First Cycling Race of the Season

Sorry for not writing sooner, it seems to be a bad habit of which I find myself.

The first cycling race of the year for me was Saturday May 3rd. The course west of Baraboo was one familiar to me having done it last year. This year, the morning started cool and rainy, for which I planned, but the weather at the race was a few degrees cooler than expected so I did not bring enough gear for rain and cold. I was lucky to know other cyclists with whom I raced with the now defult Atkins' cycling team. My old teammate Brian was nice enough to lend me show covers and long-fingered gloves, a real life saver.

I arrived at the start line hoping I could do some damage with my fellow teammates, the brothers Ping. This is a slight exaggeration since my winter and spring have been dedicated to running and less of cycling. I was hoping to rely on my climbing ability to ride over the two hills three times each during the 39 miles. The ride out to the first hill was uneventful as I stayed near the front and tucked behind the other riders. The first hill stretched out the field a bit. I noticed one of the Ping boys had drifted off the back, so I dropped back a bit to try to help him catch back on. After a few minutes, I realized that he just didn't have the legs and that I needed to get back into the peloton so I wouldn't be dropped too. The rest of the first lap was uneventful withe the second hill stretching the group and dropping a few more. Second lap, I found myself drifting back going up the climbs only to regain the group on the flats. My lack of cycling was really showing. Third lap, I lost contact with the group at the top of the first climb and had to work with a four other riders to get back to the group. We almost made it back by the second hill, but we were just short. The group was fractured again and I spent the last few miles trying furiously to get back to the group against a vicious head wind. I ended up pedaling to the finish on my own, passing one rider on the decent to come in ninth.

At the end of the race, the sun was out, the tempurture had warmed into the 50s, and I had no more energy. It was a good time to drive back to Madison and stop a Culver's for some supper. The nice thing about being moved up to a Category 3 is that most of the races are in the afternoon rather than early morning. This means I can sleep in and race during the warmest part of the day. It does take up the whole day, though, but I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday.