So it's been all quiet on the blogging front recently. Well, last weekend I rode in the Adoption Exchange Classic, a road omnium in Albuquerque. What's an omnium? It's a points-based, multi-event cycling competition. Typically omniums (omnia?) are competed at a velodrome, but a road omnium has all three "disciplines" of road cycling. The Adoption Exchange Classic is fairly typical and had the following events:
1. A 20km time trial (TT)
2. A criterium (aka crit)
3. A road race
I was competing in the Men's category 5 race. That's basically the lowest category of licensed racers, and to get upgraded to cat 4 you need to get 10 mass start races under your belt. So far, my bike racing career has included 3 road races only. So I'm stuck in cat 5 for several races more. The omnium gives me another 2 mass starts -- TTs don't count here as they're individual races.
In the cat 5 omnium, the crit was a 30 minute race around the NAPA speedway (a motor racing circuit). The road race was 31.5 miles (after a 1.5 mile neutral parade).
So how did it all go? I'm pretty happy to be honest.
The weekend was quite windy, but didn't get up past about 20mph, and that was only on Sunday. For the TT, which was an out-and-back course, there was a little headwind on the way out. There was also a sustained climb back from the turnaround point... about 2 miles at nearly 4%. Between that and the chipseal road, not a super-fast course. It was also 13 miles, not 12.42 (20km). However, my sub-standard time of 35-something put me 6th in my category. Next time I would ensure slightly more sleep and getting to the race start earlier, so I had more time for a proper warm-up.
6th is more important than the time, as in an omnium the winner is determined by who has the lowest number of points after all events. The number of points you get is equal to your position in each event.
A couple of hours after the TT we were at the speedway for the crit. That's basically a twisty-turny race where a bunch of people on bikes ride too close to each other, too fast, into corners, for a set time. Anyone who gets lapped is out of the race. Our circuit was about 1 mile and our average speed during the race was about 24.5mph. My primary aim was to hang on to the front pack and not crash. My secondary aim was to finish (i.e. not get lapped).
I did not get lapped.
Actually, this is where the points I scored don't reflect my position. More than half of the field got lapped out and the officials were having a hard time keeping track. I finished well off the back of the main pack, but with a few people behind me. However, I initially was scored at 100 points, which is a nice way of saying DNF. I appealed and was given a place... 23 points, making me the official last finisher. I think it was really 16th or 17th, but thankfully it makes no difference to my final placing.
About 10 minutes after the race I noticed that my front tyre was soft. Not long after it was totally flat. There's a lot of debris on the corners of a racetrack, so I'm guessing I ran over something sharp. Thankfully my tyre stayed sufficiently inflated for me to finish, although it may explain why my last couple of laps felt so hard. No, wait, it really was about the hardest ride I've ever done. EVER. Regardless of the pressure in my tyres.
Still, at this point my Saturday was done, so it was back home so the gf could get to her roller-derby bout, then back to Albuquerque to sleep... Next morning: the road race!
I like road racing. I actually thought this would be my strongest event, despite being a triathlete and primarily training for time trials. We had a full field again (cat 5 is limited to 50 riders) and we set off at about 9:15am. The ride was uneventful, relaxing even, until about 8 miles in... where we hit Heartbreak Hill. It's short, but steep, and the field fell apart. The leaders had made a small gap before the hill and disappeared right there. I was with a couple of people at the top of the hill and we formed a 3-man paceline to try to chase down the leaders. At one point that went up to 4, then down to 3, 2 and finally just me pushing ahead. Near mile 19... right turn, straight into a 20mph headwind. 10 minutes later I was caught by a 7-man paceline, so I jumped on the back. After sitting out for two turns (to recover), I took my turn to pull every few minutes and we must've been going twice the speed I could do by myself into that wind.
The paceline lost 1 person a few miles from the finish, but otherwise that was where we all stayed, slowly closing on the leaders, but not fast enough.
At 1km out, people stopped taking their turn to pull...
At 500m out, everyone got really twitchy... the paceline was now more of a loose pack.
At 200m out the pack exploded into a sprint.
Apparently I can't sprint very well. I finished in the middle of my pack, putting me 11th in the road race and 7th in the Men's cat 5 omnium.
My best position was in the TT, but I think my best performance was in the road race. I definitely worked hardest in the crit, and learned the most there.
I highly recommend bike racing for anyone who loves to ride. It's super fun, social and a much better workout than any solo or group ride. Races also require thinking, which is a cool extra dimension you don't get in training, or even TTs.
(I'll update this with pics when I get the chance... watch out for sexy, sexy bicycles!)
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