Sunday, September 6, 2009

After the Millersburg Stage Race I was itching to get back east for another race, so when the PA State Road Race was announced for September 6, and when I saw that my bike racing friend, Lorraine Lipfert, was signed up, it was an easy decision.  Lorraine offered up perfect host housing, with access to a bike trail just a few pedal strokes from her driveway and a local bistro with Seafood Ciopino on the menu.  The only downside was the 7 am start.  YAWN! Four o’clock came and two sleepy bike racers shuffled into the kitchen for espresso, yogurt and granola and english muffins with honey.  It was dark when we left, just beginning to get light by the time we rolled up to the race.  YAWN!

The women’s 1/2/3 race was 5 laps of a 13 mile loop – a course full of twists and turns, a long steady grade, one short steep pitch, a handfull of short kickers. Lap 1 started off at a modest tempo, while I sat on Lorraine’s wheel, in the perfect position to get warmed up, check out the course, stay out of the wind, and get a feel for the rest of the field. I knew a few of the riders and had a feel for how they were likely to race and Lorraine had given me the low down on the riders that were new to me. About two thirds through the first lap, the lead car and moto for the W-4s, who had started their race about 5 minutes behind us, rolled up and we were neutralized until the W-4s passed us. That seemed to spark an interest in the W1/2/3 field to attack – and within moments of being un-neutralized, one woman attacked after a right turn leading into a short climb and we all scrambled to respond. We hit the short steep climb and soon caught and passed the W-4s on a swoopy downhill.  At that point the lead group sat up and we rolled through the S/F for the start of lap 2.  That surge had shed a handful of riders, but we were gruppo compacto by halfway through lap 2.  A few small surges came and went, with nothing getting away. Finally, half-way through lap 3, a group of 6 got off the front and I found myself with Betty Tyrell, another master rider, and 4 others.  Our little group had some of its own elastic and two riders attacked Betty and I on a long downhill, we got back on, then either Betty or I were able to get a small gap on the long grade, but it seemed we would stay together until the end, in which case I was starting to think about whether I had the legs to try an attack at the top of a short climb leading into the final 1 km.  On the last lap I lost contact on one of the short pitches and the wheel van/broom wagon did what it had to do, which was pass me, a perfectly reasonable but still demoralizing action. But – it was not over, as I was now on the long steady grade and I soon realized the gap between me and the group of 4 up ahead was shrinking, and soon, the wheel truck pulled over to the left to let me get by, gave me a thumbs up and “way to go” and there I was, back in the race.  Alaina, one of the riders in my group attacked and stayed away to get 7th, the last paying spot, and the rest of the group pretty much splintered in the last couple of miles.  That made my race finish plan rather moot, and I rolled in for 10th – out of the money, but happy all the same.

Post race, I caught up with Lorraine – and when I mentioned that the last two laps, all I could think about was *diner breakfast,* my pre-race breakfast having since been used up,  she told me there was a local diner on my way home. Perfect! It truly was the classic diner, with formica tables, shiny aluminum siding, and awesome breakfast. We made it easy for the waitress by both ordering coffee and spinach/feta omelets with homefries, and since we were both famished and tired, it made it easy for our post-race brains as well.  A good visit with a good friend, a good race, and a post-race diner breakfast.  It doesn’t get much better than that: and that’s my race story!

Pasta Options

Pasta doesn’t have to be spaghetti with a tomatoe or meat sauce -  you can make a delicious meal in less than 30 minutes with just a few ingredients.

Choose a pasta:  it can be spaghetti, but there are lots of different kinds of past – wide noodles like papparadelle or fettucini or lingui, as well as pasta shaped like bowties (farfalle) or tubes.  Most pasta cooks in about 5-8 minutes.  Pasta that is fresh (not dried) cooks in 2-4 minutes.

