Mixed Results

Late Saturday night I checked the weather forecast up here in Iowa City, fearing the worst. All prior indications had been for cold and rain, so I was still keeping my options open for this one. What I saw, however, offered some hope. The rain seemed to be tracking south of the city, so I went ahead and mounted the Pro Race tire that I'd thrown in my bag at the last minute onto my rather heavy rear training wheel. The tire that was on there was essentially worn down into a rectangular section, so I figured at least the new tire would feel and corner a little better. I was really angry at myself for not checking which wheels were in my wheel bags, because if any race ever called for those nice lightweight SpeedCific wheels with the expensive cassette, this was it. Yeah, it's probably mostly in my head, but you know, sometimes that counts for a lot too.

By morning the forecast was much improved, and although the temperature would be only in the low 50s, it was looking like this race would be a "go" for me. It's always a little strange doing a race on an unfamiliar course where you don't know a single rider. Add to that the cold dry air, a steep little hill, and the somewhat subdued motivation of a "vacation" race, and it can make it hard to ride your best. I arrived at the course shortly after the women's race started and as soon as it ended I was able to get in a few laps around the course. I wasn't feeling too hot, but the big hill didn't seem as bad as I'd feared and otherwise the course was pretty wide open and fast. Knowing my usual response to cold weather and fast starts, I tried to get a good warmup before we were called to the line. As the official checked his start list I chatted with the rider next to me. His prediction was that the 40+ riders were going to basically blow the 50+ riders right off the road. He wouldn't be too far off the mark on that one.

The combined 40+ / 50+ race started out pretty fast, and since I got stuck behind a couple of riders who were fumbling with their pedals I found myself farther back in the group than I like. The combined race had maybe 25 riders or so -- fewer than I'd expected. Within the first lap or two, a couple of riders went clear. I was still stuck near the back and although my legs felt OK, there wasn't too much I could do about it at the time. Eventually I got up closer to the front where I could be more active in the race, but already I knew something was not quite right. Although the legs felt fine going up the hill, my lungs were having some real issues, presumably because of the cold dry air. Even so, I went with a couple of attacks and chased down a couple others, probably doing more work than I should have. Soon I was struggling to stay in contact when the pace would surge coming over the top of the hill. It was really frustrating. The two riders who'd escaped earlier were off on a winning break, and by the time we were halfway through the race I was having trouble just staying with the rapidly dwindling group. With maybe seven laps to go I was starting to lose contact just after the top of the hill and then clawing my way back, sometimes with the help of another rider or two, to the pack just in time to hit the hill again (lap times on the 1 km circuit were probably around 1:50). It was very much like doing intervals, only without most of the "recovery" part. With about two laps to go I finally came off the back for good, but by then the group looked to be down to eight of nine and there wasn't really anybody chasing me. I finished up the last two laps solo, rather demoralized, and in some minor respiratory distress. As it turned out I was 11th overall, which sounded about right. The surprise was that I was 2nd in the 50+ race, which meant I won enough to cover the gas back to maybe St. Louis!

The 31 year old race was apparently suffering from an unusually low turnout this year, but I was impressed with a number of things like the well-monitored intersections. At each one there were a couple of people from the local touring club, and each was armed with a broom that was used mainly to block clueless pedestrians when they tried to cross the street in front of the race. There were also lots of nice sponsor banners all around the course, and a small army of officials. The other thing that surprised me was how few actual police officers were present. Anyway, the race went smoothly, I felt substantially sub-par, but the weather worked out and I won more than my entry fee, so I'd have to give it a thumbs-up.

I just finished updating the Tour de La web page for 2008 (basically just changing the dates and stuff like that), and I got the online registration set up on BikeReg to open after the first week in May, so I just have to finish up the race permit on Tuesday. Tomorrow morning early I'll be on the road back to New Orleans after what must have been one of my lowest mileage weeks this year.