In the interest of maintaining (and maybe gaining) fitness for the Wilderness 101, I headed down to the Oval for another round of suffering in the C race (because what’s the best way to train for a 100 mile mountain bike race? Riding around a flat oval for 45 minutes, of course!). I really had no idea what to expect, given the only time I’ve spent on the bike in the last three weeks has been commuting. In the meantime, everyone else has been racing and riding on the weekends. The weather was quite nice, albeit a bit chilly. All the better, though.

We were off. The pace didn’t seem terrible, and I stayed near the back of the bunch. Not bad, I thought. I can do this. Then, the pace increased, and I shot off the back, this time, at least, with some company. I felt terribly, and thought very hard about moving left and sitting up and calling it a night. One of the marshals (the incredibly patient and helpfup Chris Mayhew) tried to pace me back on, which lasted for about the length of the back straight. I fell off again, and Chris promptly collected the rest of the chaff and organized a fairly well-run paceline. We kept this together for about 10 laps or so, never really gaining on the pack, but never really losing ground either. This effort fell apart, however, and the pack gained on us. A few of us managed to grab a wheel as the bunch rode by, and I hung on for a lap or so before another acceleration sent me packing. A small group of three formed, and we worked through the final laps more or less together.

Hey, at least I wasn’t last, right?

Since we’ll be climbing more on the weekends in the next month or so, I will probably continue racing, if only to maintain fitness. It is no fun falling off the back of the pack, but once our group organized, the paceline was fun, and the suffering was manageable. I suppose my humble goal will be to increase the number of laps I stick with the pack. Baby steps. I also have to decide if I want to upgrade to STI shifters. Several people (including Jen) have noted that running bar end shifters is probably a disadvantage, but the curmudgeon in me likes the friction shifters, and, really, I’m fairly certain that’s not why I’m so slow.

Posted on 21 May 2008