Heat Wave

Martha and the Vandellas sang about it right - the City Park Criterium in Salisbury on Sunday, June 13 was like a heat wave for sure. With temps in the 90s and a heat index near triple digits, the villain of the day wasn't the nasty climb up the finishing straight. Still, it beats winter, so Amy, Addy and I headed down to roast with the other cyclists who had been participating in the NC State crit championships all weekend.

Above, Amy and the rest of the women's Cat 3/4 division get set to go fast and turn left around Salisbury's Hurley Park.

Working hard early in the race.

A breakaway of seven broke up the race a little over midway through the 40-minute event. Amy stayed with the chase group, which was unable to close the gap.

Amy was among a large majority who suffered breathing problems among many other heat-related issues. One of her teammates collapsed from the heat during the midday women's open race.
Despite a tiring day and not feeling her best, Amy made strong charge for the line as the chase group splintered, finishing 13th.

It was a highly successful weekend for Performance Bicycle Racing. Bergen Watterson, pictured above, was crowned NC state criterium champion, taking first place in both the women's open and women's masters races on Friday and Saturday, before finishing second in the women's open race in the City Park crit on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Sonja Van Holderbeke.

Lowes Time Trial #2

Wednesday, June 9 was the 2nd race of the Lowes time trial series in Charlotte. After the first race last month, we decided that we needed to sweeten the deal for our monthly household competition with a trophy of some kind. After scouring the local thrift stores, we had narrowed down the possible prize to a 1999 Budweiser Christmas beer stein, an unused urn, and a creepy Spanish doll. We finally settled on a humongous band festival trophy that was buried in Amy's band storage room. We now truly had the motivation to beat the other and be the first winner of the newly-christened Lakeview Cup, pictured above in all its splendor. Actually, what's left of all its splendor, because several pieces broke off as I tried to tighten it up. Hard to imagine it any bigger.

Getting in our warmups before hitting the track with friend and new roadie convert Paul. Photo courtesy of Paul's cousin John Patterson.

Paul sprints away from the start house, his face a picture of determination. Photo courtesy of John Patterson.

Paul en route to a 28 minute, 34 second test. His start line focus paid off, and he shaved a whopping 4 minutes off of his time from last month. Was it that he was riding Amy's bike? His newly shaved legs? His steely start-line gaze?

With Amy having a lot of racing in her legs, and myself finally getting underway with some structured training, we both felt that we had PRs in our legs for the night.

Hitting the finish line.

Amy is stunned to find out that I beat her, but by only seven seconds. To paraphrase French cycling legend Jaques Anquetil's famous quote after winning the Tour de France by what was then the smallest margin in history, "It was six more than necessary." Fortunately, we met our real goal of continuing to improve our individual times, setting new PRs in the process. In addition, Amy's time of 25 minutes, 19 seconds was good for first place in the Women's Cat 4 division.

Ah, the sweet spoils of victory. After hearing about last month's result from what seemed like every human being Amy came in contact with, I was glad to call the former symbol of junior high band prowess my own.

Mugging with good dude Will Turk, who took all of the non-John photos above.

1st Annual Memorial Day Race Binge

I seem to be living my adult life in reverse sequence. After spending 15 years in a dungeon of mundane, middle-aged routines, never going anywhere, doing the same chores around the house week after week, I've now regressed to living life on the no-plan plan on the weekends. In the case of this past Memorial Day weekend, throwing everything in a backpack and driving across the state to race, all on two days' notice. All humour aside, it's not so much about regressing as it is having a partner with the same hobbies as you, and who has the attitude that you're never too old to play as if you were still in your early 20s. So with that in mind, we decided at the 11th hour that we would follow the extended weekend racing action as it wound east through High Point and ended up in Fayetteville, participating in as much of it as our bodies would tolerate.

It all started innocently enough. Amy registered for the Hearts for Heroes 5k, held in Valdese as part of the Founder's Day Festival on Saturday, May 29. Amy won the inaugural running of the 5k last year and was back to defend her title.

The course winds through the residential back streets of Valdese and consists of several short, steep hills.
Despite focusing primarily on cycling this year, Amy improved her time from last year, finishing in 24:32, good enough for second overall female.

So then we figured we'd hop in the car and head to High Point to race in the second of their weekend crits. Amy, being all young and all, figured that it wouldn't be an issue racing a late afternoon crit, since the 5k was overwith by 8:30 that morning. With my category racing even later that evening, it was a no-brainer.

The 1k course was very technical, featuring multiple corners and placing a premium on bike-handling skills.
Above, Amy is coming through the start-finish area, in the High Point furniture convention center bus terminal, at the start of her final lap. Amy had great position going into the last lap, but was knocked out of position by a fellow competitor whom she rubbed wheels with for several seconds. She recovered and gained a few positions back with a strong sprint to the line, finishing 10th in the Cat 4 division.

Below is a short video of the women's field rounding the last turn before heading into the start-finish area.

I raced in the Cat 4/5 Masters division, which started at 8:50pm. Despite still suffering from a lack of form, racing through downtown at night was a total blast, especially as we moved from sparsely lit streets into the bright bus terminal start area with cheering spectators. I emerged from the dark city streets in 17th.

