Yesterday I was given a choice by my coach – a) race in the Tuesday Night World Championships, or b) do repeats on Paris Mountain. With the heat index heading upward to 110 degrees, I was kind of hoping for a third option! Thankfully, I listened to the Beautiful Redhead.
“Shouldn’t you go out to Donaldson tonight,” she asked. “It would be probably be good for you to ride in a group like that since you have a road race coming up.” It is true that I have been mentioning that while I have been able to see some progress in my fitness, I am struggling once I get into a race. Training and racing are two different things. The TNWC give you a perfect opportunity to train in race like conditions.
As I waited for the ride to start while leaning on my bike in the shade with two of my teammates, I took a look at the temperature reading on my computer. 106 degrees Fahrenheit. You could feel the heat on the road coming up like tentacles trying to grab at your legs to pull away their strength.
Thankfully, the field started out with a pace to conducive to the conditions. As we progressed I stayed back toward the rear of the field. I figured I would see what would happen for the first couple of laps and give it an effort here or there and then pull out after three completions of the 7 mile circuit.
That first lap was uneventful. On the second lap I slowly began to work my way up toward the front. I knew that the field wouldn’t keep this pace the whole night. Soon, someone was going to make a move. Even though I wasn’t planning on doing all five laps, I did want to participate in the process.
Until that time I concentrated on watching the indications of the wind as we progressed. With that knowledge, I looked to position myself so that other riders were taking the wind. So, on the second lap when I saw a dangerous group of riders begin to test the field as we crossed rail road tracks, I was trapped against the white line. This kept me out of the wind, but also made it a challenge to make a move.
Well, that is why I was out there. I began to work my way toward the yellow line. This was accomplished by looking for small gaps and slowly moving my bike into them. While avoiding any sudden moves, I was “prying” my way through the pack to make my way over to where I could see Eric Christophersen begin to make a move along the left side of the field.
I was there shortly before we reached the “smooth pavement” section of the course. I settled in behind Eric’s wheel and worked across the gap. He was following the wheel of another rider in front of him. As we neared the riders ahead, Eric slowed. It threw me for a moment, but I accelerated around him and caught the tail. At that point there was a good sized pace line going.
From that point on through the third lap I was in the front dozen or so. A couple of times I closed some gaps and by the time we were heading toward 3M hill, I was hitting my red line. This means I was registering over 183 bpm on my heart monitor. If I kept this up I would be hating life in a few minutes. I had to slip back a bit to recover.
The good news is that by the time we reached the top of 3M hill and turning onto the rail road track portion of the course, I was recovered. That is exciting. Success is not so much measured by how long you can ride on the limit. It is more important to be able to recovery quickly from an effort. Of course, ideally you can ride for long periods on the limit and still recover quickly.
At this point, I wasn’t really focusing on my placement. I was mentally starting to wind down for my predetermined finish. Up ahead I saw my teammate, Thomas, begin to accelerate. He had mentioned before that he was only going to do three laps as well. If that was the case, I felt kind of sorry for the two other riders who hooked up with him. It would be a surprise if when they passed the start/finish line that they suddenly lost that power house. Of course, Thomas might not could have helped himself and pushed on to the finish.
I continued along with the group directly surrounding me until we started into the dip. It was then that my mind shifted to the position I was in. I glanced behind expecting to see the field bearing down on me. There was no one.
Hmmm, it crossed my mind to try to close up the gap and catch back on for the remainder. No. I had pushed myself the last couple of training rides – including an all out effort on Paris Mountain the day before. I was going to stick with my plan. So, I pulled off the road and headed home.
I’m glad I did the TNWC. I was feeling more comfortable in the pack. I also was feeling much better with my fitness – surprisingly so. Now, I just have to turn my focus to this weekend. I wonder what advice my wife will have for me then.
