Learning the Hard Way – Again

So yesterday was my first road race in Cat 3. I figured that I would take all the lessons that I learned in prior seasons as a 5 and 4 and apply them to the Cat 3 race to help me survive. That’s what I thought.

In reality I learned the same lessons again, or rather, had them pounded in to my head.

It was all going well until we lined up at the start. Well it actually went bad before that when I forgot my trainer and never really warmed up. It got worse when I lined up in the back of the massive Master A/Cat 3/Women 1234 peloton.

I figured it would start out pretty easy, since it was a 60 mile race and all. I figured wrong. I guess it did go easy for at least a mile or two, but the first time up the roller on Pleasant Valley Rd all hell broke loose for me. Not that the climb was difficult, it was just hard to get through the traffic and close the gaps between groups that were opening in front of me. I was about 50 yards off the back and going into the red just before Kuna-Mora Road.

Thinking of the 55 miles I had left to ride I decided to sit up, hope to get some help – and chase back later. So 5 miles into my first Cat 3 race I broke 4 of my basic rules – always warm up at least a little, never line up in the back, never ride in the back, and always bury yourself to catch the group in front of you when gaps are opening. I whish I could say it was all down hill from there but it wasn’t – It was mostly flat and windy.

Eventually the dropped riders coagulated into a group of 20 or so. We worked together intermittently, at one point closing a 3+ minute gap to 20 seconds. None of us had the gas to close the distance, and we certainly didn’t have the cooperation. If fact, three riders did most of the work – crash victims Anthony Fisher, and Gene Harding from Georges, and LAC teammate Chris Cadeaux. I contributed where I could but was hardly consistent. It was also good to have Justin Harvey in the group, taking some big pulls and providing some good humor.

The last lap we picked up Matt Beeter who had flatted. Matt proceeded time trial at the front and rip our group apart. Chris, Gene, Joe Kafka, and I were the only ones able to stay with him. Matt largely dragged us to the finish, where I chose not to contest the sprint for 14th – not that it would have changed anything if I had. I finish 16th of 23 in the Cat 3, about 5 minutes behind the leaders.

Meanwhile, up front I imagine the race happened something like this… a bunch of guys were riding their bikes really fast, then LAC rider Shane Litzenberger rode a little bit faster and won. There might have been more to it than that, but I obviously didn’t see it.

All in all not a bad day considering the string of bad decisions that I made. I actually had more fun riding in this race than any of them last year.

Next week I am hoping for a pack finish…