Cone-Azalia...
Yesterday, I rode my bike around in circles again. Had a blast.
The event this time was the Cone-Azalia Classic road race. It's a "spring classic" of the grand European tradition of such races as Paris-Roubaix, except held in southeast MI, so it's easy to get to and costs less to enter. The idea behind it is to hold a road race on the worst roads imaginable, because it's naturally more fun that way, and also, you can break equipment and justify upgrading to something better and more fashionable.
Speaking of equipment choice, the goal is to have something fast enough to win, but durable enough to finish. I used my cyclocross bike, a 2001 Trek Alpha SL for its beefy fork, cantilever brakes, compact crank, and slightly more relaxed geometry for better weight distribution for slippery conditions. For the wheels, I used my commuter wheelset, a Neuvation M28 front wheel, and Rolf Vector Comp rear, with Continental Ultrasport 700x28 tires at 95psi front and 100 psi rear. The wheels seemed like they might have been a bit on the delicate side, so I was counting on using the big tires to absorb most of the vibration and hard hits. Besides, I'd rather break the wheels than break the frame, or break myself.
Saturday morning, I had second thoughts about the wheels, and thought about swapping the tires onto my cyclocross wheelset, which are 32-spoke Mavic CXP22 rims with 105 hubs. However, Saturday morning went rather poorly, and I missed the club ride, and didn't have time to swap the tires, so I took the bike, as is, on a fast shakedown ride on the dirt roads north of Domino Farms. Wheels and tires survived, so I called it good enough to race with.
Sunday morning, I loaded up the bike and assorted equipment and made my way down to Milan High School. I got there early enough to check in, pee, and warm up, and still had time to discuss strategy with my teammates, which was highly unusual given my typical fear of being on time. Since we are Cat 5 (beginners league), strategy planning pretty much consisted of "if I crash, try not to run over me". I also made a last minute decision to not bring my spare tube and pump. I figured if I got a flat tire, the race is too short to make changing it worthwhile.
We were in the third wave to start and our race length was two laps for a total of about 20 miles. The first lap was nice and easy up to the first dirt section, when people started losing waterbottles. The potholes were easy to dodge, since they had the courtesy to stay put. The waterbottles preferred to fly around, and occasionally explode in a shower of someone else's Gatorade. The pack started to fragment as people got flat tires, or ran into the gravel and slowed down while dodging bottles and people with flats. I lost the main pack about halfway through the first lap when they passed the follow vehicle for the wave that started ahead of us, the Womens Cat 1,2,3.
Definition time, the follow vehicle is a neutral support car that follows each race group, and carries spare wheels and provides assistance for racers that have mechanical problems.
So check out my luck. Here I am, chasing down the main pack, I'm gaining on them, they pass the follow vehicle, then the follow vehicle comes to a stop to help someone, and doors fly open on both sides completely blocking the road. I hit the brakes and gingerly crawl around them in the gravel, but by now, the pack has disappeared around the next turn. That's ok, I told myself, I probably had no chance of winning anyway, but I'm going to finish this thing and have lots of fun doing it. The last third of the lap was on nicely paved perfectly straight roads, so I picked up some speed, and settled in at a nice clip keeping the main pack just on the horizon. It was a bit of an awkward position, being able to see them but knowing I couldn't catch them by myself. At least the roads were smooth and the scenery was nice. So ended the first lap.
At the beginning of the second lap, I was still riding all by myself. Halfway down the first dirt section, I looked up, saw volunteers with a red flag, and got it in my mind that it was time to turn, so turn I did, and made excellent speed down a dirt road that got narrower and bumpier and more gravelly and narrower, and ended in someone's field. Waitaminute... I didn't remember this from the first lap. Crap. I turned around and found the main road again, and could now very clearly see that the volunteers were waving folks straight through. The volunteers, I have to add, did an extremely good job, but there's nothing they can do for a crazed hallucinating moron such as myself who decides not to see them. There was no turn. I wasted about ten minutes on this crazy excursion. That was the bad news. However, I came out just as the Womens Cat 4 group was catching up (or it may very well have been Womens Cat 3 coming around on their next lap). Anyway, all I saw was a blur of SpeedyChix jerseys (this would be ya_bidabida's team) and a feeling that things were going to be ok. They were going my pace, and they knew all the preferred lines through the dirt sections.
Halfway through the second dirt section, I felt the back of the bike sliding around a bit more than it should. I got it in my mind that there was a slow leak and the tire was on its way down. I had no spare wheels in the follow car which was probably ahead of me by this point. I left my spare behind since my strategy was to drop out if I got a flat. After all I had gone through, I said, no way, I'm finishing this thing flat tire or not. Once I got back on the smooth pavement, I poured on the power, with a new strategy to make it to the finish line before the tire went flat. I got up to 26 mph and held it for the last three miles. I believe I finished last among the Cat 5 people who finished, but it's still a finish.
And so, that is the story of my first Cone-Azalia race. It was fun. The various antics and adventures did nothing for my career average, but it makes for great storytelling, and once again, I pulled off a tremendous finish that really served no purpose other than to inflate my ego. Also, my tire? It was fine. No flat, no leak. No idea what it was I felt. Now I'm off to ride that same bike home from my office. I put the cyclocross wheelset back on it. The road wheels have the day off.
