Mar 27, 2011 at 10:12 PM
Hey all,
This weekend I lined up for the San Dimas Stage Race out in California. I was here for this last year - it was my first race as a four and I got absolutely pummeled so this was a revenge mission of sorts, though my expectations were limited. "Be relatively competitive rather than get bitch-slapped" was my realistic goal.
On Friday I got 24th in the 3.8-mile prologue TT and while that’s nothing to write home about, I honestly didn’t feel too bad as last year I was out of the top 40, and frankly some of these kids out here climb like I can’t believe, even in the 4s and 5s.
Saturday was the road race, 6 laps on a 7-mile rolling circuit with a ½ mile hill that has about a ¼ mile 13% kicker. After the TT the day before I developed a sore throat and when I woke up I was feeling awful with a head full of snot and a cough. I felt like crap but not so crappy I couldn’t race. Last year the RR started so aggressively, I wasn’t ready for it, and I was at the back getting yo-yoed, caught behind a crash, and dropped by lap 3. This year I vowed to get to and stay at the front. Dan and Marc’s advice rang in my head – if you’re not constantly moving up, you’re moving back. I’m happy to say I spent most of the race in the top 20, and on the final two I was almost always top 10. Ultimately I didn’t have the legs for the final push to the finish, and a shifting error didn’t help (oops, did the 13 percent kicker in the big ring and wondered why I couldn’t hang with the 20 guys who passed me that I was torching up that hill the previous 5 times). But I was in good position, right next to the leader’s and KOM jerseys for most of the race, so compared to last year I was happy.
I entered today in about 30th place, knowing that the 35 minute 6-corner crit would offer few chances to improve that but I wanted to race hard and make an impact in some way. My cold had gotten even worse, I was late, my trainer skewer was missing so no proper warm up, almost forgot to sign-in, it was wet and cold, and I staged up at the back, with no teammates, of course. The thing was strung out from the gun and I spent 20 minutes of hell moving up and talking myself out of quitting. Finally I got to the front. Recovered a bit, countered one move with 5 to go (I think I heard the PA guy say “Kissena rider from Brookyn” as we crossed the start/finish), a couple guys went with me and we got a small gap but nobody was letting anything really develop at that point and we were shut down pretty quick.
I didn’t feel like contesting the sprint in the wet with all the massive beasts around me when I knew I had little chance of success so I took one final pull, literally on the front, trying to help keep the pace high for the race leader, who I had offered to help because he’s a teammate of my little brother’s, and a nice guy. After half a lap on the front, I bombed the second turn of the final lap and my bike just went out from under me. There had been a crash in exactly the same spot midway through the race. Yes, I crashed while I was literally on the front. First wheel. One guy ran over me as I watched my rear wheel fly through the air, but he stayed up, somehow. I’m pretty scraped up and a little sore but nothing serious. The medical tent was awesome, cleaned and bandaged me, checked for concussion, a mechanic looked at my bike, and someone got me some recovery drink during.
Anyway, awesome race, but I’m looking forward to racing with some other guys in the same kit.
I have a lot of connections out here now and I hope maybe I can organize a group of us to do this race next year, or at least some kind of little mini-camp in the winter. A couple of the NY teams do that, I’ve seen them out here, it would be awesome if we could.
Now I’m in bed, wounds dressed, NyQuil downed, and ready to get up in about 14 hours.
This weekend I lined up for the San Dimas Stage Race out in California. I was here for this last year - it was my first race as a four and I got absolutely pummeled so this was a revenge mission of sorts, though my expectations were limited. "Be relatively competitive rather than get bitch-slapped" was my realistic goal.
On Friday I got 24th in the 3.8-mile prologue TT and while that’s nothing to write home about, I honestly didn’t feel too bad as last year I was out of the top 40, and frankly some of these kids out here climb like I can’t believe, even in the 4s and 5s.
Saturday was the road race, 6 laps on a 7-mile rolling circuit with a ½ mile hill that has about a ¼ mile 13% kicker. After the TT the day before I developed a sore throat and when I woke up I was feeling awful with a head full of snot and a cough. I felt like crap but not so crappy I couldn’t race. Last year the RR started so aggressively, I wasn’t ready for it, and I was at the back getting yo-yoed, caught behind a crash, and dropped by lap 3. This year I vowed to get to and stay at the front. Dan and Marc’s advice rang in my head – if you’re not constantly moving up, you’re moving back. I’m happy to say I spent most of the race in the top 20, and on the final two I was almost always top 10. Ultimately I didn’t have the legs for the final push to the finish, and a shifting error didn’t help (oops, did the 13 percent kicker in the big ring and wondered why I couldn’t hang with the 20 guys who passed me that I was torching up that hill the previous 5 times). But I was in good position, right next to the leader’s and KOM jerseys for most of the race, so compared to last year I was happy.
I entered today in about 30th place, knowing that the 35 minute 6-corner crit would offer few chances to improve that but I wanted to race hard and make an impact in some way. My cold had gotten even worse, I was late, my trainer skewer was missing so no proper warm up, almost forgot to sign-in, it was wet and cold, and I staged up at the back, with no teammates, of course. The thing was strung out from the gun and I spent 20 minutes of hell moving up and talking myself out of quitting. Finally I got to the front. Recovered a bit, countered one move with 5 to go (I think I heard the PA guy say “Kissena rider from Brookyn” as we crossed the start/finish), a couple guys went with me and we got a small gap but nobody was letting anything really develop at that point and we were shut down pretty quick.
I didn’t feel like contesting the sprint in the wet with all the massive beasts around me when I knew I had little chance of success so I took one final pull, literally on the front, trying to help keep the pace high for the race leader, who I had offered to help because he’s a teammate of my little brother’s, and a nice guy. After half a lap on the front, I bombed the second turn of the final lap and my bike just went out from under me. There had been a crash in exactly the same spot midway through the race. Yes, I crashed while I was literally on the front. First wheel. One guy ran over me as I watched my rear wheel fly through the air, but he stayed up, somehow. I’m pretty scraped up and a little sore but nothing serious. The medical tent was awesome, cleaned and bandaged me, checked for concussion, a mechanic looked at my bike, and someone got me some recovery drink during.
Anyway, awesome race, but I’m looking forward to racing with some other guys in the same kit.
I have a lot of connections out here now and I hope maybe I can organize a group of us to do this race next year, or at least some kind of little mini-camp in the winter. A couple of the NY teams do that, I’ve seen them out here, it would be awesome if we could.
Now I’m in bed, wounds dressed, NyQuil downed, and ready to get up in about 14 hours.
