April 26, 2011, Boxwood Criterium #1
Nanaimo BC

The whining
I've been struggling with my riding. The lousy weather here in Canada (Vancouver Island) means that over the winter, a majority of the riding was indoors. I was riding for half hour sessions and very few times included intensity. Sometimes I'd go outside, all bundled up, and then it would start raining and I might only get 15 minutes. I discovered that if it was 45 degrees or colder, my legs would tighten up considerably and the ride would be quite a struggle and it seemed unproductive. So I did not get a lot of hours and not much hard training over the last 6 months. Prior to a year ago, I'd rarely miss riding every day. Now it's almost once a week. Previously I considered an hour a day to be a minimum to be able to race.

On top of that, my injuries haven't helped. Occasionally I'd cut my ride short because my left knee would start to hurt and I didn't want to just push through it and possibly cause more damage (this is not supposed to improve). The left rib is a constant, though small ache now and hasn't been an inhibitor. The collar bone has healed and the soft damage around the shoulder has almost completely healed (until recently I could not sleep on my left side or take a tee shirt off by crossing my arms and grabbing the shirt at the bottom).

Another factor is the moves, both the physical effort to move and the new geographic location. Although I was in pretty good shape, the lifting of boxes and belongings for several weeks was surprisingly exhausting. During the initial drive up from AZ I had my bike and trainer handy so that I could do a half hour spin in the motel room. Yet after 5 days of sitting in a truck, my right ankle had swollen considerably and took about a week to recover. This last move from Port Alberni to Ladysmith didn't have that long drive, but still depleted my energy. I also developed a bad case of cramps when we arrived in BC, which would lock up my legs in pain, but not during riding, it occurs either while sleeping or getting out of a recliner. I'd get a big knot that I'd try to pound with my fist to stop the pain. I can make them cramp on demand if I just straighten them out strongly. My right forearm has also developed a soreness that has taken weight lifting out of the equation There also seems to be more obligations that interfere with the ability to keep to a regime, such as setting up a new place and family gatherings and giving assistance to family members.

So lately my riding has been a real struggle and rarely an hour (maybe half a dozen times in the last 6 months have I ridden for an hour or more). Last Friday I was out (and having a difficult time riding due to aches and pains) and after about 35 minutes I just felt drained and had to turn towards home to make sure I had enough strength to make it back. Saturday I tried some sprints and was surprised that I felt good on 2 out of the 3, although my speeds weren't impressive. Sunday I didn't ride and Monday was raining again, so an easy half hour on the trainer where the first 5 minutes were torture, the legs screaming as if I were trying to continue after just riding 200 miles. These are not at all the sensations I experienced a year ago and all the above circumstances have made it impossible to attempt to set up any training schedules and thus season goals.

The racing
So the weather looked like it was going to be pretty good for the Tuesday night criterium (the first of the weekday races of the season), although it had been raining in the early afternoon. I thought I'd give it a shot and made the changes to my break-away bike to convert it from a fixed gear to a multi gear bike. I had had it painted again just prior to leaving Arizona and this created some complications with the change over, taking much more time than anticipated. The race time had not been announced and I assumed that racing would begin at 6 pm. I didn't get into the car with all my stuff until 5:46 for the 20 plus minute drive to the course, but thought that I could always just jump into the ongoing race if I got there late as I anticipated that I'd have a tough time completing the race anyway. I got to the course and they had moved the parking area around the corner and I finally saw the registration tent (only $5 registration) and parked at 6:13. Fortunately the race would begin promptly at 6:30 with the first 4 laps to be at a neutral pace due to 2 novice participants that would be starting with us. I was ready with 7 minutes to go, but thought I'd do some jumps on the bike to make sure it was functional and discovered that I had neglected to tighten the handlebars. Fortunately I'd brought some tools, so after returning to the car I straightened them out and tightened them down.

It was clear, calm, and dry, but only 50 degrees. I had 3 layers on top and two on the bottom, in addition to my bib shorts. I had forgotten to bring my gloves. Before the race began, I asked Peter (who runs the race almost single handedly) if there were going to be any primes and got the usual answer of "we'll see", but at least I put the thought in his mind. There were seven riders in our group, plus the 2 novices, a kid about 12 years old and his mom. The first 4 laps were only at 20 mph and took 8:30 to complete, so a nice start for me. The rest of the riding only picked up to about 23 mph, so I had a chance to be able to finish. Simon and Mike appeared to be the strongest of the group and would eventually finish First and Second respectively. After a total of 7 laps, Peter announced a $10 prime on the next lap. I got on Simon's wheel and he jumped with about 225 m to go. I sat on his wheel and patiently waited until about 100 m and easily jumped around him at 36.9 mph and took the money. We all regrouped and I was able to keep on going, but we were only about 16 minutes into the 40 minute race.

Fortunately for me, the group pretty much just continued to amble along, with laps taking from 1:48 to 1:56 to get around the .72 mile course (about 23 mph). After 12 laps, Peter announced another $10 prime and so I put myself on Simon's wheel again. He had been observing my presence on his wheel throughout the race and I suspected he might try to foul me up rather than go for the money, so when we hit 200 m to go and he was just riding along in about 3rd, I was highly doubtful that he would be contesting the prime. Mike took a flyer from the left side and I had enough room to jump around the group on the right. He was about a bike length ahead and I didn't have time to get on his wheel, so it was just a drag race and with about 40 m to go I thought I'd lost my opportunity, but kept the pressure on. Thankfully, Mike began to fade and I turned it on even more and took the second prime as well.

We were now 25 minutes into the race and this is where I'd usually start to feel a fade on my training rides. This knowledge was probably a detriment as Simon, not unexpectedly, put on the pressure after the sprint (in which he conserved his energy) and split up the group, with me being the first to not be able to respond to the increased demand. Three were able to pull away together and the rest were all alone as individual riders. I carried on as best as I could, but my heart wasn't in it and I knew my fitness wasn't there to support it, but if the riders ahead happened to ease up again, I might luck out; this of course was not to be the case. I puttered along with my heart rate in Zone 4 with the goal to finish without getting lapped. After just a couple laps of riding solo, Peter put out a lap board of 6 to go and I had higher hopes that I might meet my new goal. I could see two riders ahead of me as carrots to try to catch. With a couple laps to go, they grouped together. My lap times were about 2:06 to 2:09. With 2 to go I gave it a little more effort to try to catch the two ahead doing 1:59 (21.4 mph, whoopee). I eventually finished 6th as one rider had pulled out and got back into the race behind me. Average speed for the whole race 19.8 mph, average after the initial 4 laps 21.9 mph (for me), fastest lap for me was lap 6 at 1:40 at an average of 25.8 mph. A total time of 41:37. So the speeds were less than extraordinary, but about perfect for my lack of fitness.

The club also puts on a flat 15 km time trial on Thursdays. There are Wednesday road races in Cedar by another club. There are also weekend races, but mostly about 2 hours long with hills of various difficulties. I'll probably be just sticking to the Tuesday races. Hopefully the weather will finally turn around, I'll get settled in to the new home, and I can get back to a productive routine. Noel's store lease begins on May 1, so that will add new challenges as we have lots of setup to do there.

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