I rode out to where Crestview Dr. hits the W&OD just before Sterling. That's nearly at Orbital, so I know the route quite well. After turning off, it was probably four miles to the race course. There weren't any signs out, so I actually ended up riding about a mile past the office park where it was located. I did eventually find the place though and got in line to register.
Eric was having trouble with the software that would allow scanning of the barcodes on our licenses, so the registration took much longer than expected and I got very cold. I was nice and I warm when I arrived, but standing around took all that away. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long until the race warmed me back up.
Will Kruse showed up to try his hand at racing as well, so we ended up on the front row next to each other to start the race. The circuit was just over a mile around and the course was shaped like a D with the Start/Finish line about a third up the straight side from the bottom of the D. The course ran clockwise.
From the gun, Will and I made it our mission to do everything that's expected of a Cat 5. We rushed to the front, we pulled for no reason, we chased down every attack relentlessly, and even threw in a few of our own. It was exciting and my HR was about 180 as soon as we rounded the first turn. I was up in front the entire time, but really didn't have to pull a great deal. Will took care of that. At one point in the race, he said aloud, "Who's going to lead?" When it was obvious no one wanted to, he took it upon himself to inject some pace. I tried to tell him not to work so hard, but settled for riding in his draft.
With about four laps to go, catastrophe struck. I dropped my chain off the ring to the inside. I couldn't pop it back on with the derailleur, so I had to stop and reseat it. By the time I'd done that, I was far behind the peloton and my day was done.
I didn't realize that at first, however. I thought with a sustained effort, I could reach the main field again, but after three laps of all out hammering, I realized that would be impossible. With a lap to go, I sat up and gave up. I didn't finsh the race last as I passed everyone not in the peloton, but I was a long way from being with the front group. It turned out that, not suprisingly, Will got blown by in the sprint after pulling so much.
Next week, we'll have a better plan for racing. And hopefully that plan will involve Noah Goodall. He's a young Coppi rider (2 years my senior) that was in the Cat 5 race as well. I think the three of us can obviously race a lot smarter and get some better results. I'll have to wait until next week to see what I can really do.
Turns out that Noah lives in Virginia Square, so we rode back together. As soon as we got back to the W&OD, both of us were feeling on the verge of a bonk, so we stopped and munched on an energy bar each. I downed a Clif Bar and immediately felt better. We rode a nice and easy pace all the way back to Arlington. I had to make a pit stop just before EFC Metro because the Clif Bar gave me some serious stomach troubles. Noah turned off of Custis and I kept going to Courthouse. The final mileage total for the day was 70! And that's with nearly 12 miles of racing--my longest day ever. Pretty cool.
The bike performed really well except for the chain drop. I'm sure I'll be tuning it some--I think the shifting could be improved. The Fizik Arione saddle felt great as well. I think I've got the right size bike and the stem even seems right now too. All in all a very comfortable day in the saddle.
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