The event this time was the Cone-Azalia Classic road race. It's a "spring classic" of the grand European tradition of such races as Paris-Roubaix, except held in southeast MI, so it's easy to get to and costs less to enter. The idea behind it is to hold a road race on the worst roads imaginable, because it's naturally more fun that way, and also, you can break equipment and justify upgrading to something better and more fashionable.
Speaking of equipment choice, the goal is to have something fast enough to win, but durable enough to finish. I used my cyclocross bike, a 2001 Trek Alpha SL for its beefy fork, cantilever brakes, compact crank, and slightly more relaxed geometry for better weight distribution for slippery conditions. For the wheels, I used my commuter wheelset, a Neuvation M28 front wheel, and Rolf Vector Comp rear, with Continental Ultrasport 700x28 tires at 95psi front and 100 psi rear. The wheels seemed like they might have been a bit on the delicate side, so I was counting on using the big tires to absorb most of the vibration and hard hits. Besides, I'd rather break the wheels than break the frame, or break myself.
Saturday morning, I had second thoughts about the wheels, and thought about swapping the tires onto my cyclocross wheelset, which are 32-spoke Mavic CXP22 rims with 105 hubs. However, Saturday morning went rather poorly, and I missed the club ride, and didn't have time to swap the tires, so I took the bike, as is, on a fast shakedown ride on the dirt roads north of Domino Farms. Wheels and tires survived, so I called it good enough to race with.
Sunday morning, I loaded up the bike and assorted equipment and made my way down to Milan High School. I got there early enough to check in, pee, and warm up, and still had time to discuss strategy with my teammates, which was highly unusual given my typical fear of being on time. Since we are Cat 5 (beginners league), strategy planning pretty much consisted of "if I crash, try not to run over me". I also made a last minute decision to not bring my spare tube and pump. I figured if I got a flat tire, the race is too short to make changing it worthwhile.
We were in the third wave to start and our race length was two laps for a total of about 20 miles. The first lap was nice and easy up to the first dirt section, when people started losing waterbottles. The potholes were easy to dodge, since they had the courtesy to stay put. The waterbottles preferred to fly around, and occasionally explode in a shower of someone else's Gatorade. The pack started to fragment as people got flat tires, or ran into the gravel and slowed down while dodging bottles and people with flats. I lost the main pack about halfway through the first lap when they passed the follow vehicle for the wave that started ahead of us, the Womens Cat 1,2,3.
Definition time, the follow vehicle is a neutral support car that follows each race group, and carries spare wheels and provides assistance for racers that have mechanical problems.
So check out my luck. Here I am, chasing down the main pack, I'm gaining on them, they pass the follow vehicle, then the follow vehicle comes to a stop to help someone, and doors fly open on both sides completely blocking the road. I hit the brakes and gingerly crawl around them in the gravel, but by now, the pack has disappeared around the next turn. That's ok, I told myself, I probably had no chance of winning anyway, but I'm going to finish this thing and have lots of fun doing it. The last third of the lap was on nicely paved perfectly straight roads, so I picked up some speed, and settled in at a nice clip keeping the main pack just on the horizon. It was a bit of an awkward position, being able to see them but knowing I couldn't catch them by myself. At least the roads were smooth and the scenery was nice. So ended the first lap.
At the beginning of the second lap, I was still riding all by myself. Halfway down the first dirt section, I looked up, saw volunteers with a red flag, and got it in my mind that it was time to turn, so turn I did, and made excellent speed down a dirt road that got narrower and bumpier and more gravelly and narrower, and ended in someone's field. Waitaminute... I didn't remember this from the first lap. Crap. I turned around and found the main road again, and could now very clearly see that the volunteers were waving folks straight through. The volunteers, I have to add, did an extremely good job, but there's nothing they can do for a crazed hallucinating moron such as myself who decides not to see them. There was no turn. I wasted about ten minutes on this crazy excursion. That was the bad news. However, I came out just as the Womens Cat 4 group was catching up (or it may very well have been Womens Cat 3 coming around on their next lap). Anyway, all I saw was a blur of SpeedyChix jerseys (this would be ya_bidabida's team) and a feeling that things were going to be ok. They were going my pace, and they knew all the preferred lines through the dirt sections.
Halfway through the second dirt section, I felt the back of the bike sliding around a bit more than it should. I got it in my mind that there was a slow leak and the tire was on its way down. I had no spare wheels in the follow car which was probably ahead of me by this point. I left my spare behind since my strategy was to drop out if I got a flat. After all I had gone through, I said, no way, I'm finishing this thing flat tire or not. Once I got back on the smooth pavement, I poured on the power, with a new strategy to make it to the finish line before the tire went flat. I got up to 26 mph and held it for the last three miles. I believe I finished last among the Cat 5 people who finished, but it's still a finish.
And so, that is the story of my first Cone-Azalia race. It was fun. The various antics and adventures did nothing for my career average, but it makes for great storytelling, and once again, I pulled off a tremendous finish that really served no purpose other than to inflate my ego. Also, my tire? It was fine. No flat, no leak. No idea what it was I felt. Now I'm off to ride that same bike home from my office. I put the cyclocross wheelset back on it. The road wheels have the day off.