Greenville Spring Training Series Finale

Sunday was the final event in the Greenville Spring Training Series, held again at Donaldson Center. This would mark my second road race of the season, and it would be Amy's debut for the year after many weeks of recovery from her collarbone break. However, we were both feeling good with improving fitness from our training programs, and we appeared to have no residual damage from yesterday's 5k.

My Cat 5 35+ race again consisted of 3 laps around the 7-mile Donaldson Center circuit. Another hard week of training paid off, as I was able to stay near the front of the field for the hour-long contest, despite the pace averaging 3mph faster than last week's race. However, as we approached the end of the race, I was very aware that I had no idea what to do or when to do it to contest what was shaping up to be a bunch sprint. Sitting near the front, I tried to size things up in preparation for the move that would accelerate the pack for the final move. A rider surged past me, and I grabbed his wheel, hoping he would pull me and the pack toward the line. Unfortunately, he went a bit too early, and when the field made their final acceleration around 200 meters from the line, I had nothing left, coming across in 17th position. Regardless, I was very happy to be both a factor in the race and in the mix right to the line.

The women's race started just four minutes behind our race, so Amy and I were both racing on the course at the same time. Amy's race started strangely before the gun even sounded. Often, women race in an 'open' category, meaning that they race directors lump all 4 categories of women into one race, resulting in less experienced racers competing against the most experienced. Typically, when enough are registered, they break out the Cat 4 (novice) racers so that they can compete against each other on a more level playing field. However, yesterday, they didn't make such a distinction, and all women lined up together. The director asked the field at the start line if they would like to split the field up, but the question was not heard by everyone, and so the race went off as an 'open' field. Needless to say, with the more experienced racers in the field, the riders set off from the line at a blistering pace. Issue #1.

Issue #2 happened soon afterward. Amy was near her maximum effort, but hanging with the brisk and experienced field. But, thinking that she would be racing against her own category (which had their own race in every other one of the series to that point), we had decided to change her gear cassette on her bike to one that was considerably lighter, but higher (harder) geared. With the gearing more difficult than we anticipated, she was struggling to shift to a gear that she could manage, and she dropped her chain while climbing the steepest hill on the first lap, requiring her to get off her bike and put it back on. Fortunately, she made a quick repair and caught on with another woman who was off the back of the main field. They organized and began to work together to chase.

Issue #3. After chasing for almost 20 miles, the twosome had caught another pair of chasers and was halfway around their final, 4th lap (the Cat 4s had to race four laps instead of three due to racing as an open category) when Amy's rear tire punctured. At this point, she felt like this:

No number of tales of other cyclists' racing misfortunes can take away the frustration of having to sit at the side of the road, waiting for race support to transport you back to the start area as a non-finisher. Despite our mock bike-throwing picture above (I probably would have actually thrown my bike), Amy was gracious amidst her bad luck and took things in stride, choosing instead to focus on the many positives from the day, which really did outweigh the negatives: being able to survive a nuclear blast of a start with very fast, experienced riders; having the patience to quickly fix a mechanical in the throes of a race; and having the skills to help lead a long chase effort. So even though we each came away with different results, we both felt positive about the start to the season and of what lies ahead for 2010.

Special thanks to Eddie Helton for the four photos above. For more pictures of the Greenville Spring Training Series, please visit his website.