Climbing Climbing Climbing

Due to the unforseen wreck on my way home from DC I found myself home from the Atlanta office for half the week. This meant I got to join some friends for a ride on Thursday night on the evil, painful climb up the stair-steps of Cummings Highway. Sure, it isn't a mountain per se, but it sure does feel like one to my legs. Still, it was great to hook up with my peeps for a ride and put in some good miles. Its all preparation for our next road race. Sadly, it will include a lot of climbing.

No Knuckleheads

Yesterday I rode like a girl with some of my teammates over the course of our next road race. Its a challenging course, though short (30 miles). Of course, its challenging because its hilly. Not just rolling hills, oh no, this is hilly as in "lets climb the stair-steps of Cummings Highway) hilly.

Now, at 6' and 185lbs (at last weigh in) I'm not exactly built to climb. Those skinny minni girls can fly up, they don't have the weight dragging at them that I do. I try to make up for it with sheer power, but that only lasts so long and I become toast. So, I climbed. In fact, I climbed the stairsteps twice, just to really get to know them. Because of my ride yesterday, I decided I wanted to ride with the boys today. I wanted miles too. We agreed that since the bike club had a good ride planned that we could do that one.

Then we decided to start earlier, because several of the guys had things to do in the afternoon, and it was supposed to get pretty warm later in the day.

Then as we were riding we decided to alter the course slightly and go over....... Cummings Highway. Again.

Let me tell ya, it was less comfortable the third time. The good news is, the boys didn't drop me.

That's right. I'm getting stronger. Sure, I was last one up Suck Creek Mountain, sure I was last one up the Cummings stairsteps. I expected that. The good thing is, I kept them in sight (or at least some of them). So, for once the No Knuckleheads didn't drop me like a lead balloon at the end of our metric. Maybe someday I'll keep up with the ones that stayed Just Ahead of me on the climbs too.

South Knoxville Road Race

This morning bright and early found me in Knoxville with eight of the women on my beginning race team. We were suited up with temporary jerseys and ready to ride. Looking at the field we all felt pretty good, but soon we discovered what bike racing is like from the inside.

In this race, all the women started together. Now, there are different categories, from Cat 4 (beginner) up to Cat 1 (pro). Sometimes they'll add women's Masters (age 35 and up) as its own category, but not this one. Anyway, we started up trying to keep together but.. well we also wanted a presence in the front group. So, when the front surged ahead, I stayed with them, as did several of my teammates. A few miles in I realized we'd lost a few of our girls, but had some of the stronger ones there with me so I got up to the front few of the women and ran a few brief experiments in controlling the pack. They worked, so I backed off and checked with my teammates. I told them I'd do what I could to work the field for them as long as possible, but this would mean sacrificing my ability to finish in the front. My plan was to have one of them come in at the end, surge up and take the win. If done right, the two of them should be relatively fresh from drafting and simply staying back.

My plan mostly worked. In the end, one of my teammates took 2nd Cat 4 position. I am not certain if I was 5th or 6th Cat 4, but I was hurting. I learned a great deal on the fly this morning, and I certainly didn't finish last, which was the Plan B. All in all, a damn fine race.

Oh yeah, and pictures are forthcoming.

Time Trial Saturday

Saturday afternoon a small cadre of VeloVixens gathered at Old Bethel to test themselves against the clock. We knew it would be a rough ride as we unpacked.

John, Dean, Harry, Pat and Andy served as our support and laid out the course, kept time, and stationed themselves at each turn to ensure no one got lost. We set out one by one into 20-25mph winds on a lightly rolling course (there is no "flat" in this part of the world). Each gust of wind I think timed itself to push me back down as I climbed false flats and rolling hills. That is, the gusts that didn't rob me of my downhill. I went first, and in some ways this was a blessing. I didn't have anyone to chase, but I also could concentrate purely on riding my ride. I knew the course and what to expect, and so rather than worrying about where anyone else was I concentrated on what power I needed to apply at what point to maximize my strength and stamina. I may have under-estimated myself and not pushed harder when I could have, but in the end I had a good time and am not displeased. Of course, there is room for improvement. There always is.