On The Schardar: April 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

It isn't easy being green... in Greene County

This past Saturday, April 21, was the Greene County Road Race, just outside of Waynesburg, PA. It was the kind of day that any hardened, battle tested, steely-eyed warrior road cyclist relished, a rainy, mid-April day chilled to a shiver inducing 50 degrees. The course was one of the most beautiful courses for this kind of race on this kind of day too, flat to gently rolling, narrow roads with an occasional small/mid-sized hill thrown in. This is the kind of course and the kind of day I... well, I like to think I thrive in.

As our group rolled out at 12:35 for our 36 mile excursion into cycling nirvana, the pace was friendly for the first four and a half miles. Around that point, there was a sharp, hairpin kind of turn, and right out of that turn, the screws were turned and the race was on full.

Feeling good and "settled in" at 25-29MPH, I was in the front end of the group where all the action was... attack, counter-attack, chase, catch, attack again... good to be racing! About eight to nine miles into the race the first hill came to further challenge us. At the front half of the group we charged up the hill. I blinked. In that blink I went from the front of the group to off the back of the group and losing ground. I clawed and scratched in anger and desperation to stay in contact but the gap was widening with each additional eye blink.

Gone. Gone was the group, my motivation, my impetus. Second road race in a row where I couldn't stay with the group. The next twenty-something miles were spent riding by myself, alone with my thoughts in my crazy head. I pedaled along, still enjoying the light rain and the beautiful surroundings of the course, but coming to an understanding, albeit discouragement induced, that my racing days are over.

This conclusion came from the realization that I'm just not able to get the training needed to stay with the group let alone be able to be competitive at the finish line. Trying to juggle the rest of current life and still get quantity and quality training miles in simply isn't working. I'm ready to retire. It's been a good twenty years.

That evening, a friend, Jay Downs, commented to me that I need to focus solely on criteriums. Haha... yeah, okay. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Criteriums, a race usually around a closed city block, are fast, flat, and are an hour or less in race time. Hmmm... that's what I gotta do. That is the answer. Well, that and time trials which are also under an hour. I can devote just one hour a day of super high intensity training, and I don't even need to leave my house, and can still balance out the rest of life's blessings and opportunities.

Like a crazed scientist, I started working on a "Meth Lab" (Meth, as in Methods Of Suffering), and will for now on be doing my riding and training there, indoors, with an occasional road workout to work on sprints. This should allow me to be pack worthy and hopefully even competitive again, and be able to better my juggling act. We'll see how this will work out and what further adjustments I have to make. I'll miss road races but you gotta choose your battles, and I do enjoy criteriums and time trials, so it's all good. While I was "given in" to the idea of race retirement, I wasn't ready for it. I still have more in me that needs this outlet.

My "Meth" Lab, tho more has been added since this picture.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Morgantown Road Race - A Classic In The Making

On April 2, 2011 I arrived at the Mason-Dixon Park in Mount Morris, PA to compete in the Morgantown Road Race, only to find conditions seen in this picture below. Big, fat snow flakes were coming down almost in sheets. The race was delayed by almost an hour and just as there were talks of canceling the event the snow quit, the sun came out (though it was still cold), and the race went on. It was an epic event for sure!

Fred Jordan Photography - 2011 Morgantown Road Race

Fast forward to this past weekend, April 7, 2012, the scene for the Morgantown Road Race was entirely different. Barely a cloud in the sky, it was a most beautiful 60 degree day for the hard, rugged 50 mile road race. And cyclists from all around agreed as it was a record breaking turn out. In attendance with me were teammates Mark Briercheck and Dave Shaffer, both first time participants in this epic encounter.

As we rolled out of town, away from the start line and into the glory of southern PA and northern WV, our group stayed together albeit with a hasty pace, speckled with an occasional attack by someone that was eventually brought back into the fold. But just under half way into the race there was an attack that formed into a small group of about six or seven that was successful in riding away from the rest of us. I thought for sure that being so early into the race, and with the looming big climbs ahead, they wouldn't be gone for long. I was wrong.

Personally, I was feeling great. I've been training hard and consistent... and resting equally so for recovery. When we got to the first "big" climb of the day, all that training and preparation fell by the wayside as I was developing a lower back pain, and the harder I worked to get up the climb and stay with the group, the more unbearable it became. It doesn't matter how good you're feeling, when you have a back issue like that it's hard to keep the momentum going and generate the needed power output. At least that's how it is for me.

By the time we got to the top I was dangling off the back like a low hanging apple on the tree ready to fall to the ground for a brusing. I saw Briercheck a head of me and was determined to stay with him. Fortunately what goes up, also goes down, and I go down pretty quick as I can descend rather well. On the descent I caught back up and went right back to the front of the group and stayed there until the second, and much bigger climb. Pop... that was it. My back was killing me. It was all I could do just to get up what was a mountain at this point. I slugged it out, got to the top, and down the other side, and this time it even hurt a lot to go downhill. I got together with some other guys who fell off the pace, we re-grouped, and got our little train rolling. Eventually we picked up Mark and a few other guys and Mark whipped us into a nice rotating paceline, very workman like, and we caught another group that was just a head of us. Now, as a bigger group, we motored along, again, until another big climb where I promptly fell off the pace in pain. Same story... repeat. I bombed my way down the other side, passing people, even Mark, and I was gone. I dug deep, caught up to the leading remnants of what was our big group, and we got on with business. They wound up dropping me once-and-for-all as I just couldn't keep with them even on the small rolling hills, and I came across the finish line... all alone and around 14:00 off the winning time. I finished the 50 mile race in 2:23:30 in 26th place, Mark Briercheck finished one place behind me and Dave Shaffer met his goal of finishing the race in 33 place.

Two days after this race I met with my chiropractor and he snapped me like a Slim Jim back into shape and gave me some suggestions, and Todd Schoeni from Pro Bikes suggested I get a bike fit to help with the back pain. With what I get from the two of them I hope to beat this nagging nemesis of mine once and for all and get on with actual racing! As for the race itself, it has everything a die hard cyclist could want... rugged beauty, narrow roads, glorious climbs, fast descents, and "on-the-rivet" sections of speed, not to mention the relative unknown of weather, blustery snow one year and bountiful sunshine the next. A classic indeed!