Choose a topping:  Start with good olive oil and garlic.  Heat the olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan); saute garlic (1-2 cloves depending on how much you like garlic) over low heat until soft (2- 3 minutes); then add any or all of the following:  shrimp (cook just about 2 minutes until they turn pink.  Shrimp turns to rubber if you cook it too long); shrimp and zucchini; chicken cut into small pieces; mushrooms; mushrooms and chicken; spinach or arugula (toss the greens into the pan and stir until wilted – only about 2 minutes or so); arugula and shrimp; or a chopped fresh tomatoes.  After you drain the pasta, add it to the pan with whatever you’ve prepared as a topping and stir together for a minute or so, to blend the flavors.  Grate fresh romano or parmesan cheese over the top.

Pesto

Pesto recipes abound – I make mine by “feel” as much as measuring.  Start with fresh basil leaves, about 1 cup, firmly packed.  Puree in a blender, about 1/4 cup at a time until the leaves are well shredded.  Add about 1/4 cup pine nuts.  Blend until the pine nuts are partly pulverized.  Add about 1/4 cup grated fresh romano cheese and 1 – 2 cloves mashed garlic. (peel the cloves and mash with the back of a spoon. You can also use a garlic press).  Once all of these ingredients are in the blender, add about 1/4 cup good olive oil and start the blender.  You may need to add additional olive oil, a little bit at a time, to get it to turn into a nice consistent green past.  You can use this as a topping for pasta, by itself or with chicken.

Fruit Smoothies

I like to have a fruit smoothie as a ’second breakfast’ or as part of a post-ride or post-race recovery, especially if it is hot.  I use frozen fruit that I let thaw for about 2 hours before blending, with my favorite combination being peaches and strawberries with 1/2 a banana.   Basically, I take about 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup frozen peaches.  Let them thaw for a couple of hours.  Add 1/2 banana and about 1/4 cup low fat yogurt.  I like to use either vanilla or maple yogurt, but that is just my preference.  Put all of this in a blender and puree.  When I plan on having the smoothy for ’second breakfast’ at work, I put it in a container, pop it back in the freezer overnight, then take it with me to work.  After a couple of hours it’s thawed enough to eat with a spoon.

– Fra la cucina di Barb Grabowski

Tuesday Night Crit at the Oval

August 4, 2009

By Barb Grabowski

The Tuesday night crits at the oval have been so rewarding this season – the team has come together so well, with our respective strengths becoming clear and everyone committed to the team and racing as well as possible for the team.  Whether it is Patty and Rachel soaking up the MAR points, Anne Marie and Kate accelerating for the finish, Rachel’s prowess in snatching the chocolate premes and attacking whenever there is a lull in the field, or refining the last lap lead outs:  I am just so proud and happy to be part of it.  I have also been itching to get in a break and Tuesday it finally materialized !   After a couple of attacks and solo efforts were brought back, the field sat up and that little voice in my head said “now” and I gave it a go on the back side, accelerating hard on the right, I sat up about 3/4 of the way around, figuring the field was on my wheel or nearly so, but *no* — only ‘red jersey.’ a junior (who frankly looked about 14 or 15) and Michelle Johnson were there.  YIPPEEE!!  I think we had about 10 laps to go at that point and we set to rotating.  To ‘red jerseys’ credit, it only took a couple of laps for him to get in the groove and keep it steady.  Lap after lap we went, with about a 1/2 lap on the field.  Whomever crossed the line got the MAR point or preme, we just kept motoring.  With about 4 laps to go I realized it would stick and I started thinking about how I wanted to play the finish.  I could tell Michelle was tiring and the field had gained a little bit of time on us.  I did not want to get caught in the last lap or on the line, but I didn’t think I could hold a 2 lap solo effort either.  So it came down to the last 2 laps, I stayed on ‘red jerseys’ wheel until we came out of turn four then just kept going and slowly picking up speed, figuring I could shed Michelle and hoping I had shed ‘red jersey.’  To his credit, he stuck to my wheel and had more punch coming out of the last turn and he got the win while I comfortably had 2nd.  Sweet!

So I was looking foward to this years Natz TT course. Out and back on the eastbound lanes of a 4-lane SE of Louisville. One long 3-4% grade right off the bat, some shallow ups and downs, another 1 Km 2-3% then slightest of negative false flat to the turn around and repeat. Exposed to the wind, a couple of winding curves. On race day – tail wind out, head wind back. My kind of climbs, similar to courses I’ve done well on before.

