Road Bike Racing - A Middle-Aged Woman and Her Mediocre Racing Career

Read all about it:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=7254680#post7254680

I do not have permission to view that page (women's forum??)

Sorry about that.

Try this:

On Sunday I rode the Esparto, CA, individual time trial for the second time. Last year I rode it on this borrowed bike:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/DSCF0444.jpg


I finished that race in 51:30, 6th place.

This year I had less practice yet more race experience. The Thursday before the race I borrowed an Orbea Ora from my LBS and took it out for a brief ride after an seemingly excruciatingly long time fitting it.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/004.jpg

I rode it Friday about 35 miles, spending most of the time in the aero bars, adjusting to the feel and the speed and the unusual position. The bike wants to go fast. My job was to get there.

So come Sunday and we arrive at our destination in plenty of time for me to warm up.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/095.jpg

I love my iPod. I warmed up to fierce music and it was a good thing. Last year I lacked a trainer and had to warm up on the town streets. What a difference a year makes.

When I was finished warming up my DH and bike slave sent me off to the Porta-potties for the 35th time. Meanwhile, he noticed that the headtube was loose. Always prepared, he inspected the bike with his usual detail-oriented eye, and made sure every hatch was battened, every screw tightened. I had no idea of this until after the race.

Velodiva and I exchanged pleasantries during the 4 min. break between categories.
http://http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/098.jpg


Then it was my turn.


The start was on a turn and slightly uphill. About 3 miles down the road was a right turn, and hello, headwind! It felt worse than it was; it was from the north and the road headed east, so it was quartering both ways. The overpass and subsequent rollers seemed huge and I had to get out of the saddle to keep from lagging. When the woman who started after me passed me a couple rollers from the turn around I kind of freaked. I was riding with naught but my speedometer, and according to it I was blazing right along. Controlling my breathing required a huge effort. My biggest challenge was staying relaxed.

I remember exerting myself so hard that I lost peripheral vision. My focus was the few feet in front of my bike, and controlling said bike enough to take advantage of its aerodynamic properties. It was both an eternity and too soon when I saw the 1KM sign. I went into overdrive and hammered all the way to the end. I have no Power Tap so my perception of my exertion is: Woof!
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/110.jpg


Much later I was cooled down and rode back to the parking lot, where I guzzled 2 liters of water in a brief amount of time and waited for results.

I finished in 51:00 (unofficially) and 4th. I'll be honest -- I stewed and fumed and pouted that I finished over 2 min. over the first-place rider. I was so beaten up by this ride, though, I couldn't hang onto that energy, and was happy to celebrate my victories. After all, time trials are merely races against yourself.

Now I know where I want to be for next year.

Living life in such a way that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "Oh, *****, she's awake!"

good effort :thumb:

How far?

the Webcor girl has some serious bling! :)

Nice work.

Time practicing on the bike you're going to TT will make a big difference. Most people find their power is lower on the TT bike until they spend some time trianing in that position.

Nice write-up, glad you had fun :beer:

Absolutely spend some more time with the bike and the position though. You could certainly win...

Nice job!, especially on a bike that you have not ridden much. I love your attitude about racing and expecting to be better next time. This is my first year of racing and I am already planning my winter and Spring so I can overcome this year's weaknesses. In June I did two 10 mile TT's over a hilly course that were one week apart. I improved 37 seconds on the second TT and suffered just as much or more! I can't imagine how much suffering you did on a 51 minute ride. Good luck on the rest of your season.

Great job. I am in awe of both of you.

good effort :thumb:

How far?

the Webcor girl has some serious bling! :)

Thanks!

18 miles on a fairly flat course with some mild rollers toward the middle.

You two are in full TT aero gear and it's only a women's Cat 4 race. The last time I was at a TT, none of the guys in Cat 5 had anything better than clip-ons on their regular road bikes. Maybe I'm missing something, but is there a Cat 5 women's now?

