My big goal for the second half of the season was Giro di Coppi. Its not flat, not what I would call a climber's race, had no really hard climbs, and seemed to be a course suited for what I think I might be good at. Everything went fine training wise leading into the race and I tested my legs out a bit two weeks before at Greenbelt by seeing how much I had in the tank by going on a solo break for the first 6 laps and then by pre-riding the course the weekend before. The problems started after the pre ride when I my right shoulder/neck became incredibly sore. In addition, it seemed as if only my left leg was doing any work/getting sore and I seemed to be fairly 'flat' during harder efforts. It seems as if I somehow peaked for Greenbelt, and then fell straight on my ass when it mattered most. I had an awful week leading into the race with an aborted interval session and an excrutiatingly tough group ride where I suffered some droppage that I've never had an issue with before.
I kept a positive attitude and felt great on the day of the race. The pace was the slowest of any that I've ever done, but it often picked up the second anything was attempted: it would end in some sort of field sprint. I'm not a sprinter, but short hills like that work alright for me so I just rode at my own conservative pace whether that be near the front or on the front.
Then came the last lap and those weird physical observations I noted earlier. The last climb came, I stood up to pedal and follow the heavily-marked move and my entire right leg locked up- quad, hamstring and calve simultaneously. I sat back down to pedal it out, but the problem didn't disappear. I got to sit at the side of the road for 3 minutes while the race rode away and I missed my 1 goal of the year. Pedaling back 1 footed wasn't fun and the cramping continued for the next 8 hours. My left leg was visibly more stressed than my right- it felt harder and there was more veinage happening. I woke up the next day and my right felt as if it had never been moved while my left was on fire.
This trend continued until last week when a small cleat tweak helped things normalized somewhat. I felt fairly flat at Greenbelt, which I attribute to a bit too aggressive of a weightloss strategy, and then the problem returned on Thursday morning. I made the long journey to Lost River to support Jay, our team's chief sponsor, and the bastard of a race he has created. I was told the race would be difficult, but my inability to handle hot and humid at the same time, when combined with my undereating and bubble guts made the part of the race I did feel as if I was the liver of a seventh year senior frat boy.
I dropped my chain on the long descent and had a fun time chasing on, but not quite catching on for a good portion of the race before pulling out. I wasn't the only one that hurled and had a hellish day and immediately got into the whole 'eff this' mindset that a failed race day often brings.
On the way home I realized that there's only so much one can do at this point in the year. I can't train any harder, undo what happened, and go back and uninjure myself, but I can just focus on having fun. I don't care about Greenbelt, but its relatively stress free, which could effect my mindset quite a bit. I get the most out of it because I approach it with a 'try anything' manner since I'm not going out of my way to race and it doesn't matter in the first place. I then go to other races freaking out about little details that I can't control and lose sight of the main goal in the first place- having fun and hoping that its a good day and wonderful things happen.
My first FULL racing season is coming to a close with 21 races completed thus far and dozens of 10AMs, Hour of Power, Thursday night sprint, and Bike Place rides under my belt as well. I'm not a natural athlete, but I expected to be able to translate my ambition into major pwnage despite not quite understanding myself, how races work around here, and what I should look for in a target race. I only managed to accumulate 10 points thus far, but the learning experiences have been invaluable and will allow me to hit my second season in a smarter manner. I plan on hanging my bike up when I get home from Page County or Millersburg and not touching it again until October when I start to 'train' again for next season and I'm looking forward to the break only because it will allow me to put shitty luck and misfortune behind me and allow me to have a more successful/relaxed next season.
