April 27, 2013, Bike Haus Crit, Masters 55+
Chandler AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ
Many thanks to Julie Morgan for the photography.
(Images can be clicked on for a larger version)
The course is the Southernmost race car course at the Firebird raceway complex in Chandler, AZ.
It is 1.02 miles per lap, completely flat, and a bunch of twisty turns, making it very narrow in those sections.
The surface was a little rough, especially in the final turns, so I had let my tire pressure down to the minimum to avoid bouncing.
The temperature was about 100 and no wind; weather I like.
We were expected to race for 30 minutes, starting at 2:10 pm.
On paper, this was going to be the easiest win of the year.
We had a small group of 7 (plus a 65+ rider) and the strongest ones had just been dispatched in the 45+ race just a half hour ago.
I had done a few double races this year without complications, but this one was a little risky as there was so little time in between.
But since it should be an easy race, the risk seemed minimal.
David Bixby would be the one to watch to make sure he didn't slip away solo.
His sprint has not been that impressive this year.
Greg Barrett was the main sprint threat, but has yet to beat me this year.
Kenneth Doss can look strong at times, but has not been able to really shine yet.
Waiting for the start.
My main job would be to contain any attacks.
If one of them pushed it such that we distanced ourselves, I'd go along and do my share of the work, as happened at the State Championships.
David took a bit of a strong start off the line and I got right on his wheel.
No one had much interest in going too hard, so we only averaged 22.5 mph.
The officials tried to spice things up and announced a prime at the end of the first lap.
As we came to turn 11, Kenneth took off, with David in pursuit.
I kept them close, but did not bother to contest it and Kenneth took it by a large margin.
Lap 2, Kenneth going for a prime.
Lap 3, keeping tabs on David.
Lap 3, just a little wind in the flags.
After another rather slow lap, with David taking the majority of time at the front, another prime was announced.
Since I was usually on David's wheel, I'd occasionally take a short turn at the front, but it appeared that nobody was going to get too aggressive.
David pushed long and hard to take the prime and I let him have some distance so as not to have to work too hard trying to stay with him.
However, I had a slight echo of an old nemesis, where I got just a tinge of cramps in my left calf and we still had a bit more than half the race to complete.
David eased up and I stretched my legs to try to work it off.
Kenneth came to the front to take a turn, but we still were only doing a slow 22.5 mph.
The officials announced 5 to go, so hopefully I could make it to the end.
I kept feeling a bit more stabbing in my calf and I started trying to just use the down stroke muscles so that the calf would not get utilized.
At the slow pace we were going and the course being totally flat, I normally would be able to shake it off.
I also stopped taking any turns at the front and pretty much started letting David do all the work, hoping he'd just throw in the towel and keep a leisurely pace.
Lap 4, David takes a prime.
Lap 5, Kenneth at the front.
Lap 5, keeping an eye on David.
I was hoping I could just let the left leg relax and do most of the work with the right.
At this pace, it should be possible and I've won sprints before with one leg cramping up.
The next lap was even slower, but then a rider made an acceleration as we went past turn 11.
I picked up the pace just a bit to stay with the group and I must have instinctively used my calves as my left calf totally locked up;
I could not even let it just do circles, it was not going to move.
Lap 6, Drifting back with a locked left leg.
Lap 6, Coasting off the back, left leg still up.
I coasted in behind the officials and told them I was out.
I luckily found an empty chair and painfully got off the bike and sat down.
The calf felt like a painful water balloon and I could not put any pressure on it for the next four hours.
I could straighten it the next day, but could not ride.
I stuck around to watch the finish, expecting Greg to take the win.
David pulled a long sprint starting at turn 10 and Greg was poised perfectly behind.
Amazingly Greg was unable to beat David's power at the end and David narrowly took the win.
Fortunately I could still drive with the right leg, so I coasted over to the car and threw my stuff in.
My neighbor Julie (who has become fascinated with bike races since I moved in across the street from her and tries to come to my races)
was kind enough to unload the bike gear out of the car when we arrived home and I hopped my way about on my good leg.
Looks like it's back to one race a day for me.
The last time I got cramps in a race was 5/3/2011 and the temperature that day was 50 degrees, so heat was not a factor.
3/29/2009 was the last time that cramps deprived me of a victory in a 45 mile race on a 60 degree day.
I've trained in temperatures above 110 with no problems in the past.
Typically if I keep my riding to an hour or less I can avoid getting cramps.
Having both races this day so close probably treated the two races as one and I hit my hour limit.
I've been trying to get just a little more time in some of my training rides to stretch out my limits; apparently it didn't help.
In the past I've tried all the recommendations to avoid cramps and nothing had made a difference: water, potassium, magnesium, calcium, electrolytes, professional deep massage, banana a day.
Often when I get a cramp it twinges for a while and I can use other leg muscles to keep it out of the loop.
This time I had some minor twinges just 5 miles into a 22.5 mph flat race, so it didn't start until after what was basically a 15 minute warmup.
The cramps were barely noticeable a mile later,
and then the left calf totally locked up just 19 minutes into the race without any great demand put on it.
The previous race was not all that taxing either, just one short chase and a sprint, the rest being rather easy.
I felt totally fine before the cramps started and it was the slowest race I've been in ever (and I'm talking about going back to 1970).
The lack of activity in between the races could have been a factor, but I would have expected a problem sooner, not after an easy 15 minutes.
I drank plenty of fluids between the races too.
It just made no sense that the muscle would cramp (and just that one muscle) and to such an extreme degree, but cramps are still a mystery to the world.
Summary
Start
Time |
Distance
(Miles) |
Starters |
Duration |
Speed avg
(MPH) |
Speed Max
(MPH) |
HR avg
(BPM) |
HR max
(BPM) |
| 2:18 pm |
7.1 |
7 |
19:08 |
22.4 |
30.1 |
170 |
182 |
Results
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