Arrive in plenty of time to confirm “official race clock” time; check out the start house, the finish chute and all important finish line; find the bathrooms; chit chat; final bike prep; and warm up. My start time was 11:48:30, 30 seconds behind Diane, a rider from out east whose TT times are very close to mine – a good rabbit. As I hunt for a good parking spot, I see Diane, who tells me there is a two.hour.delay. for everyone. Seems they set up the course, which involves closing off the east bound lanes to traffic, lining up cones, barriers etc and posting marshalls at all side roads and the Chief Official told them it was not safe enough and to bring in more barriers, cones and marshalls. Good reason for a delay, but holy cow. So now I had to fill two extra hours with … something. A nap would not do, so aimless wandering ensued. Watched a few riders go off, half listened to the announcers for the men’s races, chatted, ate some of my pb&j sandwhich which was supposed to be the post-race drive home snack, stared into space.

Finally it got somewhere close enough to think about warming up. Tires inflated, again, chamoised up and pulled on the skinsuit, got in a decent 30 minute warm up, rolled over to the start chute, Official measures the TT bike, tells me I need to do the morphological exception test, do that, pass that, line up behind Diane and chat with the race Official from the Bronx with totally cool Hincapie sunglasses, short episode of NERVES,clomp up into the start box, second short episode of NERVES, start my chrono when Diane starts, say “GO DIANE,” clip in, holder holds, 10 seconds/5 seconds/GO, roll down the start ramp and GO.

I have played the next 36 minutes and 59 seconds out in my head a couple of times, searching for where I paused, or could have picked up a few seconds, whether the turn was crisp enough, whether I should have gone into the small ring on the long climb, etc etc. But no, I can’t really think of where I might have squeezed out anything else, or have done or un-done anything. Good cadence, HR where it needed to be, churning down the miles.

I will say that the race manual and race announcers made a mistake in describing the distance: they kept saying it was 25.8Km which works out to 16 miles, so it was a bit of a surprise when I saw 7 miles on my computer and glanced up to see the road which was my benchmark for the turnaround and there it was – an official & a cone with the orange “turn around” arrow. YIKES. Yes, chipotles, the race was 14 miles. Not 16 miles. Now if Gary the Sheriff were in charge we know that would not have happened.

I really had no idea where I finished and the race announcer wasn’t saying anything … I had an idea that there were several of us very close together, time wise, but kept the faint hope that I might have snuck on the last podium spot. I rolled around and around and around, getting in a 20 minute cooldown without having to get back on the trainer. Finally got dressed, packed up the bikes, walked over to results. No results for our age group. Then they did the awards, except for our age group. We’re all standing around, trying to figure it out. Finally, Marianne Holt and I walk over to the Judge’s stand and ask for results. We get a blank look. Seriously. Judy Miller tells me my time, which is helpful, but when we say that our group’s results were never posted, they seem surprised. They finally print it out and show it to Marianne and I. She is 8th, @:36:48 and I am 10th, @ :36:59. Thud. Marianne won the TT at Seven Springs two years ago and I podiumed the last two years. “Oh,” we say, “that’s disheartening.”

All I can say is that our group was full of strong time trial riders as well as road racers. The woman who won, Ruth Clemence finished 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place. Ann Marie Miller who won the RR and the TT, RR and crit last year finished 3rd. Which says a lot for how well women’s racing is developing, but it was a little humbling for me.

I knew going in to Masters Natz that I had missed an important block of December/January training – the big base miles and sub threshold efforts – and although I got some of that back, I didn’t get all of it back, but on the other hand, I’ve done all I can to get my race fitness back to where I can at least try to be competitive. I also didn’t have any real TT races ahead of Natz, except for the one Friday night TT. I still did practice rides, but I did not have the opportunity to get in a solid 20Km or 40Km ‘real’ TT.

If I focus on results, I am a tad disappointed and dismayed. “I did all that work for a 10th place finish?” If I focus on getting back to racing shape, racing a good smart road race, and giving it 100% for the TT, then I can be a bit more pleased. Time now to chill, enjoy being home again, and think about July and August.