So then we said, "Well, we're already halfway across the state, we might as well go on to Fayetteville and race down there, too." So we tossed Amy's time trial bike in the back of the truck and continued east to compete in the Dragon's Challenge time trial the next morning. Our start times were mercifully not until after 11:00am, since we didn't get to our hotel until around 1:00am. The event was actually in the town of Wade, just outside of Fayetteville. Every town east or south of Raleigh feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, and Wade is no exception. I suspect that cartographers may be able to prove that Wade is, in fact, the actual center of nowhere. The 22-mile circuit was flat, devoid of any scenery, and cursed by the meteorological phenomenon that ensures that cyclists always have a headwind, even if travelling in a circle or the trees aren't moving. The flat course, constant headwind, sensory deprivation and hot temperatures combined to make the time trial a very physically challenging event. Amy crossed the line in 1 hour, 1 minute, 44 seconds, taking 7th in the women's Cat 3/4 division.

After being plagued by heat, toe-staining weeds, and fire ants during my warmup, I finished in 1 hour, 38 seconds, good for 8th in Cat 4/5 Masters. Take that, all y'all who are always wanting Amy to beat me at Lowes.

So then, we decided that since we were already basically in Fayetteville, we might as well stay for the criterium on Monday since we had Memorial Day off. The short, 4-corner circuit took place in historic downtown Fayetteville, with the finishing straight being on the tree-lined bricks of Hay Street, pictured above.

Racing past the colonial center of town.

Despite being in her 4th event in a little over 48 hours, Amy was aggressive throughout the entire race, working with racers from other teams to animate the race and to try to get a break going. Above, Amy is accelerating to the front of the field during the latter stages of the race. Her efforts yielded a 5th place finish.

Below is a video of the field coming down Hay Street and into the first turn.

After all that racing, what's the best reward? Bux. Amy finished in the money and scored her first cash prize in road racing, earning $19! Whee! We were stymied by the amount of the check, given the fact that, with a $200 purse and the top 5 places winning money, the check amount was a prime number. Despite the mathematical conundrum, we did not look the gift horse in the mouth, and we headed away from nowhere back to somewhere with a little cash in hand and memories of fine dining at the Wade Waffle House.

Catching Up

The heart of the spring racing season has kept us busy, and as a result, I am almost hopelessly behind in race reports. So below is essentially our summary of May racing action.

The first weekend of May is always the May Day Biathlon weekend, with youth racing on Saturday and adult racing on Sunday. Addy entered the youth competition on May 1 for the second year, and he was ready to strap it on with the youth of Burke County on his still-new Redline. The fact that, at only 7 years of age, he is able to wear one of my Velosports jerseys indicates that his bike is soon to become his too-small Redline.

The 7-to-10-year-olds dash off the line at the start of the 0.8-mile running leg.

Despite a near-death experience during the running leg, Addy sprints to the transition area to mount his bike. Mom ran along for encouragement/pushing/dragging.

Any 7-year-old big enough to carry his mommy on his back can bring the hurt. Despite being at the back of the field after the running leg, Addy unleashed the power in his massive thighs during the 1.6-mile bike leg and stormed back into the race.

Rounding the final turn before the finish line.

Like mother, like son. On the strength of his bike leg, Addy took 5th place.

Racing over the Lake James dam during the 19-mile bike of the adult biathlon on Sunday, May 2.

Amy bettered her time from last year, stopping the clock at 1:32:35 and winning the women's 30-34 age group. She was also jumping for joy at winning a neon green Camelbak as a door prize. I came across the line at 1:27:33, good enough for second in the men's 40-44 age group.

Wednesday, May 5 was the first race of the year in one of our favorite events, the Lowes Time Trial series. Above, Amy was all business as she exited the pit garage.

This year, it's personal. Ready to duke it out for time-trial bragging rights on Lakeview Acres Road. Amy drew first blood, finishing in 25:39 and taking 2nd in the women's Cat 4 division. My time of 26:05 landed me in 14th among Cat 4 men.

Our friend Paul entered his first road race the same evening.

Amy entered her first omnium on May 14-16, the new Tour du Life in the High Country of northwest NC. The first leg of the omnium was the Beech Mountain time trial, which Amy is getting ready to start above. Amy finished the 5-mile hill climb in 36:33, taking 7th place in the women's open division.

The following morning was the second stage of the Tour du Life omnium, the Boone Road Race. As with any route in the High Country, the 35-mile circuit boasted copious amounts of climbing, including a mountaintop finish atop George's Gap. Above, Amy gets ready to set out from historic Cove Creek School with the women's open field, among whom she would finish 11th.

Having missed the Friday time trial, I jumped into the fray on Saturday morning, looking forward to race on some of the same roads that I began cycling on as a student at ASU 20 years prior. However, a lack of fitness and an unfortunate crash by a fellow competitor combined to leave myself and two others far off the pace after 16 miles, at which point I pulled out of the race, choosing instead to head to a cookout to scarf hot dogs. Lack of fitness... hot dogs... hmmm...

The final stage of the omnium was the Newland criterium on Sunday morning. The 1-mile circuit featured a long rise culminating in a 12% legbreaker before descending to the start-finish area. The brutal course took its toll on many riders that day, myself included. I finished 9th in the Cat 4/5 Masters division.

Out of the saddle and powering over the steepest part of the course. Amy finished 12th in the Newland crit and 7th for the overall omnium. However, this was in a women's open division, which includes not only Amy's cat 4 division, but categories 1-3 as well, meaning Amy was competing against the most experienced women racers. She was the second-highest placed Cat 4 racer in the final omnium standings.

Ring of Fire action on May 26. I raced again in both the Masters and Category B (Cats 3 and 4) races.

The Ring of Fire has started a women's open race, and Amy finished 6th on this night. She also sprinted for an unofficial win among the women in the earlier Cat C men's/women's race.

OK, so I think I'm pretty much caught up. My next report will be of our fascinating journey to the sandhills of NC over Memorial Day weekend.