After riding with the club on training rides for almost two years, I decided finally to take the plunge and go to do the Greenbelt Training race series.
I got there pretty early given that I really didn't have a lay of the land either in terms of the race logistics or the course. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to schedule a meeting at Goddard Space Flight Center (a couple miles down the road) from 2-4:30. How perfect is that ;-) Fabrizio had a good point that if you have not prepaid, you have to buy a voucher from a guy across the street in the TGIF parking lot (evidently they can't take money in the park, no doubt some wacky federal park reg). This is not in any of the web site info. If you didn't know this and got there without much time, you might not have gotten any warmup. I rode over there because I wasn't sure how fast the parking would fill up, plus it was a little extra warm up.
I did 3-4 warmup laps at various speeds, mostly because I wanted to see how the backside hill would feel at various efforts, especially as you got to the end. Again, I had no idea what kind of pace to expect (note the theme). I thought this would be especially important on the last lap to help gauge the final effort, if I were in a position for it to matter. Also, I wanted to get a feel for the entry and exit of the one turn. All very standard stuff I'm sure, but since I have so little experience with courses and groups different from our standard Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday rides, I wanted to try and understand any subtleties. Sure it's about as easy a course as there ever could be but, one can never be over prepared. My goals were 1. not crash, 2. put in a good effort, 3. learn something and 4. enjoy myself.
I lined up in the front so that I could be in the top few for the first time around the corner. Not knowing anyone except John/Mike/Jerry, I had no idea of what to expect in terms of bikehandling. Looks can be deceiving (anyone looking at my stem might think that)... The first few laps were at a reasonable pace and I stayed basically in the top 5 or so. I ended up leading a few laps because I didn't like the spot I was in so, moving to the front was certainly a way to get out of that. But I always kept it at a sane pace to save as much energy as I could. Kind of like going to the front to control the pace up Harwood hill. Keep it fast enough to keep the status quo, but not waste too much energy. There were a few surges generally after the turn or at the bottom of the hill, but it never sticks, evidently pretty standard in the C race.
I loved hearing words of encouragement throughout the race from the peanut gallery, especially Lance's "Don't be a bus driver" with about 4 laps to go as I was bringing the field up past the parking lot. After that, I moved back a few for the next couple laps wanting to save as much energy as possible for the last lap. After the last turn, I was on the inside of two lines, second wheel, nice and comfortable. The guy in front of me had been up front around me most of the race, so I didn't think he was going to pop on the last hill. The pace wasn't as hard as I thought it would be given the last time up, so I was looking left for any attacks. Sure enough, just before the road that exits the park a NCVC guy and another guy jumped. I was able to react and quickly get around to the right of the guy in front of me and get the second guy's wheel. Once securely on, I looked back and saw that we had a gap. Then with 50m I started my sprint to the left and I finished just in front of the two riders. Perhaps a bit of luck that I was able to get around to the right of the guy in front of me as I supposed if he had been a little farther right it would have boxed me in. I was talking to another guy after and he said the he DID get boxed in by the same guy who must have gone right after I passed him. But, I was happy that I properly anticipated the final surge and was able to get on. The course length was about 17+ miles, ~13 laps(?) and my average was 21.3 mph, basically half the Tuesday/Thursday ride distance and about the same speed (for me).
Did I meet my goals? 1. I didn't crash, 2. I put in a good effort, 3. I learned (reinforced the knowledge?) that being prepared was very helpful and that paying attention is key, 4. winning is sweet
Just a plug for next year's SPAIN trip: I credit that trip to getting me to where I am conditioning wise. No question about it!
