Rolling Disappointment
Well, I thought I did everything right prepping for this collegiate cycling season. I put in the heavy bike miles over the winter through rain, wind and cold. I abandoned swimming and running to invest that time into training for cycling. I started doing cross-fit to strengthen my core and upper body and develop some high-end anaerobic capacity. I did hellish intervals once or twice a week to be able to get up to a good speed and hold it. I went and raced a couple of USA cycling races before the collegiate season. I can’t tell that any of it has really paid off.
I planned to race in the C’s initially* (the same category I raced last season) and then move up to B’s after a couple of races. But my performances in the C’s have been lackluster – middle of the pack – and worsening, not improving as the season has gone on.
It would make sense that a 48-year-old guy wouldn’t typically have as much high-end speed in a final sprint as the younger guys, but in last weekend’s time trial, which requires steady-state high output (something I thought I was good at), I finished a disappointing 18th out of about 25 or 26 riders in the C’s. One explanation would be that there are a lot of fast riders in the C’s this year. I didn’t track race data last year like I am this year, but it seems to me that the overall speeds are faster now. Last week’s average MPH at the Tulane road race was 22 mph over 40 miles and that included some long stretches of extremely slow going when no one wanted to work and we were all riding along looking at each other.
I still contend that what’s holding me back is a number and it’s not 48. It’s probably 25: the amount of pounds I’d have to lose to be anywhere near the fastest guys I’m racing against. It turns out that there’s a reason why jockeys are small in horse racing. Lightness and smallness counts in cycling, too, where you provide the horsepower to propel your mass through the wind and haul your weight up inclines.
So, am I willing to do what it takes to lose 25 lbs? No. Ten, maybe, but not 25. So where is this cycling thing going to go? More cycling races where I typically finish in the back of the pack and have even been crashed out of races? Back to just local group rides and some triathlons (where I’ve had good success but miss the “team” aspect of racing)? Wouldn’t that make more sense?
Whatever it turns out to be, I’ve got three race weekends left in this season. And given my timeline for getting my thesis finished, there may not be a next season or only a very limited one. Nothing to do but race my guts out these last three race weekends.
*Men’s collegiate categories are A’s (fastest, most experienced) down to D’s (newest, slowest) riders