Ann Marie Miller, who has won the RR, Crit and TT several times; Ruth Clemence, equally talented; and about 10 others who can really put on the hurt. We did 6 laps of a 5 miles circuit – lots of little ups and downs, none of them particularly steep, but there were a lot of them. The longest was probably 1 Km and led up to the S/F. There was a second climb, just under 1 Km, then a short punchy little sucker, some little ups and downs, some flat, and third climb that wasn’t long or even steep but still took some power to get up, then a downhill, a hard left, a downhill and the climb up to the finish. I rode it 3-4 times yesterday and warmed up on the climbs today.

Ann Marie and Ruth put the hurt on straight away and kept at it. Each lap the lead group got smaller until at the start of lap #4 there were about 12 of us. I got gapped on the punchy little sucker, and chased, chased, chased until I regained contact just before the third climb – just in time for someone to put in a little dig and *pop* goes Barb. Followed by the dreaded sound of the follow moto passing me. I hate it when the follow car/moto passes me. I had to sit up in order to recover and kept a steady effort up the S/F climb. Half way up that climb I realized I had ‘red jersey’ on my wheel. She stayed there until I was half way up the next climb, when I pulled off and looked at her – she was kind enough to say “I’ll work with you.” We motored along, though not nearly as hard as the group had been going and picked up a third rider, who I know but will call *blue jersey* for purposes of this note who had been shelled from the lead group. So there we were, not really racing, and it was becoming clear that neither red jersey nor blue jersey were too keen on keeping the pace up. Tired ? Waiting for the last lap ? Defeated ? I tried one hard effort up the long S/F climb but could not get a gap. Tried a second time, but nope, there they were on my wheel. Huh. Last lap and there we were, having a sunday afternoon ride. I swear we were going 17 mph on the flats. I would take a 20 pedal stroke pull, red jersey would take a 10 pedal stroke pull, blue jersey took no pulls. It took every bit of patience to NOT get on the front and take a monster pull. Blue jersey finally says “Well the leaders are fininshing now – any bets on who won.” **&&@@!!++?? I said “well, I’m thinking of racing myself.” HINT HINT HINT. Right then, another woman who had been chasing us while we lolly gagged along all negative racing ‘n at, blew right past us and started up the next to last climb. In retrospect I should have just jumped on her wheel as she went past, but at the time I said to my tired self – let blue and red jersey chase. At the top of that climb I put in a big dig and went after the solo rider hoping I had gotten a gap but nnnnnnnooooo blue and red were right on it – I pulled hard up the S/F climb, knew they were on my wheel, the woman up ahead still had about 5 seconds on us, so I pulled over, blue and red came by, I sat on, and at 200m jumped with all I had – I nearly caught the woman ahead who had sat up just before the line but needed to either have gone just a bit sooner or had another 12 inches – but I did hold off red and blue jersey. The woman who passed us got 10th and she deserves that spot. I was happy to have timed my jump well. Looking back, there was a point where I came close to saying to red and blue jersey “Hey, we aren’t going to podium, but this is Masters NATIONALS and we should keep racing !” All told, I raced as hard as I could and when I popped, I popped because the tank was empty. In the past I would have succumbed to the temptation to haul red and blue jersey to the finish line only to have them sprint past me. So I am happy to have done my best and to have used my head. Now I have two days to recover and get ready for the TT on wednesday. It will be nice to chill out after the packing/traveling/logistic/pre-race nerves/racing. There is a nice quiet trail and road that goes along the Ohio River that will be my recover ride tomorrow then I’ll ride over to the Park to watch tomorrow’s racing action.

Today’s ‘Quippa Crit was sunny, windy and chilly.  Well, chilly for mid-May that is:  maybe 50 degrees at start time of 9:45.  If it was mid April and Mingo, we would say it was a ‘heat wave.’  So we stayed in our cars or bundled up in fleece w/ wool hats and debated shoe covers and wool gloves.  As there were only 5 of us women, Gary the Wonder Promoter Dugovich started us with the M 4/5s and gave us a 50% discount on race entry.  Yeah Gary D. !!

