Bonts and Breaks

I was a little surprised today when I checked Strava and realized that I'd logged four weeks of riding without a single missed day and between 240 and 280 miles per week. It was only during the past week that I started to feel good on the bike again, so although I don't feel like I'm quite 'there' yet, at least there seems to be some improvement.

Last week I finally broke down and got a new pair of riding shoes. I've been riding with Nike Poggio's since 2006.  I think they stopped making them around that time. I was on my second pair and they were, literally, falling apart at the seams. After quite a bit of research I decided to try a pair of Bont Vaypor shoes.  Last year's model, of course.  On sale, of course. There's just no way I can wear the stylish Italian shoes like Sidis that compress toes together. I gave them about a 50% chance of being compatible with my troublesome right foot, especially since I was kind of throwing the dice as to the correct size. Now, these are the heat-moldable kind of shoes, so I popped them in the convection oven at 160F for twenty minutes, stuck my feet with two pair of socks into them and did my best to mold the uppers and to a lesser extent the footbed to fit my feet. Surprisingly, when I wore them on the Saturday Giro Ride they felt pretty good.  They are quite different from regular riding shoes and have a significant built-in arch, but it appears that my toes like them.  I rode them today for a 65 mile road race and really liked them.

Saturday Giro

Speaking of the race, I registered for the Feliciana Road Race with a bit of trepidation. It was looking like there would be a pretty big Masters field and my confidence level was running kind of low. One thing I know for sure, however.  I can't get into race shape without racing. I'd ridden the Saturday Giro Ride, mostly sitting in and taking it easy. Fortunately, my legs felt OK Sunday morning as I drove up to St. Francisville to join the 28-rider Master's race. After an easy first mile or two, the attacks started. I was not having a whole lot of trouble responding to them, and the pack was pulling them back, but the whole time the pace was staying well above 25 mph average, so I knew it would eventually take its toll. We were less than fifteen miles into the first lap when the first break went clear. It had riders from the three strongest teams in it, and none from ours, but the blockade at the front allow them to establish a huge gap very quickly and I knew we wouldn't be seeing them again. I guess there were five or six riders in that group.  A while later a smaller group of two or three got away. That time the gap didn't increase very quickly and a little coordinated chase could have brought it back, but even though there were still a lot of riders in the pack, there just didn't seem to be the will to do anything about it.  I guess part of it was because none of those riders were in the 55+ race, which was combined with the 40+ race, so the 55+ riders basically didn't care.  I hate when that happens.  Anyway, I felt pretty good on the hills, which was a real confidence-booster.  Even so, by that time there were nearly ten riders up the road and I was resigned to just making it a training ride. The last lap was fairly dull as everyone was waiting for the two big climbs prior to the finish.

I was riding second wheel in the last couple of miles, and when the rider in front of me stood up and attacked the second-to-last hill I went with him.  We got a big gap, but as we got to the top he suddenly cramped up, leaving me about a mile from the finish line, in a headwind.  Not good.  I think if we could have worked together we could have stayed out there to the finish.  Anyway, I bogged down on the next climb but managed to get back into the group when they came by and mounted about 75% of a respectable sprint for the 300 meter drag race after the last hill. My placing pretty much sucked, but my happy feet and the hint of returning race fitness made it a pretty good day.