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Hey there!  Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you all had a great weekend full of love for yourself no matter if you have a significant other or not 🙂 Chris and I didn’t quite have the most typical Valentine’s weekend, but it was definitely full of some excitement and butterflies! We celebrated with our first stage race together!!!  What a way to spend a relaxing weekend, eh?  

Thursday after work we got packed up and hit the road with a few fellow friends and teammates.  It was great that our friends had a truck and graciously offered to drive because traveling sure gets interesting when you have all your bike crap involved.  Because we hit the road later in the evening, we didn’t arrive to our hotel until 1:30 am!  We were all ready to crash, but we first had to make the trek from the parking garage to the hotel room with our bikes and bags in hand.  You can imagine the strange looks you get when you’re wheeling a bike through a hotel 🙂

I’m still learning all this stuff, but will do my best to explain logistics.  Basically, a stage race is a 3 day race event where each day involves a different type of riding stage, which includes a time trial, road race, and criterium (crit for short).  Here we go!

Friday – Time Trial

• Distance: 14 miles
• Time: 47:02  (avg 17.9 mph)
• Place: 26 out of 29

We all woke up early and groggy, but nervous and excited for the start of the race!  A time trial is usually the first stage in the race which involves a shorter course  and each individual rider tries to complete the course in the shortest amount of time.  No drafting or pacing allowed.  I myself was very intimidated.

One thing to absolutely make sure to do for these races is to give yourself enough time to warm up.  Depending on the length of the race will dictate the length of the warm up.  For me I usually need at least 35-60 minutes for warm up.  Because we had to drive quite awhile for the start of each race along with checking in and getting everything ready, I didn’t leave enough time to warm up!

It was like a car show, but with bikes.  Everyone was out warming up, sporting all their spiffy TT bikes.

Lots of things to get ready.

Don’t fold the numbers Jen!  I also wasn’t able to pick up some spray glue which helps the numbers adhere to the jersey.

Because the guys were going first, they got to warming up while I was freaking out I didn’t have enough time to warm up!  Would be nice to have brought one trainer for each of us, but there probably wouldn’t have been enough room.

At the start of the TT they set you up on a ramp where one person holds your bike and you have to clip in and wait for your start time and hope you don’t fall over. Each rider has a strict time start and mine was 10:04 am sharp.  Once your countdown ends they let you go and you have to pedal down the ramp on your way.  The guy holding my bike had me a little crooked and I about biffed it coming down the ramp, but he caught me and I straightened out.  haha oh dear, I need to practice that more!

Everyone also has those funky looking TT aero helmets too.

Once the TT starts you are on a race with the clock.  You can’t push too hard in the beginning but pace yourself to last the entire stage with enough steady strong power.  I myself didn’t feel that great at the start because I hadn’t warmed up well enough.  It took me till the 7 mile turn around to pick up the pace and settle in.  This TT was fairly flat thank goodness, but most are on an incline.

After the TT we had to wait quite awhile for the results to make sure we were listed and if there was a need to protest any results.  I finished the 14 miles in 47:02.  Not my best that’s for sure, but it was great to meet my teammates at the end cheering me on 🙂  The fastest gal in our category finished in about 36 minutes!

I am a category 4 which is the lowest category for women, but many of those cat 4s were hard core and very experienced.

Yay team!

After each race, the day flew by with enough time to refuel, load up all our crap, unload it again back up to the hotel, take a shower, and nap until dinner time.

Another thing about traveling for races is that it is very hard to pack all your food and find a decent, clean meal that doesn’t make you feel like you just ate a giant rock.  Have to be veeeerry careful about food selections.  I did bring a lot of snacks and sports nutrition products though of course 🙂

Saturday – Road Race

• Distance:  41 miles
• Time: 2:16 (avg 18.8 mph) – I have never averaged this on my bike ever!
• Place: 23 out of 27

The road race was quite the learning experience for me for sure.

Once again we got there without too much time to warm up, but we  were able to ride on a nearby road.  This race was 41 miles consisting of 2.5 loops of a 16.5 mile course with one climb after turn 2.

The RR started out unusually slow and I was just waiting for someone off the front to make a pounce.  Sure enough after turn 2 and on the climb, the pace picked up fast and I was caught off guard.  My lungs weren’t quite ready for that advance and I was dropped.  My teammate was able to hang on at the end of the front pack and I should have communicated with the other girls that got left behind with me to form some kind of echelon to pick back up.  Battling by yourself is no match for the peloton (main group of riders).

After turn 3 the wind shifted into an incredible head wind.  Boy it was brutal!  A few other girls and I formed our own paceline and switched turns pulling off the front, but we couldn’t make it up to the front group.  We just gave our all to make it to the finish!

I can’t believe how fast I averaged even with the wind.  I could have done better, but I’m glad I finished.

Sunday – Crit

• Distance:  7 miles
• Time: 18:13 (avg 22.2 mph) – most men’s crits average around 27 mph!
• Place: 17 out of 26 (a big chunk of us finished with the same time)

I was most nervous for this stage!  A criterium is usually a big circle that goes round and round for a set amount of time based on your category.  The intensity is super high and bikes are extremely close to one another.

Our crit time was set for 20 minutes, but it turned out to be about 18.  It was the longest 18 minutes of my life!

I got a pretty good 45 minutes to warm up, but it turned out all the crits were delayed.  We were set to go at 10am, but was pushed back to 11:15!  ack  We got there and were able to watch a few other crits and ride around a bit, but again I didn’t feel ready for the surge of anaerobic intensity that a crit requires.

I should have moved up closer to the front for the start.  I thought there were still some behind me, but they were the masters category which starts 15 seconds after us.

Some action shots!  (I’m on the right below)  I was so nervous and apprehensive about the whole crit thing, but I really need to get in there and let go of the fear.  I think it will come with time just like driving and dance.  With dance I felt so comfortable because I’ve been practicing that art for years!  I think cycling confidence will come with time, training and experience as well.  It was nice though because even though some of us broke off from the front of the pack, we formed our own mini crit of about 6 women that was pretty fun!

This was the masters men crit, boy that was fun to watch!  On the last lap though a loony guy walked on the course and caused a crash, but no one was badly hurt which was good.

Here is a video of the start of my crit:

Here is a clip of the Masters Crit which was fast! Don’t mind Chris yelling in the background 🙂

Good times with great friends 🙂

Overall it was a great experience and I’m just glad I finished, got my points, and did not crash!  I have so much to learn, confidence to gain, and I’m looking forward to (freaking out about) the next stage race in 2 weeks!

Today it was back to work and back to reality as I am trying to make progress on all the weekend chores I missed!

How was your Valentine’s Day?