I have had good fitness and luck this season, finishing on the podium in all of the races I have attended, however I am in peak condition now and am focused on taking the category win at the Barbour de Tour. As this is the last chance to gain points prior to the state championship, there are sure to be some heavy hitters showing up. I expect to see many of the same faces that have been around the race pits all season and by this point know who to look out for. The route is termed "hilly" but is not a climber's course and has finished in a field sprint for the past three years running. With the fairly fast (around 22mph) average speed from last year's race, I imagine the case will be much the same again this year.
The course starts in downtown Philippi with a controlled roll out of town. Almost immediately after the controlled section, the one and only significant climb of the course begins. It is a bit over a mile of 6-8% grade and could prove to make an early selection depending on how everyone's legs are feeling. However, with nearly 30 miles of flat course following the initial climb, the likelihood of escaping early and staying away is minimal. My race strategy is fairly simple: I am going to play the hand I am dealt. I want to stay in the bunch long enough to feel out some of the competition and conserve energy, but after that I want to be able to adapt to race conditions. If I find myself out front and feeling good I may try a flyer with the hopes that a few of the more aggressive in the bunch will follow. With a strong 5-6 guys we could probably stay away until the end, and I am more confident in a small sprint than a packwide sprint anyway. Or I might sit in all day and then jump off the front when we are around 5 miles out, who knows. I am feeling good and have already begun tapering so I am fresh for the big event.
The 33 mile length of this course is well within my comfort zone and I should be able to hammer from start to finish without really hurting until the very end. I only have two concerns: One being that according to all of the data (heartrate, speed, field tests) I have collected over the season, it appears that I peaked about a week ago. Thus by the time the race rolls around I will have been in my peak fitness for a little over two weeks. Supposedly an athlete should be able to perform at their peak for around 5 weeks before they begin to breakdown/burnout. I am just hoping that figure is correct and I do not burn out too early. My training rides are now focused on pure speed and I normally finish with such animosity that I need a little downtime afterwards to recover. However, I am recovering fully between rides so that is a good sign. Also, my enthusiasm for racing has not waned at all. If anything, I am more excited about this race than any of the ones before (although my enthusiasm for training is admittedly beginning to wear a bit...).
My second concern is that I have been feeling a bit of stiffness in my left knee following hilly training rides. This is most likely due to the intensity of pushing big gears on some of the climbs and I have begun to try to spin up the hills rather than relying on leg strength to propel me upwards. I have scheduled a deep tissue massage prior to Saturday and am taking it easy on my leg up until then as well. I just hope that no ill effects rear their ugly heads during competition. I have a week's vacation planned following the event, so I am going to try to use that time to take some time off the bike and crosstrain with other activities to give my knees a break.
Other than my concerns, I am pretty much set for the race. I am trying to use the lessons I have learned in race preparation/strategy from my early season races to get me through this weekend. Some things in particular I have learned this season are:
1) Train hard, but rest when needed. There are times when I feel good enough to go out and hammer day after day, but then there or those weeks when the responsibilities of being an employee, husband, father, son, and mechanic/handyman get to be a bit more exhausting and I just dont have the energy to spend 25 hours on the bike. Realizing its ok to take a couple rest days becomes very important at this point, as you need to learn to listen to your body.
2) Schedule your races carefully and be flexible. I loaded up the early part of my season with several races of various types and lengths which helped me race into shape. Then the mid part of my season was broken up by other obligations such as weddings, family gatherings, etc. and I did not race for over a month. Sometimes that break is important to give you a rest mentally and physically from the rigors of racing. I missed a race this past weekend because of a scheduling conflict that was going to be very tough to make work. Instead I elected to conserve energy and take an extra rest day and this week I am faster than ever.
3) Dont be afraid to eat. On my heavy training weeks, I eat everything in sight...and still drop weight. If your body isnt properly fueled it cannot perform to its utmost potential. I stick to pastas, grains, whole proteins, and fruits and veggies. Race day I start out with cereal and coffee, then have a high carb snack right before the event.
4) Ride with people who are faster than you, but not all the time. I ride in several group rides of varying intensities throughout the week. Sometimes I am introducing new cyclists to riding, other times I am pounding on every climb for imaginary "KOM" points. At least once a week I ride with a group of mountain bikers that can quite handily grind me into the dirt. On the road I can drop every one of them on a climb, escape the pack on the flats, and sprint to win every town sign...but when they get me on the trails they repay the favors. They spin away on short technical climbs and have me gasping for breath as we zip through tight twisty singletrack. However, I am slowly improving and am able to keep up much better after a full season of brutal beatings on the dirt. Some day I will hopefully not get dropped on the trails, but until then I keep going back (no matter how painful it is) so that I can continue to improve.
5) Finally, ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE! If at any point you begin dreading getting back in the saddle, there is something wrong and you need a break. I normally bike commute to work, ride on lunch break, and ride after work. But there are weeks where I enjoy the simplicity of driving into work instead. I used to feel bad about that fact, but have come to realize I just need to do what makes me happy. I love the freedom of being on a bike knowing I can accomplish any distance, get over any obstacle, all under my own power. But the days that I just dont feel like riding, I dont. I do something else: kayak, walk, hike with the family, whatever. I stay active, but I balance biking with the rest of my life. I have to realize that biking is something that I DO, its NOT who I am.
So in short, I am ready. I am set to perform the best I have all season in this upcoming race. And maybe that will mean a podium finish, even a category win. But that also may mean not being on the podium at all, and thats ok by me. As long as I give it what I've got and leave it all on the race course I will deem this season a success. So as I toe up to the line this Saturday, I will be thinking of all of the ProTour teams doing the same in Monaco as they begin the Tour de France. As corny as it may sound, every racer shares the same types of experiences regardless of their category classification. We all have spent hours in the saddle alone. Countless training rides have included rain, snow, extreme heat, close calls and irate drivers. We have pushed our limits and ridden to near exhaustion in the hopes of increasing our overall power by just a few watts here or there. We escape imaginary packs, sprint against the fastest invisible sprinters never seen, and descend like madmen to chase back onto the tail end of the nonexistent front group. Our group rides regularly turn into hammerfests at the end of which everyone is redlined, but so indescribably satisfied we wonder why we ever stop. We are racers, cyclists and friends that adhere to one rule: "Pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever."
I invite all of you guys to come this Saturday to Philippi, WV for the Barbour de Tour. Race begins at 10am and is a road style loop course, beginning and ending in downtown Philippi. You should be able to see the start, first climb, and finish without too much driving. Let me know if you need directions.
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