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The long and wimpy winter we have been having in the mid-Atlantic has for some reason not motivated me to ride fast. Luck would have it, we had a cold and nasty day last Saturday, where I had a solid ride [Strava] with the ramshackle crew who showed up for the 10AM ride from the gate in Rock Creek Park. It started out cold and damp, and within and hour it was misting/sleeting/snowing on us. For some reason sticking it out through this mess left me motivated and rearing to go.

I’m registered for my first race (Black Hills) and made myself a list of 15 or so others I want to do this year, which will probably continue to grow a bit more. And I’m eagerly awaiting my Wheelhouse to show up at my door. Sure, I’m a middling Cat IV racer who’s only ambition is to maybe upgrade to a III some day, where I will remain for the rest of my life. But I love it.

This past Saturday Clara and I drove out to the Page Valley Road Race in Stanley, Virginia. It was a late race, 3:00 PM, so we had a pretty relaxed time rolling out in the morning, and still got there a couple hours before the start, with time for a short warmup ride and to gobble a little lunch.

My teammate Chris and I lined up at the start. My other teammate in the race, Andrew, apparently just barely made it, and appeared midway through the 1st lap, which was at a steady pace, but fairly uneventful. 2nd lap was fast as we chased some breaks down. Andrew did some great work keeping things together. 3rd lap was fairly slow, as the 25-30 of us that remained caught our breath. I was happy to see Andrew and Chris still hanging in there, looking fairly comfortable. It was great to have 3 Coppi guys sitting together up the climbs. Chris passed me on the downhill a couple times, and I would latch onto his wheel and keep up as best I could. Final lap, at the bottom of the hill, before a sharp right turn, zebra-suited Traveller rider, who had been consistently winning KOM prizes the first few laps, locked up his wheels while braking and went down. Whoops.  The race got moving on the flat section shortly after that, and it was fairly strung out. Zebra man caught back up. Somewhere in there a few of us got a gap and went with it. It was me, a Haymarket guy, a Bike Rack guy (whose name I should know but do not), and an amateur guy with his number upside down who refused to do any work. The three of us took a few pulls. Another Bike Rack guy, Corey, put in a big effort from the pack and bridged up. Zebra guy appeared somewhere as well.

A little ways after the start of the final climb, Zebra guy went, and none of us could match it. Corey from Bike Rack followed, and me, Haymarket, amateur guy trailed behind. The other Bike Rack guy sat up and drifted a little ways back. I was fading, behind mr. amateur and Haymarket. I went as hard as I could (taking advantage e of the long climb to the finish), passed mr. amateur, and nicked Haymarket by about 6″ at the line for 3rd (and 2nd in Mabra). From looking at some pictures, we definitely maintained a gap, but the rest of the field was nipping at our heels by the time we hit the finish.

I won $30, and a silver medal (I was 2nd of the MABRA racers). Overall, great race. Fantastic, rural course with perfect roads, and no major incidents to deal with. I drank a lot, taking 2 perfect feeds from Clara, and ate a bit as well. Clara’s encouragement and support throughout the day was essential. It was a hard day, but I’ll plan on heading back next year for sure. We wrapped it up with burgers at Foster’s Grille on the way home. Highly recommended.

race data at garmin connect

This past Sunday I took Clara down to DC to watch the ING Direct Capital Criterium, the latest pro cycling race to come to the area. The course was a 1km loop in the heart of DC, with 7 turns, one of them a u-turn. We got there a little early, and picked up ING cowbells, as well as about 20 coupons for free coffee at some random cafe.

Team Garmin-Chipotle brought 5 guys, including Christian Vande Velde (5th in the Tour this year) and Danny Pate. We saw one guy walking by with a box of wayward burritos, maybe for the team, or the support staff.

Anyways, we set up on one side of the course and watched the pro's fly by. It really worked to motivate me to ride my bike again. It just looks fun. A little ways in we walked across the street and ran into Reed Tanger, of NU Cycling fame, as well as his honey Lisa and racing prodigy "little puppy" (that's not her real name). Reed apparently raced the 1/2/3 race earlier in the day and did just fine.

The race was fun to watch; lots of random guys getting off the front, including Vande Velde for quite awhile. Sitting at the u-turn was cool, as was observing little team tactics, and how fast some of those guys can move through the pack. One minute Vande Velde was halfway back, the next he was at the front. Oh, and seeing him pop out of the saddle to chase someone up a hill was impressive.

I supplied Clara with a camera and supervision, and she took a ton of pictures (filling up a memory card or two). The pictures on flickr are the best of these, check them out.

It was a fun little race, and I'd like to go to more. Not racing takes some of the pressure off and just makes it fun. I'm still riding though! I went for a little 30 mile jaunt early this morning with a friend from the UMD team. Talk about a good start to the day.

[ING DIrect Capital Criterium on Flickr]

This morning I found another large group ride to go on, The Bicycle Place ride. I left my place around 7:30, rode over to the start in ~35 min, and we left at 8:30. It was a giant ride, probably 100 people there. Solid pace, good route, fairly good organization. 60 miles total. I’ll do it again.

I was planning on riding down in the city with the NCVC guys today, but I bailed when I realized it was 28 degrees out. I waited a few hours and went for a ride on my own at 10:00.

I got out there and realized I wanted to do something different, so I rode over to Greenbelt Park for awhile. It was a good ride; this is where the Greenbelt Training Series happens over the summer. The loop reminded me a lot of some of races we (Northwestern) used to do in Wisconsin towards the end of the spring. One 90-degree turn over a 1.4 mile loop, with some climbs and a lot of twists and turns.

I’d definitely like to do this, regularly if I can. It’s wednesday evenings, which might conflict with class, and they recommend bringing a trainer (difficult when you don’t have a car, much less a trainer) but I think I can make it work. Maybe I can get someone else from UMD to go with me.

I got to thinking the other day, why is that I feel so little motivation to race this year? I tried to compare it to my freshman year at Northwestern, where I wasn’t really committed to racing, and I didn’t really have friends on the team. What got me to race then? That first race was amazing, but how did I get there? Even then I can remember (and my memory isn’t great) a few rides with the guys on the team.

Here, the past few months my “rides with the team” have been minimal. Last weekend I rode with one other guy on Saturday, and missed a team ride on Sunday (I forgot my helmet. Don’t ask. But I think only 3 or 4 people showed up). This weekend I rode with two other people on Saturday, and just played soccer with some friends today. Other than these two weekends, my best experience riding with other people in the past few months has been with NCVC. Racing is about being with other people to me; it’s a social thing.

So what do I do? Commit to racing this coming weekend, and see what happens? Commit to riding with the NCVC guys, waking up at 7am every Sunday? Any other ideas?