Road race @ Prospect park 4/30/11

Today was the Lucarelli and Castaldi cup race at prospect park. The pack moved at a slow pace throughout most of the race. I was having trouble finding my groove. My mind wasn't where is needed to be. I was running on 2 hours of sleep and my right knee is bothering me more than ever lately. Enough excuses?

Anyways, I stayed tight with the lead pack at the end but was in pain on the final sprint. It wasn't the kind of pain you push through. Its the kind that you *could* push through, but know something is going terribly wrong inside your leg. I'm going to take it easy for a bit, and make an appointment with a doctor. I'm sort of scared to know what they will say. I also want to get a proper bike fitting.

John Blake pulled off 1st again. hes really killing it in cat 5's!

Photo gallery from the race HERE.

More on my knee at a later date...

Review: Road Race #1

Waking up at 5am is not something I do often, and it takes a lot to get my ass out of bed. Today it was for a worthy cause, my first road race.

Any ride this early in the morning is super relaxing to me. There are barely any cars around, so you can easily pay attention to the sounds of your bike, and the road below you. I took spinny ride from Bushwick to prospect park to warm up the legs.

I got to the race and signed in, put on my numbers, and tried to figure out what to do next. My friend John who I met recently was racing today. Hes done pretty well in the cat 5's this season, so I sort of just payed attention to him and followed suit.

The race started and we set off at an easy pace. I did my best to stay towards the front, but not at the front. The pace was pretty easy for me to stay in the peloton. I drafted as much as I could, and for the most part stayed in my drops.

At about the middle of the race the peloton split in 2, and I was caught in the middle with another rider. It took a bit of effort to make up lost ground, but I made it back to the front pack and held my place.

The pace picked up around the last half of the second lap, and through the last lap. I was in the lead group but everyone was really spread out. Someone started to sprint really early towards the finish, and everyone around me followed suit. I was in a great spot, maybe 5-6 back, and then the whole group tightened up. I had to hit my brakes mid sprint so I fell back a bit.

I'm not sure of my exact spot, but I finished somewhere between 12th and 15th. I'm pretty happy with it for now as it was my first road race. John took 1st, which is his second this season. Hes a fast dude, so I plan on training with him more.

I learned a lot today. My strategy was mainly to gauge the other riders. I didn't get out of my saddle until the last lap. I drafted and stayed in my drops as much as I could. I wanted to conserve power for the end.

So now I'm sitting here evaluating everything, and planning my next race which will be next weekend. I'm addicted. My journey has led me here and I feel I'm in the right place. Also, I'm REALLY effing hungry. Time to get a proper brunch (if I can wake my girlfriend up!).