I would describe my legs more as "tight" prior to the race than tired. They got better with my warm-up and continued to improve the first few minutes of the race. I wanted to be aggressive tonight, but that never happened. The pace was not super fast, but it was fast enough to shatter my legs after 30 minutes. My legs didn't burn, but they sure didn't want to work tonight either. I had difficulty even hitting 180 with my heart rate tonight. These may be mid-week training races, but the pace is for-real and you need to be on your game if you want to be up front.
In the last third of the race, the group began to splinter slowly. A break went clear, then guys steadily bridged the gap until there were two groups on the course. Then the second group split again. And again. After a while there were 13 guys up front, two chasing out in no-man's land, and about 10 riders in a third group. I was in the third group. I had nothing to follow even the slightest acceleration. I just tried to limit my losses and finish the best I could, taking fifth in our group sprint, giving me 20th place tonight. It was one of those nights where the man with the hammer chose to swing the hammer at me. And he didn't miss. The track was a little slick tonight. I think it was from the car race they had there on Saturday night. It hadn't rained since then so there was some extra rubber and oil on the track. We had two crashes, both in the left-hand 180.
I found it interesting how aggressive everyone was this week. I was wearing a plain green jersey and got cut off and shoved more times than I can count. Several people came up to me after the race and said they hadn't recognized me in that jersey during the race. It makes me wonder if tonight was just an aggressive night all around, or if everyone races the guy they don't know in a plain jersey harder than they would someone on a team. I hope I don't disrespect a rider just because he doesn't have a name on his jersey. It was a strange observation that I hadn't noticed much before.
Two days after the crit. was the 4th of July. The fourth was a Friday this year, so most people got a long weekend. A local church in Sango hosted a tour ride early that morning. They started at 6am. That meant I had to leave my house at 5am to have enough time to ride there. My goal was 100 miles on this day and the following day. I have never done back-to-back centuries before. A freak cold front blew through overnight and it was actually cold when I left the house. It was 56 degrees, which is unheard of for July 4th in Tennessee. My teeth were chattering the first few miles of the ride.
I didn't register for the ride. They wanted $55 to sign up for a 61-mile ride. That's a bit ridiculous in my opinion. I rolled up as they started and just hopped on the back of the group. I found Paul Carter and we rode together the whole day. He does the local Tuesday night rides and is pretty fast, especially going uphill. It took us about 2 miles to get to the front and then off the front. We were cruising along having a nice conversation and riding away from the group.
Start of the Sango Firecracker Bike Tour
photo courtesy of Sango United Methodist Church
The route was a challenging one, catching a few steep hills early and late in the loop. The course also featured one of my favorite roads in the area, which offers some rough patches that jar your teeth out of your head. I was surprised to see this road in the route as most people avoid this area. That road came at mile 45 at that is where I hoped to light it up.
Paul stopped at the first rest stop and chit-chatted with the volunteers. I was eating Gel Blasts I had brought from home and one younger girl was fascinated by them. She said she had been given one at a soccer game and thought they were the greatest snacks ever. She wanted to throw away my trash for me so I left her a Blast in the bag. She was so excited to eat it. I couldn't help but laugh as we rode off, still well ahead of the next group on the road.
We kept talking and still saw nobody behind us until the second stop. Paul was packing in PB&J sandwiches like he had never eaten before. The chase group of four finally caught us and left the stop a minute ahead of us. We didn't chase them, just got back to our steady pace and conversation about blueberries, buying houses and job talk. We caught the group and stayed with them until the climb just before the rough road. They were slow up the hill, so Paul and I rode ahead.
We had a police escort leading us the entire way. He was blasting some old country music on his loudspeaker for part of the ride. I kept trying to get him to let me draft his car, but he was not understanding why I would want to get so close. The turn for the rough road was not marked and the officer missed it. Paul and I knew the route so we made the turn. The group behind also saw us turn and followed. Now on the rough stuff, I upped the pace and found my legs to be quite crappy again, much like Wednesday. The next three turns on the route were not marked either. I got away from Paul as he was having some cramping issues, but then I waited for him to be sure we stayed on route. The event turnout was small and I'm guessing charging $55 and only marking half of your course will not convince others to come next year.
The group rejoined us at mile 53. They had gotten lost and were coming towards us. We got them turned around and hit the last set of hills together. Again, they were slow up the climbs. I found myself 10 seconds ahead without trying. Then I just decided to go for it. I put my head down and set my pace at 25 mph. Two riders chased until the next climb. I pounded the climb as hard as I could, pushing through the bad legs. I got the evil eye from a lady I passed on the way up. She was finishing up the 30-mile loop and was not liking the final climb. I never saw the chasers again until we got back to the church for the finish. They were three minutes behind me. I rode back to find Paul, who was still fighting cramps. I clocked 3:08 for the ride, counting the stops, with a 19.5 mph average speed. It wasn't fast, but it hurt my legs nonetheless.
