My first race!

It's been a while since I posted anything.  Sorry about that.  I hope to start posting more regularly again.  But I'll use this post to get caught up.

Looks like I posted my Crested Butte report, then just one other post since we got back.  And that was just for some time on the trainer, which isn't that exciting.

You know what else isn't exciting?  Biking to work.  I've commuted to work quite a bit since I last posted, but it just doesn't seem worth it to write a whole post just to say I rode my bike to work.  That's not to say I don't enjoy it.  I love to ride to work when I get the chance, and it's a lot more enjoyable than driving.  I can typically ride to work in about 40-45 minutes, depending on how I'm feeling.  And driving usually takes about a half-hour.  So, riding takes a little longer, but when I get home in the evening, I feel like I actually did something, and don't feel the urge to get on the trainer that night.

So, I might use these posts to mention that I rode to work, but I don't think it's really worth it to post ride data or anything.  I mean, it's just the same ride day after day.  I'd rather post when I do something interesting, like today . . .

But before I get to that, I'll mention a couple other rides I did recently.  And before I do THAT, I'll mention that my office has sponsored a 10-person team for the Good Sam Bike Jam, a bike charity ride  that happens every year.  Last year, my office sponsored a 6-person team.  This year, we had enough interested that we are sponsoring 10 riders.  And it looks like we're actually going to have 11, which is cool.  Most of us are doing the very-difficult 100-mile route, and a few of us are doing one of the shorter routes.  The ride is on September 15, so stay tuned for a post about that.

Lookout Mountain
But on August 14, a group of Bike-Jammers decided to get in a training ride after work.  We rode from our office in Denver out west to climb Lookout Mountain.  The ride was a mix of busy Denver roads, country roads, and a big climb of Lookout Mountain at the end.  Then turn around and head back the same way.  I felt pretty good, except for riding on occasionally busy streets in the dark on the way back.

 

Pole Hill Road
The following weekend, I did a ride with Lifetime Fitness on Sunday.  We did a ride up to Carter Lake, near Loveland.  At first, I was a little disappointed at how short the route was.  Last time I road to Carter Lake, we started at Lifetime, for a nearly 90-mile ride.  This time, we were starting near the town of Hygiene, making for a 40-mile out-and-back.  After my initial disappointment, I took another look at the route and elevation profile and saw that we were tacking on a really big climb just past Carter Lake, before turning around.   That extra challenge made it worth it.  The ride to Carter Lake is pretty nice, and that climb up Pole Hill Road was brutal.  It was really hot out, with no breeze, which made it that much tougher.  All in all, a good ride.



Best on Hess Time Trial
Then, after another few days of riding to work, I just rode in my first race today.  A month or so ago, I thought I might want to try racing, instead of just solo or club rides.  I looked on the local racing calendar, but couldn't find much.  Most of the road races in the area take place in the spring, and currently the season is coming to a close, getting ready for mountain bike and cyclocross season.  But I did find a time trial that sounded like fun, called Best on Hess down in Castle Pines.  They had a separate category for folks like me that didn't have "aero" time trial gear.  And it seemed like a time trial would be a good way for me to race without endangering other riders due to my lack of experience.

Since this was my first race, I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I had one of the first starting times, so I had to get there pretty early.  The parking lot was pretty empty, so I got myself a good spot and started getting ready.  I kept an eye on everyone else, to see what they were doing.  First, I stopped up at the registration table to pick up my bib number.  Then, back to the car to get my shoes on.  Someone at work advised me to bring my trainer with me, so I pulled that out of the trunk at set it up.  I rode for about 15 minutes on the trainer, watching other riders slowly trickle in.  Then, I took a break, grabbed a Clif Bar and some water and walked around for a few minutes.  Then back on the trainer for about another 20 minutes.  Then it was time to head over to the starting ramp.  The start line was about a quarter mile down the road, so I rode over there and got in line.  We all got ourselves in order by our start time, then I just waited for my turn.  This race actually had a real start ramp, like I see on the pro time trials, which was cool.  I walked up the ramp, and someone held the back of my bike for me while I clipped into my pedals and waited for the countdown.  The timer counted down, the started said "go", and off I went.

It was a short but difficult course, about 9 miles with some tough hills.  If you look at the details of the ride below, you can see an elevation profile showing you what I was dealing with.  I was doing my best to use all my training from this year, and keep a close eye on my heart rate, to make sure I didn't overexert myself to the point where I collapsed before the finish.  I think I ended up doing ok, finishing pretty strong and leaving nothing left in the tank.  I didn't completely collapse at the finish, but I was pretty close.  I headed back to the parking lot and got off my bike, taking some time to walk around bit.  After checking out some of the bikes in the parking lot, and chatting with a few other riders, they posted the results.  I ended up getting 9th out of 26 riders in my "non-aero" category.  Top 10!  How about that!  I thought that was pretty good for my first race.  Not enough to win some beer, but I'm happy nonetheless.  Yay for me!

**Update:  The results were just posted online, where I could see more info.  Looks like other than one person, everyone who beat me was a Cat 2 or Cat 4, so that's pretty cool.  Online results HERE.


This week was the USA Pro Challenge.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to go watch any of the race in person yet, but I've watched on TV every night after work.  Tomorrow is the final stage, and it's in Denver.  I'm going to go for a ride first thing in the morning, then the whole family is heading downtown to watch.  We've had a great time the last two years when we've gone to see the race, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race.

This is my longest post in a while, and that seems like enough for tonight.  Stay tuned for more!