A brisk wind out of the W/NW meant a seriously big head wind on the long finishing straight.  Stacie, Carol, Rachel and I along with Erin Quinlan (formerly of the Elves, now of Carbon Racing) lined up with EJ and the rest of the boyz and off we went.  There were a few squirrely guys, both Rachel and I found ourselves being eased off a wheel a couple of times, but all in all it was OK.  It sure was nice to be able to tuck in behind everyone else when we turned into the head wind.  Jump to the last two laps of the race — Rachel and I are still sitting pretty as we near the end of the backstretch, approaching turn 3 when we observe that a bit of a gap has opened up a few riders ahead of us.  Well, as we exit turn 3, the wee gap has grown to a 3-bike length gap and, too late, we try to get around the gap-maker.  DANG!!!  Once in the wind, there is no making up ground.  Here I must invoke Bike Racer Excuse No. 107:  “I got gapped” and No. 108:  “No one else would close it.”  Well shucks.  I got so complacent about sitting in on all those wheels behind all those big guys, that I waited too long to close the bloody gap myself.

Oh well.  I got in a good hour of speed and hard efforts, got to hang out with my peeps, got to be outside in the sunshine, AND have a loverly breakfast of eggs and potatoes afterwards.  Yum.

First, the Existential Question.   This is the question we should all ask ourselves from time to time during the race (I can’t speak to any of your non-racing lives in this regard) and that question is:  ”What am I Doing Here?”   For certain, we have all asked ourselves that question on the start line when it is raining or cold or we are tired.  But it is a fine question to ask yourselves during the race as well.  A related question might be “Am I Racing Purposefully?”   I pose these questions for you to pose to yourself so that you/we can be doing things within the race for a purpose that contributes to each of us and the team as a whole.  And believe me, I ask myself these very same questions all the time !

So, for example:

1.    If you are on the front of the field, hauling along while everyone behind you stays in your draft, resting, ask yourself:  What Am I Doing Here?

You should be able to answer:  i) bringing back a break that does NOT contain my team mate; ii) blocking the field because my team mate IS up the road; iii) leading out the sprinters in the final laps;  or iv) taking 20 pedal strokes then pulling off.  If your answer is anything else – then perhaps it’s time to read some Nitze.

2.  If you are feeling the urge to attack, ask yourself:  What am I Doing and Why am I Attacking NOW??

You should be able to answer:  i)  the group sat up/paused or there was a lull in the action/speed;  ii)  I am sitting in the draft of someone going for a preme and the minute we cross the line and she sits up, I am going to continue to accelerate and GO;  iii)   my team mate attacked and is about to be caught so I am going to accelerate the moment she is caught and GO; iv)  I am sitting near the back or several wheels back from the front and am going to attack from behind, knowing that I’ve been sitting in someone else’s draft; and v) it is 200 -300 meters from the line and I am either going for the win/top 5, or to get a MAR point.

If you DO attack, then make it a 100% effort to get that gap, but if despite your best efforts, when you peak back under your arm and see a wheel or the field, then SIT UP — there is nothing to be gained from continuing the hard effort.

3.       If, despite your best efforts, you find yourself on the front, again, ask yourself:  What Can I Do to Get Off the Front?

Count pedal strokes – once you’ve done 20 or 30, move right, wiggle your elbow, smile sweetly, and soft pedal so you can drift back into the field.  If it seems like everyone wants to do that, well, that often creates a lull which allows you or one of your team mates to attack.

The funny thing about bike racing is that it ISN’T about  who is the fastest or strongest, but who is the smartest.  And, unless you are doing a time trial, you don’t have to race at your limit for the entire race just because it’s a race.  Sometimes you find yourself in a race and just sitting in and hanging on requires being at your limit, but the idea is that it is OK to recover and sit up during the race.  Crits, especially, are about accelerations, recovery, accelerations, recovery, etc.  Typically, the race starts out with a flurry of attacks, then settles down, then towards the end, the speed picks up again.  That means you need to reserve something in the proverbial tank so that you can make those hard efforts in the beginning of the race, while still spending that proverbial currency over the course of the race, not all at the beginning.

