Yet another blog where I type about what I know best, bike racing. I’ve done hundreds of bike races and don’t want to think about what that equates to in registration fees. If you really think about it, paying for bike races is like paying for health insurance. I buy into these races, they keep me motivated to train and live healthy, and the return is that I stay out of the healthcare system (until I have a bad crash). I’ve been racing pedal bikes for a long time now, and I’ll continue to race far into the future. I’ve noticed that I go through bi-yearly kicks of fitness hunting, and I think that has a lot to do with my life “schedule”. For example, in year 1, moving into a new home/state/job takes up a lot of time and focus. In year 2, I'm more comfortable with where I am and fill my time with being competitive.
All that said, 2023 is a bike fitness kick year. I’ve been doing some intervals, signing up for bike races, and using the fitness gained during my cross-country bike trip to fuel the fire. I recently wrote about Racing in the Underground, but Wednesday night's bike race was firmly in the above-ground. I’ve always sought out places that host weeknight bike races. Where I grew up, the local team hosted criterium events at local raceways or business parks. When I lived in Minneapolis, Wirth on Wednesdays was a hit and regularly attracted 200-300 bike racers. In Salt Lake City, there was nothing, but I lived there during peak COVID, and the weekday series events had been canceled. Nowadays, TNE and Bike Utah host a couple of weekday events. Bellingham is no different, and the community here leads the Whatcom World Cup series, a 10-race summer event series with Downhill, Enduro, XC, and pump track racing.
Since I broke my foot earlier this summer, I hadn't done any WWCs. I did quite a few last year, but the goal has always been to do the entire series (minus the pump track races). This past Wednesday was the first one I was healthy enough to do, and luckily, it was also an XC event. My normal XC bike was in the shop, but thankfully, my roommate lent me his. I threw on a new tire and some pedals and was off racing around on a plastic (read: carbon) bike for the first time in over a year. The course was straightforward, two climbs, two descents on mostly singletrack. Each climb was about 2min long, and the descents were meandering with plenty of pedaling in between. Laps took about 10 minutes to complete, and we had 45min to do as many as possible. Most racers were able to finish 4 or 5 laps.
The last time I wrote about a race, my girlfriend said it was far too short. I’ll try to do a little better, mostly because she’s the only one I know who reads these blogs (thank you, baby, love you lots). Quick excuse time, the evening before the race, I had done a hard group ride, and the legs were feeling quite raw. However, 3 of the 7 people who beat me had also been on that ride, so I don’t have any excuses.
The race started spicy and ended spicier. I started 3rd or 4th row, right behind my teammate Justin, and he promptly lost his pedal right out of the gate. After navigating around him and following a good wheel, I went 4th into the singletrack. Despite a good warm-up, I was already feeling my legs and lungs, and they told me to slow down. I was able to quickly recover on the descent, but in the next section of road was passed by one person. They were a ripper of a descender, and halfway down the descent, I "lost" my tire in a corner, most likely from following too close and not being able to react to the terrain. The bike went off trail one way, and I went the other, and aside from some cuts and bruises, I ended up fine. I recovered quickly, only losing about 10 seconds in the crash, but never saw that rider again. The next lap I slotted in behind Justin, Andy, and Logan, losing some time on the fire road climbs and gaining it back on the descents, but the course had just enough elevation that I never recovered well enough to get back on their wheels once I lost them mid-way through lap 2. After the second lap, where the initial gaps formed, everyone stayed about level with one another, not losing or gaining more than a few seconds per lap. Midway through the last lap, I caught one of the riders in front of me, but since we were already through the passing zones, I knew there was essentially zero chance of passing him before the finish. The finish straight was short, but if it were another 50ft there may have been a chance to get by the rider. I finished 8th after 50+ minutes of racing, only 45 seconds off 3rd place, but 4 minutes off of the win! Crazy how fast those top-level guys are. I’d like to win something soon, it's been a while. Also, Crystal got 3rd overall in the women's event!!! So stoked for her.
What’s next? Aside from a couple of Whatcom World Cups, the Marji Gesick! I’ve done this race 3 times and have never finished it. In year 1, I was woefully under-prepared mentally, physically, and calorically. In year 2, I got lost around mile 35 and rode an extra 25 miles during mid-day. That was a bummer, and it should have been the year I attained my belt buckle. In year 3, I just quit, not quite sure, but I recall going too hard early on. I have zero excuses this year, and if I don’t get the buckle, I won’t ever be doing this event again.
I hope the added detail in this blog was appreciated, Crystal 😉
Comments