My first bike race! (Pescadero RR 2012 )

What do you do when you don't feel like sharing much on your blog?
Easy sign up for a Race... execute and here it comes a new blog post ready to be written ;-)

Training wise this year started with highs and lows. Very happy to have found the M2 community, a great mentor in M2 himself, consolidated a bunch of TRI-related friendships and got to know some amazing/fast/crazy people like me ( and worse ).
On the downsize finding out that my foot (PF) needed a 2 month rest period from running was not planned ....  oh well ......2012 ought to be a non-TRI-focused year ... 

While I was in Italy, visiting family, relaxing and of course riding the mountains around my house I decided that I was ready to sign up for a real biking race and that I was wasting my time by just competing with Strava leaderboards...

For almost a year I dreamed about this possibility but never felt ready, never felt at easy to get into road racing. I left my old and quite broken road frame in Italy, took a week to shop for a new one ( BMC TeamMachine SLR01 ) and got super Mike at M2 to build it up with my components I brought back from the old continent.

Bike was ready on Thursday... Race was Saturday.... I guess the only test ride I had was the commute to work on Friday ( a big 6 minutes bike ride! )

Saturday 6/23/2012 Pescadero Road Race - The newbie in action

6am
I wake up with an email for M2. He gave me a plan for the race.... inside myself I am really uncertain about the possible outcome...but I have to maintain the Stallion status... so my reply to his email is "I ll follow the plan, stay in the pack and on the last climb I will release the KRAKEN!"

7am
I am having my PBJ bagel and drinking the best coffee ever made by my Breakfast Angel (Il mio amore Kimmy). Breakfast is so delicious that I get convinced to stop by the Farmers Market on our way to the race in Pescadero....bad idea.

7am-8am
I am following my lady in the crazily packed fruit and veggies stands.... big problem: "How do I explain my love that in this moment I don't care about which Zucchini looks better?". All I am thinking is the race in a couple of hours and the fact that I am losing precious energies to get from the guy with the awesome tomatoes to the lady with the sweetest oranges...argh.

9am 
After 1 hour of driving with a car full of veggies and my Olivia (that's the name of the new roadie), Kimmy and I are in Pescadero. The place is full of riders, a few minutes and I am all registered and all.
Surreal when compared to a Triathlon atmosphere. These bike racers are all about business. No music, no glorious stands or nothing.... people are either warming up on their trainers or gathering to start the next race or even strategizing for some team effort.
Pressure is on.... I feel this race is no joke and of course the porto potties are my best friends.



10am
15 minutes before the start of my very first road race. Category E5 ( Elite 5 )... there is no age group here. If you are a newbie you race in E5.
I am all kitted up, bike looks fast, I look M2 fast, ready to rock. 15 minutes of warm up, enough time to adjust my saddle and the fitting of this brand new bike.

10.15am
The race starter is giving us a little speech.... be careful...yada yada.... rules, etc. etc. Of course my bib number is not in the right spot but too late to change it. The speaker is asking how many of us never raced before and out of 80 people we are only 3-4 raising our hands..... NICE.

THE RACE (47miles, 1.7 loops):

I am starting at the very bottom of the pack  and while super Kimmy is taking tons of pictures I am trying to relax and get to know my bike neighbors... I want to make some friends in the pack :-)

First 2 miles we get to follow the motorcycle and nothing exciting here. Right after the Cat3 racers went by ( they were already on their second loop ) we get to start the real race.
Pace is ok, I am at the very end and my goal is to save energies and see if I can survive my very first race. No one is willing to do much work in the front.... there a couple of SJBC guys and the Taleo rider ( Tim ) that keep pulling ahead but the group stays together.

Stage road has 2 strong/short climbs and some ugly descent, I am tense, I dont want to waste energies on the hills and dont want to get drop on the downhills.... the uphills are fine... I am actually climbing ahead .. but on the downs... I lose so much terrain.

Bottom of the first descent I am behind 100yds... Bottom of the second descent ... I lost another 200yds.

Turning on 84 towards la Honda and race is full on. I am leading a second group of riders to catch up with the leaders... in a mile of extreme pain we are back together.

Mile 20sh and the first climb of Haskins hill is on. This is the moment were M2 told me to size up my opponents. Apparently we are all climbing at a brisk pace and I can totally see at least 20 riders with me fit and ready to battle.

Top of the climb, I see the finish line ( but will have to wait another 30miles (1 more loop ) ). Apparently the 20 of us made it to the top with some 200yds advantage, who knows this little attack might have already put me in a good position ....

The long descent towards Pescadero goes pretty smoothly.. I am losing terrain again but this time the road is wide enough and the peloton from the back is catching up.

First loop is over, legs are OK and I am having fun. At the end of this first loop I am starting to feel more comfortable... I feel like I am going to finish the race for sure... I feel like they are not going to drop me and I feel like my GF will not be disappointed.

Second time around on Stage Road. This time my goal is to stay in the first pack. I don't know if there will be another attack and I feel like I can take it if it comes.

Stage road is gone, 84 towards La Honda again. I am in the first group... about 10 of us, but the whole pack is compact behind us.

80 people all together... ready to battle for the win... at this point I am happy, I know I made it and that the last 10 miles will be hard but fun no matter what. I am way more relaxed.

5 miles to the end... we are still on the false flat/uphill. Pace is brisk 24/25mph but nothing too fast.
I am trying to do the least amount of work.
Every body looks so fit around me but we are so close.... maybe I have a shot to place well?

3 miles to go, leaving 84 to take Pescadero rd and climb to the finish.

As soon as the climb starts we are all going hard... very hard.
M2 words come back to mind "... people will go nuts at the start... take your time they won't be able to keep it up".

I am pushing it. 4 guys in front take off, I am hurting badly but cmon 2 miles to end... I can take pain.

The hill is steep, the 4 leaders are always in front of me ( maybe 20yds ), I feel in a good rhythm but hurting. I look behind me... the whole freaking field is still here... argh... they are going to destroy me.

1 miles to go... the last 4 minutes were hard, I keep looking at the altimeter 800feet.... we are 300feet from the end... I am close Cmon PUSH PUSH...

I look behind me again... OH SH*T... I am alone... the rest of the riders are far.

In front of me 4 guys... oh wait one is dropping... I am 4th now.
Oh wait another one is dropping I am 3rd.... I see the mark... 500mts to go.

Cmon V.  something cool is about to happen.
At this point my mind loses it, I don't remember exactly what happened. The body takes over and I am all about sensations ( breathing is over the roof, HR... most likely too ).
200mts to go... crap I am 2nd.
100mts to go .. I am standing ... I am pushing... I reach the first guy... we are both full on... DANG.

Race is over. I got 2nd place.... SO freaking close.

Post race


I am smiling a lot, super happy and relieved. The result was unexpected and I would have loved to see my love at the end (apparently cars were not allowed to be close to the finish line).
I rode back to the car all out... I was happy.... Kimmy was waiting for me at the same parking lot and I could not come with any smart line than just say "BABE I GOT 2nd!"

So glad I did this. Pescadero is a classic road race and apparently attracts a lot of talents. Other riders were telling me how good was my result.... in my mind I was kinda hard to think that I actually lost the race to someone else (again great job Tim)

Now I am hooked.... 9 more races and I will upgrade to Cat 4 :-)