Avon recap
May 7th, 2006 |I am not a big fan of road races. They last a long time and they are difficult and they usually involving some hard climbing and I am not very good at them.
Never-the-less, me and some Urthels headed out to Avon for the big bike race yesterday. It’s early in the year so there are always a bunch of people who show up at races that you don’t end up seeing for the rest of season for what ever reason. They get burned out or they crash or they decide that bike racing sucks and they don’t want to do it any more. But I was shocked at how many people were standing in line at registration. The officials actually had to split the category 5 field into two separate races because so many showed up. That’s a good sign for bike racing in Minnesota. Hopefully all these cat 5’s don’t become all jaded and bitter and resentful like me…
Having raced this course last year I knew that there would be two challenging obstacles to overcome. The first was the punchy climb that I was going to have to slog my way over about half way through each lap. The second was the wind.
Climbs, while difficult, are just a matter of getting over them while still being in contact with the group. It’s painful but, for me, if the climb is not too long I can put up with it. If I start the climb towards the front of the group I can fade through the riders as the climb progresses so that, while I may be at the back of the group at the top of the climb, at least I am not dropped. The wind is another story.
This race takes place on open farm roads in Sterns county and, as is typical for farm country, there is not much along the side of the road to serve as a wind block. That means that you have do deal with the wind and its effects on the other riders in the group the whole time. If you have the fitness then it’s just a mind game as to how much pain you can withstand, if you don’t have much fitness then it’s a matter of always concentrating on where you are located in the group so you are doing as little work as possible.
The goal in road races is to approach the finish of the race with as little competition as possible. That means that the strong riders will spend most of their time at the front making the pace as difficult as possible in order to cause the maximum amount of attrition in the group. Rider are constantly being spit out the back of the field under normal conditions but when the wind is in play it’s even worse.
When riders are out training together and the wind is blowing, they will usually form up an echelon to deal with the wind. Looking down from the top, an echelon looks like this.
Wind —————>
|..O……. |
|…O…….|
|….O……|
|…..O…..|
|……O….|
|…….O…|
|……..O..|
|………O.|
|……….O|
The rider at the front is blocking the maximum amount of wind, protecting the rider behind who is blocking some wind and protecting the rider behind him and so on. The echelon will be constantly rotating so that the rider in front will only stay there a few moments before dropping to the back of the group to enjoy some protection from the wind and recover before their next turn at the front.
In a race it’s a whole different story and it usually looks like this:
Wind —————>
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
|……..O|
Everyone is slammed over to the side of the road and everyone is having to deal with the full effect of the wind. Sure, the group could form up an echelon, but why the hell would you want to do anything that might keep more riders in the group? Unless you are working with a team mate you don’t want to be doing anyone any favors out there. Again, it’s all about whittling the group down to be as small as possible before the finish. If you are strong you just go to the front and drive the pace into the cross wind and if the other guys can’t hang on then too bad for them. Riders call this “playing gutter ball” as, by the end of the race, it seems like you have spent the entire day in the gutter of the road.
Where it gets dangerous is when there is just enough room to sneak behind the rider in front of you so you can get a bit of a break from the wind:
Wind —————>
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……..O..|
|……….O|
That guy at the back is getting some protection from the wind but he is also in a dangerous position because if the group moves to the right quickly he has no where to go. He can slam on his brakes and drop behind the rider in front of him or he can go off the road. Going off the road is scary as riding on a soft shoulder at 25mph can be a recipe for disaster. It’s also dangerous to be in that position as you can’t always see what is coming up that you might need to avoid. Pot holes, gravel and/or sand, someones dropped water bottle, all of these things can knock you off your bike and you take this risk by riding in a line that is not being used by the rider in front of you. If you ride directly behind the guy in front of you it’s a safe bet that the road is clear. Riding just off this course means that you are riding blind and you could run over something that the riders in front of you easily avoided. I should mention that the guy sitting in the last position is usually in a desperate situation and is trying every trick in the book to stay in the race. I should also mention that the guy sitting in that position is usually me.
So the race began with a neutral roll out start from the city of Avon which was no problem except when almost the entire pack decided to ignore the lead vehicles and proceed directly to the road circuit instead of taking the direction of the lead vehicle. It was a nice slow roll out and it would have been the perfect opportunity to stop by the side of the road to heed the call of nature, but I was not certain when the actual race would start so I never stopped. So I had the added pleasure of racing 60 miles with a full bladder…
The pack rode onto the road circuit and the real racing began. Just about everyone knew what was coming and, despite a few riders rolling off the front of the group, everyone stayed pretty much together until the climb. The first pitch of the climb was no problem but half way up the course turned south, the road spiked up, and 25% of the field disappeared off the back.
A lot of times, if you lose just a little bit of ground on a climb, you can ride back onto the group once you get over the top of the climb. But over this climb was a descent into the wind and, for most riders, there was no getting back into the group if you were dropped on the climb. The speed of the group on the descent and the blasting wind put an end to a lot of riders race within a few hundred meters.
Following the climb it was back to gutter ball until we made the turn back north. At this point we had the wind at our back which allowed the pace to go up rapidly but was not nearly as hectic as dealing with the cross wind. There was a few rolling climbs but nothing that caused too much difficulty so a number of riders took the opportunity to eat a powerbar or goo pack or take a drink.
Along this section of road there was a section of asphalt that had been heaved up during the winter. A guy from MCT was riding next to me eating something and holding on to the handlebars with his left hand. He hit that asphalt and it was like the road reached up and yanked him off his bike. He lost his grip on the bars and went crashing down to the road. Not pretty.
I was still feeling OK at this point but once we made the turn east along the frontage road of I94 it was just a matter of moments before I was not able to maintain contact with the group. Dealing with that cross wind takes so much concentration to assure that you are in the right place at all times and if you are not thinking about it constantly and making the adjustments necessary to stay in the race, you will quickly find yourself riding alone. I sure did.
It was just a moment of difficulty and for a while I thought I might be able to chase back onto the group as I was able to do twice during this event last year. No luck though. Coming off just before the start/finish line gave me a choice of bagging the rest of the race or continuing on for the second lap. As I was feeling good I decided to just keep going and enjoy the sights of the various Sterns County dairy farms. I only lost 10 to 15 minutes on the group by the end of the race so I was pleased with how things went overall.
Plus I got to use my new computer for the first time! It worked great and I look forward to using this thing and incorporating more ride and race information on to this site. Avon Road Race information is below.
