March is typically the start of the season for most mountain bikers, UCI races begin, most local XC series start up, and with the time change those of us who have obligations outside of cycling are finally getting in some serious volume in our weekly training. I'm no exception, going from maybe 8 hour weeks to getting in some 10+ hour weeks recently and I am starting to feel it!
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If you trained and didn't take
a selfie, it didn't happen |
I took some advice from my cycling mentors and have started doing most of my training on the road, the logic being that it is easier to get big miles in. And ever since I have noticed a large jump in my fitness in a relatively short amount of time.
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| Start of the ITT |
My first in-season race was a collegiate road race in Auburn, Alabama. I raced C's given the fact that I had never raced my road bike before. My performance definitely reflected that as I fell off the back on the 2nd lap of the road race, I continued to push, alone, to try to catch back up to the peloton but it wasn't meant to be. I spent the rest of the race catching and dropping riders that fell off of the back to a 27th place finish. The next race of the weekend would be the ITT and no amount of road race inexperience would matter here as its simply "ride as hard as you can and be super aero" and without other riders to worry about I felt comfortable gunning it and I did, finishing 4th! On Sunday we raced the Criterium; the event that I was most nervous about racing after hearing countless horror stories from my parents from when they raced. But I digress, I lined up towards the back and went hard finding myself in between the main field and the back of the race, doing every bit of work on my own I held a solid pace and caught and dropped a lot of racers to finish 24th.
Thankfully, I would not have another race for two weeks so I decided to come home on the weekend to get in a solid training block. Getting in some solid miles in a few short days.
The following weekend I had the second Southeastern Endurance Championship race of the year at one of my favorite trail systems; the Georgia International Horse Park. Fast, flowy, some serious climbs, and some technical sections for good measure. The course really suits my riding style so I knew that I had to have a very goof start to be able to ride my pace and set a good gap on the first lap.
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| Deep South pit |
I set up in the pit with my newest sponsor, Deep South Bicycle Company, which I can't thank enough for supporting me this year. I also tried some new nutrition this race, JUNK FOOD, I set up Pop-Tarts, Snickers, Mountain Dew, and Pickle Pops. Which worked better for me than my previous abuse of energy bars.
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Gracing the podium in my jorts.
They weren't short enough for me to win. |
I lined up at the start, made some jokes with my friends and fueled by Tupac and collegiate angst, I went all out trying to get a solid position going into the woods. I found myself in the top 10 and even passed a few racers that had gotten in front of me. I put in a scorching 40 minute lap time and held a solid pace for the rest of the race, hanging with guys that I was unable to ride/race with previously. I just felt really good and continued to apply pressure opening up a 20 minute gap on those behind me that I would maintain the rest of the race. Going into my 7th and final lap I knew that I was comfortably in 3rd and I caught a second wind towards the end of my 6th lap; I rode as hard as I could but was unable to catch 2nd place and managed to finish in 3rd place.
The following day, I got on my road bike and raced the Georgia Tech Collegiate Criterium, I was worried about how I would feel after such a hard day the day before. But after a few laps of the course and some openers my worries were laid to rest. I lined up in the first row with my teammates and subsequently missed clipping in at the start and I fell back into the pack and tried to hang on but was dropped somewhere along the way. Once again, alone I began catching and passing riders, one of whom was my teammate but he was unable to get on my wheel to work together and move up. I eventually caught a chase group and despite attacking multiple times would come back to me and I eventually finished the race with that group. I finished 21st.
I was also featured in my school's newspaper which you can read the article here: http://ksusentinel.com/2016/03/07/kennesaw-state-student-overcomes-all-odds-to-become-accomplished-cyclist/
Looking forward to another collegiate road weekend this weekend and the prospect of racing the Austin Rattler 100k Leadville Qualifier in April!
The following day, I got on my road bike and raced the Georgia Tech Collegiate Criterium, I was worried about how I would feel after such a hard day the day before. But after a few laps of the course and some openers my worries were laid to rest. I lined up in the first row with my teammates and subsequently missed clipping in at the start and I fell back into the pack and tried to hang on but was dropped somewhere along the way. Once again, alone I began catching and passing riders, one of whom was my teammate but he was unable to get on my wheel to work together and move up. I eventually caught a chase group and despite attacking multiple times would come back to me and I eventually finished the race with that group. I finished 21st.