It takes 7 days
 

I thought it was a natural progression of my quest to be fit to race my bike. I have been cycling for at least 15 years and pretty aggressively for the last 5. I decided to make a significant investment in a new bike this year and promised myself that I would race with it.

I have come to understand that the group rides I have been participating are nothing like racing. Group rides are casual events with riders of differing abilities that share a love for cycling. Some cycle to be fit, others for the social aspect of the gathering and still others as a way to challenge themselves. I have been able to lead these rides and stay at the front of the pack for a few years now.

There are charity rides in our area that I have participated in. They are not races, probably for insurance reasons, and there is no fanfare at the finish line. However, the fastest of the participants always seem to make their way to the front and finish first. I have won a few of these, wait, this isn’t a race, right?

At the beginning of July I found my first race. I had been training very hard and riding hills and pushing group rides to their limits. I sensed the guys from work were annoyed at the blistering pace I sometimes set over our local roads but hey, I was preparing for a race.

My first race was in Lafayette, LA. The race had all the categories. As this was my first race, I should have been in the Category (cat) 5 group. This is where novices go and there is no money awarded to the victor. There are some nice ribbons though. Instead of accepting my fate as a cat 5 racer and doing what I should have done, I chose to promote myself to the masters category. That’s right, I’m 46 now and the masters group is anyone over 40. The masters group races for money, however small the amount and I wanted to race in the cash!

I drove in the morning of the race, learned the time trial course and warmed up. I went to the start line on time and got a nice push from the timekeeper. I rode 6 miles at 24.6 mph and finished with a time of 14:21. That was good for 9th place out of 12 riders. It was not at all what I expected. I had hoped to do better and complained about the course having 3 U-turns in it and later about the other riders with much more expensive bikes than mine but it was what it was. Overall, I was happy with my first time trial performance.

Later that day there was another race. The crit or criterion is a race around a short course that is timed, not a fixed distance. In this case the race was around about 7 city blocks in old Lafayette. The course was ok with some pretty sizable potholes and patches. The masters would race for 45 minutes. I didn’t expect the riders to be so fast!

From the start these thin racers sprinted to a blistering pace. I can ride at 30 mph for a short time, longer if I’m drafting but these guys were hammering at that speed and showing no signs of slowing. A friend of mine that races told me “keep up with the pack, they WILL slow down.” I held on as the last of 15 riders and watched in awe as they sped through the turns and sprinted the straightaways. I was doing well but noted that three guys up they were starting to drop. I had to sprint up past the split to stay in the group as positions sorted out.
As luck would have it I eventually fell behind with some other riders. We caught the pack a few times but when I got behind to draft, the other rider sort of gave up. We alternated pulling or being in front a few times. The guy I was with was reluctant to pull his share but before one corner I told him to come up and pull. He did and I gave him a wide berth to pass me on the inside. That was a mistake.

Dropping in a bike race is the one thing you don’t want to do. Crashing is the other. I did both. Think about how thin these tires are and how narrow and tenuous the grip of the contact patch. I had been riding my ass off for 23 minutes when I demanded too much from my front tire and the bike slid out from under me at 24 mph.

I’ve been in crashes before, two others to be exact. They are noted on my legs by nifty, circular scars. I have a helmet on my bookshelf from the last crash where my helmet saved me from a concussion or skull fracture or death. I will always keep it with me.

In racing they demand you wear a long sleeved jersey. Now I know why. When my bike and I hit the pavement I landed on my right leg and then shoulder. Perhaps it was luck or presence of mind but I quickly shifted to my back. There was a high pitched whine which rapidly decreased in frequency as my body slid and slowed across the blacktop. I didn’t hear the bike as it disconnected from me and slide ahead. I felt the heat, the blow to my body as I shifted and the bright pain from the patches of skin that wore quickly from my body.

I came to rest and heard an officer on the corner speak into his radio as he approached me. “Rider down in corner two. Rider down in corner two!” He was at my feet in the next instant as I tried to stand. I reached up to him as he asked “are you ok?” I said yes and he took my hands. He asked me if I wanted to sit or stand. I told him stand. He pulled me to my feet and said “you sure look pretty sliding on your back like that.” The only reply I could think as I reached for my bike was “you’re supposed to slide on your back. Sliding on your front would be silly.”

He asked me if I wanted to continue or needed the ambulance. I was checking my tires and wheels and told him if the bike could be ridden, I would be riding.

I mounted the bike and began to apply pressure to the pedals knowing that the group would be back around soon. There was a bright stinger from my hip, my hand and my arm. No blood yet but I knew that there would be plenty of carnage to examine as I pushed into the 20’s and wiped the sweat from my eyes.

