This being the first official Peninsula Velo Junior race, Alex, Alberto and I were to do the Category 5 road race. It was about 47 miles with about 4800 feet of climbing. Naturally, I love to climb and I love hills so much, so I was hoping to be a contender for the final uphill battle towards the end of the race. Coach Ray was there to discuss the plan, which was for Alberto to go ahead and chase any break attempts while Alex would protect me from the wind while we took it easy. In the end, we had a great plan in which Alberto would jump at set a high pace at the bottom of the last climb to tire out leaders, and then when they got tired, Alex would go ahead and tire out the next set of threats, then when that was over, me and anybody remaining would jump and go all out since we saved our energy at the bottom.
The race started late because of rollout, which all of us passed. I think we started at about 3:37 or somewhere close to that. The first few miles were in the neutral zone, where it wasn't really hilly. We had about 100 starters, and I think we had 75 left IN the neutral zone when we climbed a short 6% hill. I was wowed. There was another steeper, short section, where more people got dropped, so we probably had about 60ish people left. Fast forward to the middle of the neutral zone, which was the lowest point mentally in the race.
I heard the uncomfortable noise of a crashing bike, followed by "RIDER DOWN!" suddenly, the whole center of the front of the peloton just went down, which riders blamed the motorcycle for stopping abruptly to pace us down since we were going down hill. I was glad I was totally far from the center, but when I saw a PV Jersey down, I was completely devastated, since I knew there were only 3 of us. I looked and I saw it was Alex who was down, and it blew my mind away that he went down. It was really devastating, and all I hoped was that he, and everyone else, weren't too injured, and I was hoping that he'd be able to catch on. The peloton even slowed down to wait for anyone caught in the crash. I wasn't able to see him during the rest of the race. (He was alright, he had a few scrapes, but thankfully nothing broken)
Without Alex, I knew Alberto and I had to work even harder. The first two laps which were about 15 miles were uneventful. The peloton were taking all the steep hills over 7% at about 7mph, so i was able to ride the 30t-25t, conserving a lot of energy. I noticed a lot of people climb standing up, tiring themselves out, while I climbed in my granny gear sitting down almost effortless, so it made me feel a little better. On the third lap, the pace began moving, which was what I totally expected. "The Wall" which was the beginning 7%-10% climb, was where the breaks started happening. I was able to catch on to take the downhill effortlessly. At 2/5 of the lap I was dropped by about 30 or so riders in the main pack. There was a paceline of 4 guys who were working together, but I felt their pace wasn't fast enough to catch on. So I went a little harder.
So for half of that lap and 2 more, I was completely alone and in the wind. Alberto had told me that he dropped out because he had gotten sick. That pace was really hard. At the start of the 4th lap after the wall I had a serious cramp in which my leg stiffened up and just locked. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced ever since I started cycling. It started in my right leg during the descent after the wall. After that, the road inclines a little more, so I had some pain coming in my left leg too. It wasn't as bad as my right leg, but It was still painful.
At this point, I felt like quitting. I felt like dropping out of the race. I was alone for so long, nobody ahead, nobody behind. But then I realized that it doesn't matter what place I get anymore. My new goal was to finish. I didn't care if i got last place, I didn't care if I got dropped from a CAT5 road race, I cared about finishing. I thought about all those riders who weren't even able to officially start the race out of neutral zone, from the crash and all. So I continued. I jumped, just to pick up speed just in case I was able to catch on to anyone. Suddenly after the feed zone, I saw about 5 riders who were really far and spread apart. After the feed zone, you can see riders for another 3km or so. My motivation was back, and so were my legs. I caught up to all those riders I saw, and I passed even more riders on the last lap.
I was glad I didn't quit! I was wondering why I even felt like quitting! But anyways, about half of the final lap, I saw a group behind me. It was that group of 4, which was now a group of 3, from earlier. They caught up to everyone I had passed, and they caught up to me. I was wrong about their pace earlier, but I was amazed and inspired by their hard work. They told me to grab on their wheels, and we switched off until the final climb. Talk about teamwork!
For the final climb, I was pacing myself but I got too excited when I saw about 10 or so riders ahead of me. I forgot about what Coach Ray and the other PV members had told us, that we shouldn't take the bottom half too fast. Well I took it too fast thinking I could hold the pace until the end. I saw the "1km to go sign" and I was so burnt so I just went up at about 8mph. When I saw the finish line, I thought I had worked hard enough so I went as hard as I could very slowly. I passed right before the 2:30:00 mark. I was greeted by Alex's mom and then Ray and then Alberto and his dad. I was just so glad that I finished, and I didn't care what place I got.
After the race, I talked to Alex to see if he was okay and he said he was. Apparently, one rider went into the barbed wires and it cut all the way to his bone. I'm really sorry about that guy. After that we were on our way home. Alex's parents offered me dinner, which I was really grateful for, along with the ride. Overall, it was a great experience. It was the hardest cycling I have ever done, but at least I know what intensity I need to pay attention to.
I checked my results today, and I was extremely happy with my placing.
Race Date: April 15, 2011 @ 3:30PM
Finishing Time: 2:29:57
Place: 17th (53 Finishers, ~100 Starters)
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