You two are in full TT aero gear and it's only a women's Cat 4 race. The last time I was at a TT, none of the guys in Cat 5 had anything better than clip-ons on their regular road bikes. Maybe I'm missing something, but is there a Cat 5 women's now?

Not sure which TT you were doing, but there are plenty of TT bikes in cat 5 category. This TT was no exception:
http://hcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/5682640_PuNGS
Granted some of them are Tri people.

Both of you are exceptional role models for guys and girls coming into the world of bike racing.
You should be proud even if you came in last, you'd still have the utmost respect from everyone
here. Its the fact that you had the courage and fortitude to kick your own ass's and just go for it.
That's what being human is all about. How cool is it that you two would go out and do that during
the week of the Olympics! How apropos and just plain Awsome, awsome and awsome. You make
life exciting for all of us...and yer lookin pretty HOT! to boot!
Pete ; )

Congrats on your 4th place!

You two are in full TT aero gear and it's only a women's Cat 4 race. The last time I was at a TT, none of the guys in Cat 5 had anything better than clip-ons on their regular road bikes. Maybe I'm missing something, but is there a Cat 5 women's now?

Don't underestimate the Women Cat 4s. (You are not missing anything - there is no women's Cat 5.)
Here is a link to pics of the Elite W 4 field. http://hcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/5682778_aTSBq There is only one woman that is totally non-aero (or shall I say Merck). Two women with disks - I sometimes TT with a tri-spoke and disk, but Hermes used that set up at Esparto.

Awesome. Great report and great pics.

Great report and pics. Congrats on the ride! :thumb:

I love that TT. Last year I did the 45's and finished 3rd with the winning 35+ time. This is another facet of "It's hell getting old".

Very good work. And trust me that losing by a lot is easier mentally than losing by a little.

You could improve that position quite a bit BTW. A lot of the "fitters" out there are tri oriented, for us it's much more about aerodynamics. One of the guys who beat me there last year did it on less watts.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I get a lot of inspirations from you racers, and of course the learning never stops.

When I do my next TT I'll either own a TT bike, or borrow one with enough time to get it properly fitted and get in a lot of practice.

I won't break any records but I'm having a hell of a good time. I guess this is my mid-life crisis. :speedy:

The fact that you're out there doing it makes the title of this thread irrelevant. Sorry to say, but anybody who gets out there and puts it all on the line, satisfied with results or not is anything but mediocre.

Just my 2 cents. You're also on a borrowed bike, which probably doesn't help a whole lot, with some time to familiarize with your equipment you'll probably see a marked improvement.

In the end.. you said it yourself.. you're having a good time, that alone makes it worth it.

Don't underestimate the Women Cat 4s. (You are not missing anything - there is no women's Cat 5.)
Here is a link to pics of the Elite W 4 field. http://hcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/5682778_aTSBq There is only one woman that is totally non-aero (or shall I say Merck). Two women with disks - I sometimes TT with a tri-spoke and disk, but Hermes used that set up at Esparto.

All that money on equipment and these ``elite'' competitors still don't have very good position on the bikes.

Food for thought for all of us in racing and in life:

To quote Randy Paush: "The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

And Red Rider and I want it badly enough so that no frickin' brick walls will keep us from achieving our own personal goals.

Great report Red and congratulations on improving your time!

[quote=Red Rider;7254787]

I finished in 51:00 (unofficially) and 4th. I'll be honest -- I stewed and fumed and pouted that I finished over 2 min. over the first-place rider. I was so beaten up by this ride, though, I couldn't hang onto that energy, and was happy to celebrate my victories. After all, time trials are merely races against yourself.

Now I know where I want to be for next year.

QUOTE]

Hey Red Rider - Celebrate that you beat three of the Cat 1/2/3 women!!! Way to go!

