First Race this morning

The race was fun, but not a huge success. I guess it was successful because I completed my first race and I didn't get into a crash (there were no crashes).

It was good to get out there and see what racing was like. I just kind of hung back. I wasn't struggling to hang on, but I didn't feel like I had the legs to go for it. I think I finished in the back third.

The race started at 7am, I showed up around 6:20am and by the time I got set up and registered I had about 10 minutes to ride around the course for a warm-up. First lesson is to ensure I have more time to warm-up. Second lesson is to get better in the turns. Third lesson is to train for crits if I'm going to be racing crits.

Cezanne made it out. The timing of the race was kind of perfect. She had to be at work at 8am and the race was from 7-7:30. She's a trooper to get up 45 minutes earlier than she had to on a Saturday morning.

Me at the start line. I need to get a different jersey, but I didn't want to wear a pro team kit (Slipstream or CSC) and all my other options don't fit as well as my bright yellow Specialized jersey. Most have way too much material in the waist area. I actually got a new Castelli jersey yesterday (a medium), but I have to return it. It's a great "pro" fit except it needs to be about 2 inches longer.


After it was over.

My baby! She was hanging with a girl whose husband was also racing. Cezanne felt bad because her husband fell off the back and stopped racing. Hey, I beat someone!


Now on to the good stuff. My computer said my average heart rate was 163. I honestly thought it was going to be higher than that. Every time I looked down to see it seemed like it was in the low 170s. I peaked out at 187 towards the end. I don't know what the rest of the graph to the right is.

It was a 30 minute race, I averaged 23.7 mph and we wound up riding for a little over 11 miles. There was a short 8% grade climb before the finish. You can see the elevation profile below and count the laps.

After the race Cezanne went to work and I headed home to regroup before my usual Saturday ride with the San Diego Bicycle Club at 8:30am. My legs were a little tight from the race, but the group ride was good and got me about 45 more miles in my legs today.

The goal according to my century training plan was 4 hours of riding today. Wound up being just over 3 hours with the 10 minute warm-up, 30 minute race, and 2 and a half hour group ride.

Next race is on Sunday July 27th about 20 miles north of La Jolla. Each lap/circuit of that course is 1.7 miles. Today's race had circuits of .7 miles.