Frosty Toes Road Race 3/5/2011

The hardest part of this race was convincing myself at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning that I should drive, by myself, 90 miles to race in the rain, wind and 50 degree temperature. I checked my email at least four times hoping to receive a cancellation/rescheduling notice as I had the previous weekend. No such luck. I loaded the Suburban and headed east in the rain and wind.

I arrived in Hartford about 90 minutes before the 1:30 pm start. Registration wasn't open yet so I drove around the course. The roads were good although the corners were gravely (and wet). It had been raining so hard that there were two short sections with water flowing over the road, three inches deep in one spot.

I got back to the start/finish and registered. It was now only raining lightly but the wind was a steady 20 mph gusting to 30. I set my pop-up tent up on the lee side of the school building, sheltered from the wind, and was able to change and warm-up in relative comfort. I got in a comfortable 30 minute warm-up on my trainer protected from the rain and cold.

The race started on time with three fields. The first two had about 15 riders each. The last field had about nine riders consisting of master 40+, master 50+, juniors, and women. Since they were paying three deep in each of these classes, all you had to do was finish to place. The race was four laps of a 10 mile rectangular course. About 75% of it was crosswind.

The race started with a brutal crosswind coming from the left. By the time we got to the first turn, there were only two of us left in front, me and a 40+ master from Pennsylvania who had driven three hours that morning to do the race. We ended up riding a two-man team time trial for the entire 40 miles (not what I had planned!) The crosswind was so strong that the "sweet spot" for sitting in was next to the person doing the pull sitting with your front wheel even with his front axle.

The rain was light for the first 20 miles. The water flowing over the road had totally receded in one spot and was only an inch deep in the other. However, the rain intensified to a steady shower at about the half-way point. Despite the wind and the rain, I was actually comfortable throughout the entire race. Proper clothing really makes a difference. My new Team Fuji insulated vest did a great job of fending off the rain and wind.

I did about 70% of the pulling on the last lap. With 400 meters to go, my breakaway partner jumped around me and opened a ten meter gap. I was never really able to get onto his wheel but I kept chasing. Finally, he started cramping and I caught and passed him about 20 meters from the line. It was a great way to start the season! I have been focused on doing this race this January. That focus got me through some hard times in February. No way was I going to let a little wind and rain get in the way.