Shadow Riding and Training Racing

Helping with the officiating at the TX State criterium

OK, so I'm a wee bit overextended right now and, therefore, way behind on blog posts.  It is just one of those ironies of life that when things start getting busy and interesting, documentation tends to go out the window.  Just ask any programmer.  So here's a quick attempt to get caught up.

Last weekend I traveled with some of the Tulane riders to San Marcos, in the republic of Texas, for the Texas State collegiate race weekend.  From the outset, the weather was not looking real promising.  I rushed around on Friday, having taken the day off from work, picking up rental vehicles and running errands so we could hit the road around 2:00 pm, which of course turned out to be more like 2:30 pm.  With a threat of rain along the 8-hour route we had a lot of stuff squeezed into the back seat of the quad-cab pickup truck.  I was one of them.  The somewhat tight quarters were offset slightly by the fact that Kenny drove most of the way.  We made good time and arrived at the hotel about half an hour outside of town at a reasonable hour.  The minivan with the rest of the team had departed a bit later, but still arrived before midnight.

The Saturday morning road races started from the back of a shopping mall parking lot with a short neutral section before hitting the 9-something mile race loop. We got there about an hour before the scheduled start, but they were still setting up the registration tent.  As usual there were no portable toilets, so we rode down to the nearby Starbucks where a number of the other riders were hanging out for coffee and bathrooms.  By the time the first group, the Cat. b/c Women, started it was foggy and misty and a light rain was falling.  It would be Danielle's first road race.  I let a little air out of her tires and warned her about a sharp downhill right turn I'd seen on the course map I'd made on Strava. I would later learn that there had indeed been a crash there and that Danielle had rolled over someone's arm without going down and ended up in a 3-rider break that went all the way to the finish.  Since she was the only C rider, she got first place in that one.

Kenny and I put on our Tulane jerseys and were allowed to shadow the Men's A race.  This was great since it meant we'd be able to get in 50+ miles at a reasonable effort level.  The roads were wet, but I could have sworn they had been vacuum cleaned.  I would normally have expected a lot of flats with the wet roads and drizzly rain we had, but in fact there were hardly any.  Ben attacked maybe four or five miles in the 60-mile race and got away cleanly with one other rider.  I was surprised that an MSU rider wasn't represented, and more surprised that there was not very much of a chase.  Kenny and I were watching from the back of the pack and it was kind of frustrating to ride like that, trying to suppress your normal race instincts to chase, block, attack, etc. Anyway, at some point after the break was out of sight a couple of lone riders took off in pursuit. One of them took about a minute out of the gap, but still finished about three minutes behind the break.  Unfortunately Ben got outsprinted at the end but he was pretty happy with 2nd place anyway. Ben S. finished 4th in the Men's C race.

Steep.  Very steep.

That afternoon was a 3 mile time trial that featured a brutal 1 km climb up the infamous Fulton Ranch Road. Directions and information were very sketchy, which is to say we didn't know where the start or finish were.  After driving the whole thing and finding nobody at the bottom of the hill we returned to what we thought was the finish.  There we found out that everyone had to park there and the riders had to ride down to the start.  Danielle's group was the first off and she arrived with about five minutes to spare.  The climb was steep enough that some riders ended up walking, but Danielle was riding 650c wheels and a triple chainring bike so she was able to spin up the whole way, passing a couple of riders en route to the finish.

I felt that we really lucked out on the weather because it never rained for the TT.  Ben B. smoked the TT finishing second and the other Ben was 3rd in the TT, just 3 seconds out of 2nd. The next day they had her placed last in the time trial.  Looking at the start and finish times that were, fortunately, posted it was obvious that the math (which had been done with a spreadsheet) was wrong and her time was four minutes off.  After correcting her time and those of a few others, she moved up to 1st in the Cat. C time trial.  Dinner that night was at a little Mexican place in town which was pretty nice if you like Mexican food, which I don't.

So Sunday there were criteriums around the town square in San Marcos.  It was a nice course with a good little downhill and climb each lap, made even more interesting by a strong headwind on the climb.  The sky was cloudy but the rain held off all morning, which was great.  As usual, the course was not too well controlled, which meant that quite a few cars wandered into the course or had been trapped inside it when the roads had been barricaded.  There were two officials at the start/finish and I was volunteered to get video with my iPad for the numerous points primes and finishes.  At one point I think we had four Tulane people helping at the finish line with bells, lap cards, cameras, etc.  Anyway, Danielle got a good start and made the initial break of, I think, four riders but got gapped off on the climb a couple of laps later and was eventually caught by the remainder of the pack so she finished 4th in the C race.  Ben went with a break in the A race and as usual worked his butt off, finishing 3rd.  It was kind of a long drive back, but again Kenny drove the whole way (rather than be squashed into the back seat), and we arrived home at the remarkably early hour of 10:30 or so.  It's Thursday now and of course we're still waiting to see the official results.  Situation normal.

Yesterday was our second Wednesday Whirls out on the lakefront and the warmer temperature and slack wind attracted probably the biggest group we've had in a few years.  I think someone counted 36 riders.  I'd ridden that morning and was running a little late so I drove out to the Elysian Fields traffic circle parking lot with just enough time to make the 6:00 pm start.  We were doing three laps of the 6-mile circuit, which was just perfect for this time of year.  If I'd ridden out and back it would have been getting dark about when I got home.  This way, I got to hang around the parking lot and talk with the other guys for a while before leaving.  The training race itself was nice and smooth for the first lap and then got pretty fast as usual for the remainder.  At one point I had been riding in the shelter of the big group for so long I was worried that I wasn't getting enough training out of the training race.  I did eventually work my way up to the front a couple of times to put in some efforts, and with a kilo to go was positioned well near the front, but someone ahead of us eased up and we got streamed by the middle of the field about 500 meters before the finish and I was pretty much trapped after that.  Anyway, it was exciting to see the training race get the kind of turnout we used to have ten years ago.  Tomorrow I'm heading over to Baton Rouge to officiate the LSU collegiate race with Ricky. I am not yet prepared for that and may end up staying  up late tonight in order to get the registration and results spreadsheets ready. The weather is a little questionable for the weekend, so the rain gear is definitely going to be making the trip.