Race Report: Haymarket Winter Bike Series Race #3

Sunday, January 23rd was the coldest day in the history of mankind and I was going for a bike ride. The starting line temperature was 15 degrees and I was surrounded by some hardcore cyclists that were ready to crush each other on a long ride to Mt. Weather. It was going to be a tough day.

I know a few things about racing in the bitter cold. I learned that Heatmax hand and feet warmers can be differentiators when running or riding in the extreme cold. Keep the hands and feet warm and the rest will take care of itself. At least I would be comfortable......temperature wise.

This is the second ride I had done in this series. I missed the 2nd race. This time around the group was much smaller. Instead of 80 riders, like the first race, we were a mere 25. Jared announced that the first part of the ride was to warm up, Snickersville would be at a brisk pace, meet in Blumont and regroup, then head to Mt Weather where it would be game-on to the DHS overpass. Then it would be game-on again to the shop. Piece of cake!

Snickersville was fun. I felt much more aggressive and even though a small group got away, I felt good taking pulls on the main peloton. Arriving into Blumont was a welcome site. I stopped and broke out my fig newtons when Jared announced that the group was leaving.....I just stopped and was still breathing hard. I decided to go with the led group and see how I faired. There were about 12 of us. We coasted up the Blumont hill to 7 and then all heck broke loose on the Mt Weather....it was truly a blur and I don't remember much of it. I know I got dropped like a rock but I wasn't the last one in the group. By the time I made it to the DHS overpass the leaders were done resting and leaving......no rest for the wicked....or the slow pokes. I caught up to them and was completely out of gas. Once we hit 50 the group got splintered up and I found myself riding with two other guys that got split up from the main group. We worked together taking pulls and cranked back to the shop.

Frankly, I am out of my league riding with these guys. but as a friend once told me, 'You gotta run/ride with the monsters to get better'.

There were quite a few lessons that I learned from these two races. The first is that if you are not in the front you don't have any control of your own pace. For a triathlete that is a rude awakening. I have always been use to dictating when I go hard and when I back off. Group riding can get into your head....if you are not ready to go then you are going to get dropped and you are done. Lesson two: when it's really cold you got to keep your bottles ice free. This was a problem later in the ride. I had two blocks of ice on my rig while only consuming one water bottle over 3:30 hours. Dehydration sucks eggs. Lesson three: I am not as fast as I thought I was. There is always someone faster but boy, why did they all show up on this race!

I had a total blast and the exposure to some riders that I have never met before was enlightening.