Any hopes I had for Todd Field drying out dissolved overnight with a steady cold drizzle. I knew the conditions would be nasty, so I spent a few minutes torquing down every bolt on the bike, cleaned the chain, and hosed it down with plenty of lube.
Thankfully, the rain stopped this morning. I packed up the race bag, loaded the bike, and drove out to Willoughby with a nice hot mocha from Center Perk in Chardon.
It was about 40F when I took a spin around the course. I wore a jacket, knee warmers, bibs, a long sleeve jersey, undershirt, full gloves, and a cycling cap under my helmet.
The course wound around the ball fields and the parking area of Todd Field, down by the Chagrin River in Willoughby. The main features this year were: the steep wall descent from the parking lot to the field, an abyss on the baseball infield, and the hill run-up.
On the warmup lap, I knew the race was going to be brutal. Wet muddy grass is the worst surface for me to ride on. I can't maintain any momentum, literally. If I stopped pedaling, I would just stop. I went back to the car and stripped off the base layer, the knee warmers, and the cycling cap. I was overheating.
We started immediately after the "C" race. I followed the field around to the dismount and run up and was probably the last, or second to last one around the turn and down. The fast guys in the "B" field flew down the hill and were gone by the time I was pushing my bike up the second hill climb.
The most demanding part of the course--psychologically and physically--was the maze on the baseball field. The sand turned into a slurry of water sand and tiny pebbles that had been squeezed between dozens of bike tires. It provided no traction to torque against, or to turn against. I tried it on the smallest gear and slightly bigger gears, but it made no difference. I just crawled through it every lap. Every time through there, I half thought it would empty out straight into a cold, wet, muddy hell!
The parking lot section of the course was actually fun. It was a break from the monotony of grassy mud, and included a section of sidewalk, a telephone pole crossing, and the wall descent. The wall was actually pretty forgiving. On the first lap, I carefully setup for it so I dropped down directly, but by the last lap, I just blasted down on any angle.
I was way down in the pain cave by the time I crossed the finish line. My back had cramped in every possible way and I had been on the red line the whole time in spite of my glacial pace. I walked back to the car in a daze.
The bike suffered a little bit during this race. I think I need a new BB, which I'm actually happy about. I haven't liked the FSA mega-exo bottom bracket since I first installed it. I have an old Dura-Ace BB. I'll probably throw some old Ultegra cranks on and go with a 39 tooth conventional chainring instead of the 36T compact I've got now.
I'll probably get out for a nice easy recovery ride on the road tomorrow.
2 comments:
It was sunny, dry, and 48 in south bend but I still wish I could have done the race also. I am up for a recovery ride tomorrow but would need to get out by 11
If your BB is the Dura Ace non-sealed model, you might want to reconsider. I am pretty sure I have a sealed unit around somewhere if it would help.
BTW, that doesn't sound like fun at all. TT's seem much easier.
Post a Comment