So law school is back in full swing, and unfortunately we didn’t ease into it but rather hit the ground running. Its been a very busy January so far with school work and trying to find a job here in Raleigh doing something legal for the summer, training, becoming a usa cycling official, helping promote a race and getting my first race in. Good news is I will definitely be here working with the law as I have been offered a job, however Im still looking and hoping to find something else I can split my summer with. Wish id known it earlier as I wanted to get a summer crit series going here in Raleigh but wasn’t sure enough about my job situation. Oh well maybe next summer.
As I mentioned in the last post both marshall and I attended the officials clinic a few weeks back and passed the test to become an official. Im excited as I really enjoy not just riding and racing my bike, but the sport of cycling in general including watching, promoting, and now officiating races. Im not sure how many races Ill be working this year as my main focus is still racing and I only get so many free days from the wife. Id like to at least get my three apprenticeship races in, though. My real plan is to have gotten started in this early enough that by the time I get old and cant really race any more I will have been doing it long enough to have the opportunity to do some big national level races, rather than just starting then.
So the Campbell Criterium is official. Here is the flyer…
https://www.usacycling.org/events/getflyer.php?permit=2012-511
I really think this is going to be a great race and definitely worth the trip down for any of your in the Raleigh area. Its not your usual crit. Should be hard but fun and not as monotonous as doing 40 laps around a parking lot.
Onto more exciting things though like racing. So the first race of the NC road race season was last Saturday on the Ace Speedway. I rode up Saturday morning and after finding it much farther off the interstate than I expected, I ended up getting there only about 30mins before my race start. I ran over and registered, got my stuff together and headed to the track with less than 15 mins before the start. Iv still not figured out the best way to “warm up” before a race (feel free to comment with your strategy) but right now I like to start easy, then put in a hard 30-60 sec effort. Ill follow that with another minute of easy spinning, then Ill put in 1 or 2 3-5 min threshold efforts (depending on time constraint). One more max effort mixed in with some easy pedaling and im as ready as I know how to be.
Anyway by the time the call was made for us to start I lined up in the rear of the field. There were over 50 riders in the 4/5 field and we were set to ride for 40 minutes. This was by far the largest field Iv ever rode in and the longest crit iv done. This isn’t necessarily a big time race on the calendar because of the prize money but being the first race of the year everyone had come out to test their race legs. The plan for the race was to sit in and try and get to the finish with the pack seeing as it was such a long race and there were a lot of really strong cat 4 guys there. From the start gun there were several really string guys up front just drilling it. I was tucked in pretty comfortably about ¾ of the way back and just along for the ride. It was by far the fastest crit iv been in but it was much more controlled than any of the collegiate races will be. Although, everyone was pretty nervous and trying to remember how to ride in a pack being on a short track with high banked turns, we were still turning sub minute laps always being over 25 mph.
Not to much exciting to talk about in the middle of the race, just following wheels and trying to stay sheltered. As with any crit there were surges where folks were getting shed off the back, but unlike past years I had no problem covering and even going across gaps that opened during those surges. In the weeks leading up to it I finished my base three period and felt like I had some pretty good fitness. Honestly I never really felt in much difficulty during the race. Coming up on three laps to go I realized I was going to be able to hold on and finish with the field. So when the opportunity came I swung up to the outside and put in a pretty hard effort and moved up several spots. I sat in for the next lap, then on the last lap the field started the final drive. I jumped behind a pretty big guy to try and get as much shield as possible, then after the last turn the top 25 or so started to sprint. I jumped out from around the guy I was following and caught the tail end up the sprit group but just didn’t have that high end speed to go around. I’m not sure where I finished, but I accomplished exactly what I wanted. I felt strong, finished with the field and got comfortable in the race peloton before the first collegiate race of the year.
Over the next couple weeks Iv moved into build phase and started some intensity. With school though Im down to only about 6-7 hours a week of training. I ordered the Carmichael time crunched cyclist book and am going to try and incorporate that into Freils training plan to make the most of the time. I really feel with my good base I can build off it with these short more intense efforts.
Anyway the season had begun on a good note and I v got a lot of hope for the upcoming year. Il try to update after NCSU race weekend.
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