the old man can climb

Just finished my first bike race in a long, long time and I certainly don't feel well. As you can see from my MotionBased GPS readings , I pushed about as hard as I could but that was only good enough for last. Technically, I wasn't last 'cause another ERTC rider got lost on the course, dropped out and was planning on riding the Expert race. I completed four laps of the course in just under 36 minutes and was lapped towards the end of my third lap. There was still one rider just behind me when I dropped out but he had been closing the gap and I don't think I would have kept him behind me for much longer.

The race wasn't terribly interesting for me. The start was technical with some short climbs up a small hill. My bike handling skills seem to still be quite good as I was able to easily stay with the bunch and I even thought about a few daring passes in corners. There was also a tricky hill climb which most of the Sport racers decided to run up. The approach to the climb was along the side of the hill and then the course turned quickly to the right, down the hill, and immediately turned 180 degrees to a climb. On the first lap, I was able to take a good line, go wide and climb the entire hill out of the saddle. As I climbed and passed a few riders who were walking, I heard someone exclaim, "the old man can climb." I really didn't think I was old but this is definitely a young man's sport. On the second lap, I made an error on the hairpin, twisted my handle bars, ended up in a track stand but was able to recover from my standstill and climb even though I was in the wrong gear. I was forced to run up the hill on my third lap as I got lost amongst all the flagging and was outside the course so I had to jump off my bike, turn around and get back on course.

The only other points of interest to my race were three near falls. On lap two, I took the inside line down the hill towards the asphalt section. There was a bump in the grass just before the asphalt and I caught a little air and landed a little more forward that I would have liked with the transition to a hard, coarse surface just in front. Also on the second lap, my front wheel dug into one of the sand pits and I was forced to put one foot down to recover. On my fourth lap, I hit a small hole in the grass just before I had to turn into a downhill, off-camber corner. The bump jolted me forward and I was left with my elbows on the brake hoods. This is not good posture for a sketchy downhill section but I was able to recover.

I'm still intent on doing a few more cyclocross races before the year is out but I have confirmation that my conditioning is not good. According to MotionBased, I averaged 172 bpm, or 93% of my maximum heartrate, during the race. At least I was trying hard. The course was very tough and I didn't really enjoy it. It was good for the enclosed space but some sections were easy to lose your way and go off course. I also don't know why course designers insist on forcing racers to go up and down hills so often. It seemed the design was mostly an effort to tackle the one hill as much as possible, hit the few other obstacles in the area and keep the racers uncomfortable. The cyclocross course I enjoyed the most was in Edmonton and had a good mix of high speed stretches, technical turns and climbs. Consensus after that race was that there were only three places where you had to touch the brakes. This one had at least ten braking zones and went up or down the only hill eight times. Still, I imagine course design is very difficult, you cannot please all the people all the time and I'm sure some people thought it was a great course. I did enjoy the asphalt section and the spectators could see almost the entire course from one spot.