Coldspring Road Race

Yesterday was my second foray into bicycle road racing at the Coldspring road race up near Lake Livingston. This was my third mass start race after the two road races at the Fort Davis Hammerfest, and was my most ambitious one to date.

Hao convinced me to sign up for the race for men ages 35+, who are also in either Cat 4 or Cat 5. His logic was reasonable: the Cat 5 (any age) race was only 30 miles long and would have a bunch of younger guys in it, while the 35+ 4/5 race would be 46 miles and have guys in it around our age. The thought was that we could be a bit more competitive with guys our own age. Of course, the down side was that we'd be racing against guys with a bit more experience, who were in Cat 4 (and therefore, probably better than us). Also, there were several other members of Hao's racing team (M7 Racing) who were going to be doing that race, so he wanted to race with his team. Sounded fine to me; I just wanted to get out there. Quite frankly, I figured I'd get dropped pretty quickly.

So, on Friday, I drove to Houston for a hearing and then went over to vist Hao at the Houston Metro in the afternoon. We got in a post-lunch bike ride through downtown (which was nice since I hadn't ridden all week due to work issues). After work, we picked up his boys at their school and went for some Vietnamese food. Then, we headed back to his house to chill and get rested up for the race the next day. I was pretty beat from some long hours at work this week and fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 PM.

We got up at 4:30 AM on Saturday because we had to eat breakfast and then pick up Hao's team mate, Bryan, on the way up to Coldspring. We got Bryan at about 5:20 AM and then made the 70-mile trek up I-45 to Willis, and then over on Highway 150 to Coldspring. We got there about an hour and a half before our race was set to start (8:30 AM). After getting registered and getting our numbers pinned on, we met up with the rest of Hao's team and did a warm-up ride. At 8:25, we lined up with the rest of the field and got ready to ride.

The race was interesting. I'm still a complete novice, but it's not hard to see how different road racing is from triathlon. The group dynamic is omnipresent in road racing. In triathlon, being around other riders is more of a hinderance, but in road racing, it's a necessity. The course we rode was a roughly 15-mile loop. We did that loop 3 times, with the finish at the top of a long, but gentle hill.

The first loop was fast, but not tough. A couple of guys rode off the front a few meters, but there weren't any big break aways. The group stayed together with about 10 guys really doing most of the work at the front. It was a great learning experience because I really found out what pack riding is all about. Those guys are cut-throat! They don't like being in the wind because it drains their energy, so the pack was constantly shifting as we changed directions. I kept finding myself either on the outside edge or the inside edge of the pack and always stuck in the windy parts. I just don't have the experience to know when I'm being shunted into those disadvantageous positions until it's too late. Plus, I don't have the experience to force my way back into the pack when that happens. I'm a bit skittish about the closeness of the pack, but that will change with experience, I'm sure.

Anyway, for two laps, the race was pretty uneventful. Near the end of the second lap, two guys from Team Hotel San Jose (in Austin) went off the front by about 40 meters. I had found myself up close to them when they were at the very front of the pack, so when they took off, so did I. The three of us were up ahead for a mile or so, but I didn't work with them. I made them pull me along and that ultimately slowed them down so that the pack caught us pretty quickly. I didn't feel too bad about that because those guys had been blocking other riders through the whole race.

Shortly thereafter, we hit the finish line hill on our second loop. All of a sudden, Hao went zooming past me and broke out of the front. The guys at the front stomped on their pedals and stayed with him. Hao told me later he wasn't trying to break away, but that he was stuck in a bad position in the pack and knew if he didn't get out and get some speed going, he'd falter on the hill and was afraid he'd get dropped. Made sense to me, but in the end, it didn't matter.

About 2 miles after we passed through the finish line hill and started our third lap, one of the two Team Hotel San Jose guys I had been following suddenly slowed up right in the middle of a short steep hill. I was about 2 bike lengths behind at the time, but I was closing the gap quickly. I braked a bit and swerved off to the right (toward the shoulder, not the center line) a little, but the damage appeared to have been done. A few guys behind me and to my left were still accelerating into the hill and had to swerve off to avoid hitting me and this San Jose guy. One of them cut wildly across to his left and plowed into another guy causing a wreck and a resulting pile-up. Neither Hao nor I were caught in it, but we had to slow to avoid some of the people on the hill and as a result, about 20 guys who were ahead of us accelerated away. I took off after them, but Hao didn't have the legs to do it, so he and a teammate just kept riding. I didn't see them again until the finish.

For the next 2 miles, I had these guys in my sight and eventually caught them. But, just as I did, they came to another hill and I was beat from chasing them down. They accelerated away from me again. So, for the next 8 miles, I was trailing, pretty much alone, behind the break away pack anywhere from 50 to 120 meters behind. I just couldn't seem to catch them. Eventually, though, on the backside of the loop, they slowed considerably. I had to work hard, but I eventually caught them about 2-3 miles from the finish. But, the damage was done for me. I was exhausted, and although I had some time to sit in and try to recover, I knew I wasn't going to have much for the sprint finish.

I was right.

About 1000 meters from the finish, at the bottom of the hill, the group surged and some of the guys took off. A couple of them faltered, though, and fell back. The top guys, though, put it into overdrive and just accelerated away from us. Hao's teammate, Bryan, and I finished right next to each other. Another of Hao's teammates ended up winning the race and a fourth one finished in fourth place. I wound up in 16th place, just ahead of Bryan. Both of us were less than 13 seconds behind the winner. Hao finished in 27th place, about 2 1/2 minutes behind me. All in all, it was a good, fun race. I learned a lot and can't wait for my next one!

Here are the official results. Look for the "35+ 4/5" numbers. I'm in there!

Hope to have a picture or two to post shortly.