The other question to ask yourself before or during the race is:  What do I Want to do in This Race?

The answer might be:  i)  go for MAR points; ii) lead out someone in the last lap; iii) get in break; iv) not get dropped; or v) sit in and just get a hard training effort.  Whatever the question or answer, the idea is to have some purpose for what you are doing in the race.  Whatever it is that you choose to do, be smart about it.  I know from my training and experience that I can make a hard, all out effort for just about 1 lap.  If I try to continue that effort for more than one lap, I am toast.  If I don’t sit up and recover, I will be off the back of the field in a heart beat.  I also know that I can sustain a TT effort for several laps, but even if I could theoretically time trial for a couple of laps, the reality is the field, collectively, is going as fast or faster than me, and the field has a draft, while I am pushing all the air all by my lonesome.  So, I might try to be out there for a couple of laps, but it does me no good to just keep pedaling for the sake of pedaling if it is just a question of time before I am caught and when I am caught, I will be toast and off the back in a heartbeat.

One of the reasons we train is for practice – not only to train your body to handle a particular kind of work but also to develop a sense of what it feels like to sustain a time trial/threshold effort or anaerobic effort or attack or jump or acceleration.  Physically, your body will adopt to the work but also mentally you will be able to say to yourself “OK, I can do this level of effort for XXX meters, or minutes and then I have to sit up and recover” and to listen to that voice in your head/gut. Put another way, you can continue to time trial, or try to bridge up to the break or continue to attack lap after lap, but it you don’t recognize when it is time to ease up or if you wait until you’ve over extended yourself and are not able to recover, you’ll be out of contention.

HOW CADENCE AND GEARS ARE LIKE THE THREE BEARS

Remember that Fairy Tale about Goldilocks and the Three Bears?   Well, it seemed to me the other night, rolling around the oval on my recovery laps between sprints that choosing the proper gear is a little like the three bears.

If you are in too small a gear, with your legs flailing, nearly bouncing on the saddle, just spinning and not pressing on the pedals, it’s like the baby bear’s chair.  It’s ‘too small.’

On the other hand, if you are grunting, pedaling squares instead of circles, turning a cadence of about 80 or less, if you need some body english to keep pedaling, if you have to stand and pull up on the bars to get up hill or over a hump, then it is like the papa bear chair:  the gear is too big.

If your pedaling is efficient, your upper body nice and still, and you are on top of your gears, turning a cadence of 90 – 100 keeping pressure on the pedals without forcing, then it’s like the mama bear chair:  ’just right.’

It’s OK to change gears in a race, too, even at the oval.  Is there a head wind, hill or  little hump right after the turn – then shift into a slightly easier gear just before the turn so that you aren’t bogged down once you head into the wind or the road goes up.  And surprise !   You can actually go faster in an easier gear by turning a higher, more efficient cadence !

OK, enough story time !

Barb G.

The TT course was the same as 2003 – a rolling out and back along the Ohio River.(at least, I think it’s the Ohio) – a good course for me.  The wind picked up throughout the morning so by the time I went off, at 11:43:30, we had a blustery cross/tail wind on the way out and a cross/head wind on the ride back.  I was flying along in my 52/13 and even the 12 on the downhill sections zipping past farms and fields counting pedal stokes, from one to a hundred then starting over again.    After the turnaround I passed a few riders from my group and had a steady ride back, and gave it everything in the last 2 kms.  I couldn’t see the clock at the finish but I heard them call my name and give my time – for a brief moment I thought I had gotten 2nd but then realized the announcer was working backwards and I had managed a 4th place spot less than a second out of third!  Dang. A smoother turnaround, a little harder push on the pedals, not brushing that bug off my forehead and I would have gotten 3rd.  I was still pleased with the result – in the last year I have won time trials by one second or gotten the last payout spot by one second, and at the same time, been one step lower on the podium at Nationals by less than a second.