The wind shifted on me going home. I ended up finishing the tour route with headwind and then riding home with a headwind. My legs were destroyed by the time I got home. I only had 92 miles in, so I had to go back out. Shannon went with me for a quick 9 mile loop. My left hamstring pain decided to return during the last few miles. It didn't get as bad as last time I aggravated it, but it was there. It seems to come about on the days when I don't feel particularly well, but push hard anyway. I think it is fatigue related.
Shannon and I watched the neighbors do fireworks that night. I really have no desire to buy fireworks. They are way overpriced. I feel like I am just burning money. There are so many people around here that spend hundreds of dollars on lighting up the sky for 15 minutes. We watch their show for free and never lose a finger either.
The hamstring pain was gone the next day, but it was sore, so I decided not to try another century. It just didn't seem like a smart thing to do with Indy Crit. being just a week away. Shannon and I spent the day with my family for a cookout at their campsite on Lake Barkley. We cooked ribs, grilled hotdogs and ate lots of good food.
The following week was a scheduled rest week. I was actually supposed to start my rest on Saturday, so the hamstring pain may have been my body's way of keeping me on track, rather than adding in one more long day. I had a few days completely off the bike to rest. We took our CPR/AED courses and are now awaiting our exam results to be mailed to us. Snail mail is extra snail-paced when you are waiting for something important.
We have several small watermelon in the garden this year
The garden has been keeping us busy. Between weeding, picking and canning/freezing, it takes up a lot of time. We have been picking this much 3-4 times a week!
Shannon has been busy canning pickles
Our freezer is almost entirely garden veggies and berries we have picked in the past month
We have a new local time trial series this year, taking place near Nashville on the road to Bells Bend Park. They have a race each month during the summer. I didn't find out about the series until after the first race. I was unable to race the second one due to saving my legs for a Music City Crits race the following day. I have always been a horrible time trialist. I feed off the adrenaline of the race and the way it develops when you have a group. Sitting by yourself going flat out for 20-60 minutes is not exactly the most interesting thing to me. It's self-inflicted punishment really. But for some reason I got excited about it recently and decided to wake up my legs with the third race of the series. The 12-mile course looked to be the perfect distance to snap my legs out of the rest days and into race mode for Indy.
It was a hot day, but a rain storm came through about an hour before the race, dropping the temp and humidity significantly. This was my first TT event in two years. Actually, I can't remember the last actual road TT I did. It was probably in 2010 down in Memphis. Since then, the only TT things I have done are triathlons. And the last one of those I did was in July of 2012. I usually get embarrassed, coming in close to last most of the time. I have only won two TTs in my lief and both were when I was a Junior. I wanted to do some TT training before I did one of these races, but what better way to work on TT efforts than to do a TT!
I had a good ride on the out-and-back course. It was tougher than I expected. The initial 1.3 miles are uphill. The first climb was easier than I had expected, but the following rollers were steeper than the profile showed. My 30-second man was a good rider so I chased him hard. He was my carrot the whole race. The guy behind me was also fast, so I was running from him as well. I enjoyed running aero bars. There's something about being in them that makes you push hard. Maybe you feel like Fabian Cancellara flying down the road at Worlds. Whatever it is, it works and I go harder with aero bars than without.
I never caught my 30-second man, but I got to within 8 seconds of him at the finish. The rider behind me caught me with 1.5 miles to go, but I passed him back in the last half-mile and put a little gap on him. He still beat me on time though. Nevertheless, I think that is the first time since I was a Junior that I was not caught and passed by the rider beginning behind me. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes and I just missed that time with a 30:50. I was 6th out of 9. I averaged 23.3 mph for 12.0 miles. It was nothing spectacular, but it was a good solid performance for me. I wasn't last. In fact, 28 second faster would put me all the way up to 3rd. It is a pretty solid field in the Open class.
My Dad came out and raced as well. It was his first time racing in several years and one of the few times I have been able to get him on a bike this year. He was last in his category, but one rider was only 8 seconds faster. Now he's training again so he can beat that guy next month. I finally found something to get him motivated!
I also ran into an old high school friend at the TT. His name is David Jones. He was always into racing quads in school, but now he has picked up bike racing to help keep him in shape for hare scrambles. It was cool to see someone else that discovered the sport and has become hooked. David has even been racing some of the local crits in town. It's always cool to have an unexpected reunion with someone you haven't seen for a while.
Next up is Indy Crit, one of my target races of the season. Hopefully the TT has primed my legs for a good performance. The in-laws will be there, so I hope to put on a good show for them.
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