Hi, after skipping our reconstituted, somewhat politically polluted, Tuesday Night Worlds (aka El Dorado Park Tuesday Twilight Training Series), I went last night for my first massed start race in over three weeks. It was relatively hot for coastal Long Beach with temperatures in the low 80s (stop laughing AzTR) and roughly 60% humidity. I'm relating the weather stats because they
may have affected my race. Rode to the race (6 miles) and then sat in for the first two 1.73 mile laps of the Masters 40+ race. On lap three I attacked and a friend (and good criterium racer) came with me (he's leading in this shot):
Photo by Allan Crawford (
http://acgallery.smugmug.com/)
We got caught and on the next lap we got the bell for the first of two primes. I got out of the saddle to move up to help our team's sprinter and my left calf started locking up from a cramp. It was all I could do to hang on through the prime sprint. Then on a slight rise my right calf started cramping. I spent most of the rest of the race drinking plain water and trying to loosen up my calves. I started feeling reasonable with 2 laps to go.
Just before we got the bell for the finish, the pack was bunching up and looking kind of dangerous. Being overly optimistic, I jumped on the finish straight to try to string the pack out and took the bell solo:
Photo by Allan Crawford (
http://acgallery.smugmug.com/)
However, I got caught on the next straight by a strung out pack with about a mile to go to the finish.
Fortunately, my teammate didn't need much of a leadout and he got second. I rolled in amongst the sprint stragglers. Race ended up being 26 miles in just under one hour.
Maybe the heat and humidity had something to do with the cramps. Maybe it was coming back from the racing break. Who knows for sure. Amazingly, AJ and I had something in common last night -- not that it was a good thing.