Combined results for ALL women
Class
PLC TIME NUM NAME CLUB/SPONSOR Class PLC
-- -------- --- ---------- ---------- --------- --
1 43:21.3 795 MCDONALD,Kelly Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 1
2 43:43.4 787 DILLON,Olivia Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 2
3 47:27.0 790 FOXMAN,Emily UC Davis Aggies Women 1/2/3 3
4 47:37.9 800 OLIVEIRA,Flavia Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 4
5 48:05.6 789 FENECH,Lauraleen Team Walthour Women 1/2/3 5
6 48:20.9 792 GREGG,Joan Cycling-Trainin Women 1/2/3 6
7 48:50.1 804 ALLEN,Mary Webcor/Alto Vel Women 4 1
8 48:51.4 806 HAMLIN,April Velo Bella Women 4 2
9 49:01.0 811 SMITH,Mary_Ann Davis Bike Club Women 4 3
10 49:23.7 794 HENRY,Anny NorCal Velo Women 1/2/3 7
11 51:03.4 805 GALLAGHER,Deborah Precision Bicyc Women 4 4
12 51:20.2 799 ROUSHDI,Narda Berkeley Bike C Women 1/2/3 8
13 51:25.5 807 HERNANDEZ,Marianne Davis Bike Club Women 4 5
14 51:33.6 788 DUNN,Erin Easton/SugarCRM Women 1/2/3 9
15 51:39.7 809 MAGNANI,Mary Dolce Vita Women 4 6
16 52:07.5 797 MORGAN,Josie Easton/SugarCRM Women 1/2/3 10
17 53:49.2 814 SUMMERS,Jeannette Sierra Express/ Women 4 7
18 54:12.2 810 ROBERTS,Brooke NA Women 4 8
19 55:48.2 808 JIMENEZ-COLYER,Ilia Synergy-Taleo Women 4 9
20 1:06:10.7 812 SPYRKA,Patrice Links for Life/ Women 4 10

Food for thought for all of us in racing and in life:

To quote Randy Paush: "The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

And Red Rider and I want it badly enough so that no frickin' brick walls will keep us from achieving our own personal goals.

I'll drink to that! :beer:

Hey Red Rider - Celebrate that you beat three of the Cat 1/2/3 women!!! Way to go!

Combined results for ALL women
Class
PLC TIME NUM NAME CLUB/SPONSOR Class PLC
-- -------- --- ---------- ---------- --------- --
1 43:21.3 795 MCDONALD,Kelly Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 1
2 43:43.4 787 DILLON,Olivia Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 2
3 47:27.0 790 FOXMAN,Emily UC Davis Aggies Women 1/2/3 3
4 47:37.9 800 OLIVEIRA,Flavia Touchstone Clim Women 1/2/3 4
5 48:05.6 789 FENECH,Lauraleen Team Walthour Women 1/2/3 5
6 48:20.9 792 GREGG,Joan Cycling-Trainin Women 1/2/3 6
7 48:50.1 804 ALLEN,Mary Webcor/Alto Vel Women 4 1
8 48:51.4 806 HAMLIN,April Velo Bella Women 4 2
9 49:01.0 811 SMITH,Mary_Ann Davis Bike Club Women 4 3
10 49:23.7 794 HENRY,Anny NorCal Velo Women 1/2/3 7
11 51:03.4 805 GALLAGHER,Deborah Precision Bicyc Women 4 4
12 51:20.2 799 ROUSHDI,Narda Berkeley Bike C Women 1/2/3 8
13 51:25.5 807 HERNANDEZ,Marianne Davis Bike Club Women 4 5
14 51:33.6 788 DUNN,Erin Easton/SugarCRM Women 1/2/3 9
15 51:39.7 809 MAGNANI,Mary Dolce Vita Women 4 6
16 52:07.5 797 MORGAN,Josie Easton/SugarCRM Women 1/2/3 10
17 53:49.2 814 SUMMERS,Jeannette Sierra Express/ Women 4 7
18 54:12.2 810 ROBERTS,Brooke NA Women 4 8
19 55:48.2 808 JIMENEZ-COLYER,Ilia Synergy-Taleo Women 4 9
20 1:06:10.7 812 SPYRKA,Patrice Links for Life/ Women 4 10

Hey, check that out -- I had no idea!

This certainly gives me a different perspective. Thanks, VDiva!