kj’s race journal

Going into this race I was extremely nervous because it was my first expert race. As a matter of fact I was praying for the rain two weeks ago so I could have just a little more time to prepare. I had been training pretty hard and after hitting the WRL Tuesday ride the week before and keeping up with those guys I felt pretty good and that atleast maybe I belonged in the expert class.

OH NO! Its Saturday a.m. before the race and I’m starting to think I worked a little too hard because even after an easy recovery type ride on Thursday my legs still feel pretty dead. By Sunday its better and I head out there a couple of hours early to hang out. Fortunately I was talking to JJay and Tom and they told me “It’s okay if you suck! There’s no pressure.” Was that supposed to make me feel good or bad?

It made me feel better. I was one of the first to register so we get up to the line and I’m on the front row. That was the last time I can be associated with “front” at this race. I got a good start, but eased off going into the trees because I didn’t want to be that guy that let all the leaders run away. Now that I’ve got one under my belt I’ll be more aggressive at RCP. I was hanging with the whole pack for the short loop and then things started spreading out and I saw my heart rate monitor at 202!!! First time ever to reach 200+. I backed off for a while and was kind of by myself although I could see and hear a few people up ahead. About half way through the first lap Jersey caught me and went by and there were a few other guys that rode with us. This helped me a ton because now I can pace myself with someone else. Jersey led the four or so of us for a while and then let us go by because he said he was hurting. Meanwhile, I’ve recovered a bit so I try and pick up the pace. I let another guy (bikelane I think) pass as he seems impatient. With him leading and myself and a mad ducker behind us we make it through the switchbacks and hit the open field. The Bikelane guy falls third in line and looks tired.
Me and the mad ducker are off and he’s talking to me the whole way about how tired he is and how he hates switchbacks, blah, blah, blah! Nice guy, but he was overselling! About half way through the second lap and I still don’t know if this is the last lap or if we have one more. I feel pretty good, but don’t know how much to push. Finally we see some volunteer and he confirms this is the last lap. I pick up the pace and we drop Bikelane. Mad Ducker is right on my wheel and talking the whole way. I speed up, he speeds up. I slow down, he slows down. Okay, I’ve figured it out! He knows we aren’t that close to anyone so he’s going to try and pick up one spot from me on the sprint finish.

Now I have decision to make. I decided not to try and drop him for fear I wouldn’t have anything left, but I wanted to pick it up and make him work. I’m thinking the whole time, “this guys isn’t going to let me pull him for an hour and 15 minutes and think I’m going to let him pass at the end. He’s crazy” Out of the woods and into the open I hear: click, click, click >>> swoosh and by me he goes. Awesome. Let him pull me for a bit. I fall right in on his wheel nearly hitting him.

About a 100 yards later he yells back that he’s dead and I roll by and keep pushing until the end. I was glad to be able to race at the finish otherwise I would have just been out there for the ride. I got 18th place, but for my first race I am happy with knowing I beat a few other guys that didn’t have mechanicals. I’m also only about 5 minutes out of the top ten, which is about 2 minutes a lap. I’LL GET THERE!