to see when they slowed down or sped up, and anticipated the action of the peloton.
My race season is done now, so I guess I'll sit around and get fat for the winter. Or maybe I'll put that off until after Christine and I ride in Lance's Ride For The Roses.
Ooh, get fat. That would be funny!
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