The pack passed me about three laps later. I was not depressed as I was rolling again at 24 mph. I caught a few stragglers and saw a few riders drop out before the finish. I rode on and in confusion, managed to ride an extra lap to make sure I finished completely.

The road rash was pretty big on my hip. Think softball sized and you have an idea of that wound. I had several other smaller holes in my skin that healed pretty well. I discovered that there wasn’t a bandage big enough for my hip but was happy to apply a 4-6” surgical bandage with medical tape with good results.

If you wonder why cyclists shave their legs you should know that the first time I peeled 12” of medical tape from around my bandage I was convinced that this is a great idea. I don’t feel like I ever need to defend it to anyone.

So it takes 7 days for the skin to heal enough to not need the bandages. Other wounds healed prior to the large one but it was 7 full days before the pink skin was able to stand on its own and no longer required protection. I’m happy about the 7 days and hope to race again soon.

Clif notes?

I skipped right to the last three sentences.

It took me 7 days to read your post -- good read though and glad you're on the mend.

BTW, Lafayette is a great town. Is 'Nightcaps' still open? And, if so, do they still have 75cent screwdrivers?

Do your time in Cat 5

Great story. I did read it all too.

This post could go ALL...THE...WAY! Wanted in on the first page.

Everyone else had to ride the same course with the 3 U-turns, and expensive bikes don't pedal themselves - Fabian Cancellara's being the possible exception ;) There's no point in complaining about those things.

Racing can be very humbling. Before I raced, I thought it would be easy - just go a little bit harder. Then I realized that there were 50 other guys who with the exact same idea... and seemingly cranking it up every lap for the last 30 laps! But every dog has his day. If you stick with it, you're disciplined, you work hard, and you're willing to suffer (and make others suffer) it will eventually pay off. I certainly wasn't the best racer around, but occasionally I was the best racer in my category on that day. Greg LeMond has famously said, "It doesn't get easier, you just go faster." Hang in there, and good luck with the recovery.

+1 great report.

It takes 7 days to read the post...

It took you that long to tell us it "takes 7 days for the skin to heal enough to not need the bandages". Next time... post the readers digest version Dr. Phil

HA! I found that your not true Mr. Long Poster:

How long does it take to heal?

Healing time depends upon the cellular time clock. Read below for a few examples of how long healing may take place for different parts of your body.
...Unlike drugs, nutrients do not have rapid effects. NO QUICK FIX. The business of nutrition is to build a better body. That has to wait on Nature to turn over body cells. A BLOOD CELL LASTS 60 – 120 DAYS. In 3 – 4 months your whole blood supply is completely replaced. In 6 months almost all the proteins in your bones die and are replaced, even the DNA OF YOUR GENES. In a year all your bones and even the enamel of your teeth is replaced, constructed entirely out of the nutrients YOU EAT.





Think of it this way, If you take a neglected house plant and start feeding and watering it, the leaves may PERK UP A BIT from the improved nutrition. But you have to wait for the old leaves to die off and new leaves to grow before you get a really healthy plant. It is the same with the human body. When you start feeding it better, you have to wait on...your body to grow new improved cells in the improved nutrient medium. After 18 years in sport nutrition

he shortest program we will give anyone is 6 months!

(Glad to see Hooked on Phonics is working for some of us.)

Great report and good job! A man without scars is a sad, sorry animal.

Sure are a lot of people with A.D.D on this forum. The post was fine, and an interesting read. Maybe everybody should stay on twitter if they cant stand to read more than 100 characters at a time. Sheesh.

Excellent post.

Please. They have Cat 5 for a good reason. Learn how to race. You'll find that the 35+ and 40+ and at times even the 45+ are considerably faster than Cat 4/5 races, the guys driving the Master's train are Cat 2's.

The length of your post was daunting but a very good read once I got into it.

So how did you lose your front wheel?

And it's a criterium, not a criterion.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I agree with PCad. Masters races are usually much faster than Cat 5 fields. Do your time in Cat 5. And heal up fast.

Good report.

Rock on. I loved it, great post.

BTW, if you told me to pull, I'd pull.

But keep racing. And try not to crash. All you can do is try. But crashing is part of racing. Yes, shave your legs.

By the way, if your group rides aren't like races, I can assure you there are group rides that are JUST like races, only no entry fee, and not as safe.

By the way, you are required to have sleeves, but they don't have to be long. Just no tri-tops please, we're trying to keep things respectable.

Good post. So how's the bike?

+1, though Twitter's fine for what fits. ("For sale, baby shoes, never worn.")

I particularly like that this provides some perspective on racing, or even just aggressive riding. I think it's easy to look at a bike and think, "Hell, I can make that thing move if I want to," but making it move quickly and at a consistently fast pace is quite another thing.