My road race was Wednesday so I had a chance to take a breath, relax and recover on Tuesday and get my legs back.  I did my usual pre race tune up ride along the river on a nice flat road and then checked out Bristol Bar and Grille for dinner.  Then sort of early to bed to be ready to rumble at 8 am.  It took forever to get to sleep, between the noise of traffic by the hotel, the A/C unit kicking on, and my own brain, visualizing the sprint finish, or the attack that established the key break, or the right spot to begin the sprint.  It made for a very drowsy breakfast.  My race had the biggest fields of all the master womens’ races – 20 starters – all of  us wanting a podium spot.  I thought for sure a small break would form by the halfway point but despite numerous attacks and counters, no one got away and heading into the last lap, we were groupo compacto.  I was in good position heading up the one long climb looking to be through the tight left downhill corner in top five or so when Ann Marie Miller attacked over the last little rise and was gone in a snap.  One rider managed to get on her wheel with 6 or so of us chasing.  We caught Ann Marie and Linda mid way up the climb up to the finish and I went from being out of contention to being back in the race.  There was no time for me or anyone to take a deep breath as Ann Marie kept the pressure on, full gas, all the way to the top.  It’s a bit of a blur now, but my recollection is that the pace was high enough that you just couldn’t make up any ground and whatever spot you were in at the point we all came back together is where you were when the climb ended and the 150meter final sprint ensued.  I sprinted as hard as I could up and over the last part of the climb and to the S/F and came in 9th.  Ann’s attack and the hard effort to the finish split the group and I was the last rider to make the selection – the remaining 10 or so riders came in several seconds or minutes after the main field of 9.  I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t make the podium or finish a place or two higher which would have gotten me points for the Best All Around Rider, but  I am pleased with my race:  I rode as hard as I could, I made the final selection and got to race one of the most competitive national road races yet.

After a couple of days of rest, being a tourist, and checking out the espresso and bagel options near the hotel, it was time for one last pre race ride and another 8 am race start.  The crit course, held in the infield of Churchill Downs, was a half mile long with rounded corners and a quick left/right that was described as a chicane.  We started with 14 and it was fast from the gun and never let up.  We turned some of the fastest laps of the women’s races – once again Ann Marie went hard at the front to keep the pace high and when she wasn’t at the front someone else was taking a turn or attacking.  I tried one attack mid race when things had settled down a tad, one rider came with me, but the field shut us down within a half lap.  After that, it was all about getting in good position.  One lap to go, I was a decent spot and on a good wheel, when just out of turn one, someone went wide and cut off Nancy whose wheel I was on and me - we had to grab brakes and went off the track onto the grass.  By the time we got back in and up to speed we had easily lost 3 spots and were chasing instead of getting ready to sprint out of the last corner.  We did sprint, but for 10th and 11th.  So no podium, no points.   But as with the road race, the crit was a good hard crit with no clear winner until the final sprint - worthy of a national championship.

Have a good dinner the night before.

Pack your race kit the night before.

In your race kit you should have:  jersey, shorts, shoes, socks, sports bra, gloves, helmet, glasses, HR monitor if you wear one.  Sometimes I visualize myself getting dressed from bottom to top to make sure I have it all – socks & shoes; shorts; bra & Jersey; gloves; helmet; glasses.  Plan on wearing regular clothes and changing at the race unless you really like being in chamois for hours and hours.  Some say that “chamois time” is “training time” but hanging out in your shorts for hours  is a good way to get a nasty yeast infection.  So, pack a towel or blanket that you can use to put around yourself if you need some privacy.  You should plan on sunday being chilly – so leg warmers or tights, long sleeve jersey if you have it, windvest or jacket, whatever works best for you to not be chilled.  Check the weather the night before to get a sense of whether it will be winter or spring.  www.noaa.nws.gov.

Water bottles and whatever food you like – GU, clif blox, pb&j, whatever.

Warm clothes to wear after the race.

Don’t forget your USCF license and $$ for race entry. (The flyer will tell you what your race fee is if you didn’t pre register).  I also have a small cache of safety pins that I carry with me to races to make sure I have pins for my number.

Eat a good breakfast – oatmeal !   Or go to the Square Cafe around 11 and have some pancakes.

