After an hour and a half of sleep, I rode over to the start of the Westside Classic. I didn't really feel like I had good legs on the ride over, so I was hoping the coffee and smoothie I packed along would help that. They sort of did, but I really had no chance. I was racing in the 3/4 group, but had only done cat 5 crits before. I figured this would be ok, since a road race seems to suit me better... but I'd also never done one before, so that was just a guess!
It turned out to be a great learning experience, even though I only lasted about an hour. Part of the trouble for me was that I haven't done any short interval training, so the climb we hit each lap was too fast. On the first climb I reached the top at the back of the pack, then fought my way back on with the tail wind. On the second climb I got dropped completely and couldn't get back on. I decided that was pretty much it for me, but wanted to see the difference without the pack so I rode another lap at a hard effort. This is when I noticed the headwind along Marine Dr. When I was in the pack it was an effortless cruise, but now I was fighting. By the time I hit the climb for the third time I had nothing left and just spun up it.
Another interesting thing for me was positioning. I knew I wanted to be at the front, but it wasn't easy to get there. I had a slightly slower start than I needed and was in the middle of the pack by the time we got to Marine. The trouble was I that I was on the right side, against the boulevard curve. I could see people moving up on the left, but nobody was going anywhere on the right. By the time we hit the climb, I was already on the back. At least I was on the right side of the road. On the second lap, I kept to the left so that I could move up, but then I got pinched off on the left hand into the climb and had to come to almost a complete stop. Then I had to basically off-road through a bunch of holes in the road up the left side. Needless to say, this put me off the back right away and I didn't have the strength to catch back on.
It was a good experience, but the data really shows how hard it is on your own compared to in the pack. Once you're popped off the back, it's really hard to get back on. In the pack we were coasting along between 45 and 55km/h, and the effort on my part was minimal. It was a pretty hard effort to keep it in the high 30s along the same stretch on my own. The yellow cadence line on the graph is the best indicator... look how much coasting there is before the first climb (when the yellow hits the bottom), then less after that climb because I have to chase back on, then not at all after the third climb. Those coasting parts are pure rest, just as you'd imagine... I was eating and drinking, recovering while going faster than my hard efforts!
I'm sure taking the previous 7 days off (see days 272-278) to watch hockey and party didn't help. I've never seen my heart rate so high! But it was an enjoyable learning experience all the same and I'm looking forward to giving it another shot next year.
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