Today, I competed in my first standard format road race in Little Rock, AR. I've previously done a couple of crits, which are short, circuit races, but today's race consisted of three laps of a thirteen mile course.
My biggest fear going into the race was crashing. Having crashed in my first crit, I had biased expectations of road racing, but this race wasn't nearly as intense or hectic as crit racing. It was fast, and several riders had no handling skills. But it didn't feel too dangerous.
I started at the back, stayed there the whole time, and finished at the back of the pack. I'm now nearly an expert at riding at the back. The first lap was more intense than the other two. Everyone was excited and full of energy. A terrible accordion effect developed and persisted through much of the race, where everyone would accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake.... It's exhausting to ride this way. To minimise this, I would watch three or four riders ahead to determine whether to pedal or coast, and trying to brake as little as possible. Clearly a lot of people only watched the rider directly in front of them; every few minutes I'd smell burning rubber either from brake pads on carbon rims or tires skidding.
I, also, quickly learned to watch for any gaps forming between the riders in front of me and the rest of the group. The first few times these gaps became large and I had to accelerate hard to catch back up to the pack. After that, I started to recognize the gap sooner and made sure to close it while it was still relatively easy.
Several riders had very poor form - swerving, rocking their bike back and forth excessively, making sudden movements and cutting across the lane. Some of them were dropped in the first lap, others I made sure to steer clear of. In the second half of the race, when the pace had smoothed out some, I let myself relax a little. I noticed what a nice day it was - sunny and a cool 55 degrees. It was a great day for a ride. It was amusing to watch roadies brake for grass clippings in the road or a gravel driveway or oncoming traffic when we were only in the right lane.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned from this race is that my
fuel strategy worked! In my last post I mentioned I've been eating more
fat and fewer carbs to train my body to run on fat. So, this morning's
breakfast consisted of eggs and bacon early in the morning, with a few
handfuls of peanuts before the race. No sugar, no carbs; only water
during the race. There were plenty of carbs in the pizza last night,
however, and in the rice and beans at the Mexican restaurant we stopped
at for a late lunch afterwards. After nearly two hours of hard riding, I felt great - like I could've ridden for another two hours. I'm excited to see if the next couple of races confirm these results.
I finished at the back of the pack, which is all I had hoped for. I had no illusions of placing in this race; I just wanted to keep it rubber side down and not get dropped. Given my success with mountain biking, I don't mind being pack fodder for some roadies.