Plan on getting to the venue at least 1 hour before the race is set to start.

When you get there, take a moment to check out the Start/Finish  (S/F) – just to see what it looks like.  There will at least be a line marked on the pavement, a couple of officials, some kind of lap card set up.  THis is a good time to check to see if the races are on time.  The women’s race is set to start at 2:30, but is at the end of a long day of races and I would not be surprised if it actually starts closer to 3pm.  This will be important for planning your warmup.

Go to registration – You will need to fill out a USCF waiver – you’ll need to remember your home address, email, and put down your USCF license number.  Then go to sign up where someone takes your $$, checks your USCF license, adds you to the start list, and gives you a number.  ASK which side you pin your number on your jersey.

Your next step is to pin your number on your jersey – or whatever will be your outside layer of clothing.  Then get dressed, get your bike set – race wheels if you have them, whatever wheels you have, pump up the tires to 100 psi or so (unless it is wet in which case you want the tire pressure a bit lower to increase tire contact on the pavement).  You’ll probably hear guys saying their tires are at 120 or 130, but ignore them.  You know how guys are.  Water bottles.

It’s important to get in a good warm up – which can be a challenge if there are no quiet roads available.  If there is a large parking lot that doesn’t have too much glass and junk, then big loops around the lot will help.  Otherwise, bring a trainer.  I am sure Suzanne has a favorite warm up to suggest, but the idea is to start by spinning in an easy gear for 10 minutes or so to get your muscles warmed and loose, then increase the intensity until your HR is close to your race effort or you are breathing hard and sweating a little.  Then cool down for 5 minutes or so.  The thing you don’t want to do is just pedal around for 5 or 10 minutes and then expect to start racing.  You also don’t want to sit around for 15 minutes after you’ve warmed up – that will just undo your warm up.

Make sure you drink.  Plan on using the Port-o-Joan before you head over to the start.

Keep an eye out for the race going on before the women’s race – check the lap cards – watch long enough to get a sense of how long each lap is taking.  Then, when there are about 2-3 laps to go, migrate over to the S/F, ready to race, and hang out, cheer, smile, etc.  You almost always have a chance to ride around on the course before your race starts – so once the finishers from the race before are all done, get on the course and start riding.  This is when you can take note of any potholes, sewer covers, the approaches to the turns, and how far it is from the last corner to the S/F.  Practice the corners, resist the urge to squeeze your brakes, if you must brake, do it before the turn, not once you are in the turn.  The officials will ring a bell or blow a whistle or something to call riders to the line.  LINE UP ON THE LINE — for some reason new women riders tend to lurk 4 or 5 feet back from the line.  Be on the line, and then listen.  The officials will tell you all you need to know – how long the race, where the lap cards are located, any racing rules.  The official will tell you how they will handle lapped riders if there are any.  They will tell you that you cannot ride with or work with riders from another race that is on the course at the same time.  As Lee-Ann said – the race is by time, so the officials will keep an eye on how long each lap is taking and as the race gets close to 35 minutes, will tell you (i.e. lap card) how laps are left in the race.  There will be a ‘last lap’ bell.

After the race:  be a good sport and congratulate the top finishers.  Congratulate yourself for trying your first race.  Ride around the course once or twice (unless the next race is starting) in an easy gear, small ring, spinning your legs out as a cool down.  Cool down some more in the lot unless you are cold and wet.  Change out of that chamois and get into warm and dry clothes.  Check the results and make sure the placings are correct.  If you placed well enough to get $$ – stick around, but don’t bug the officials.

It’s March, so don’t try to measure yourself against where you will be in mid season.  In fact, don’t measure yourself against any body.  These early season races are about gauging where you are now, how it feels to ride with some intensity, getting re acquainted with riding close to others, getting into race groove.  It’s a training race, not the state road race.

I have a couple of mantras I try to keep in my head before and doing a race:  “No whining, no quitting, have fun”  and “I think I can, I think I can.”  And to borrow a page from John Fite  “Wow, it’s cold, it’s windy, my legs feel like crap, I feel like crap, it doesn’t get any better”

Barb