Racing Rapides Stage Race

Here's me going around one of the corners in
the stage three criterium on Sunday.

Jonnene and I went down to Alexandria, Louisiana over the weekend to participate in the Racing Rapides Stage Race, which consists of three race stages: Stage One - a 3.1 mile time trial Saturday morning; Stage Two - road races of various distances later that day; Stage Three - criterium races in downtown Alexandria on Sunday morning. This would be Jonnene's first real foray into bicycle racing and we kept the expectations realistic since she had pretty much no experience at this. This was my first stage race in almost a year (with a 3-year gap before that) and I was just hoping to survive in a respectable fashion. Both of us are still not up to full-speed yet health-wise which has limited our training...I've only been back on the bike for the past two-and-a-half weeks since I was sick and I can still feel some gunk in my lungs. But we decided that we had to dip ourselves into the races and this event seemed to be one that we could both do.

We stayed with my brother's family starting Friday night, got up early to be at the TT location by 6:30 am so we could pick up our numbers and sign in. I was familiar with the course but Jonnene went on a recon with one of her teammates, Elka, to look it over by bike (we drove the course the night before). Her TT ended up with a 8:23 time over the five kilometers (3.1 miles) placing her 20th out of the 22 starters. My run left me with a 7:24...my best was a 7:04 in 2007...which put me 13th out of 17 in the Masters 45+ division. Both of us had someone who finished of us by one second!

Louise, Mary, Elka, and Jonnene wait
for the start of their road race.

Jonnene and the rest of the ladies had under two hours to prepare for their road race stage, a distance of 29 miles...not really long but probably the right distance for her first road race. About 8-9 miles in she lost contact with the main field on the first big hill on the course but later began to pick up some other ladies who had difficulty hanging on. Eventually they worked up a nice little six-woman group of their own for the rest of the race. At the end she ended up getting fifth in the group sprint at the line but I was really proud of her for taking this on and doing well in her first road race.

In my race I had only one goal and that was to hang on for at least the first lap of our three lap 44-mile race. Over the last few years these Masters races have become intense events with guys who are Cat. 1's and 2's entering because they're old enough. Thing is, they're still fast enough! I wasn't anywhere close to being in shape to be a factor in the race so it was essentially a training ride for me. I wasn't able to get enough of a warmup in so when our 24-man field started it was like a rocket launch. We were barely a minute into the race and already going 32 mph...I was thinking I would be spit off the back much sooner than I planned, like right then! But I hung on and the first 9 mile stretch to the main hill was rarely below 25 mph and often above 30 mph. I was feeling better than I thought I would but I knew the hill would tell the tale of how my race would go. We went up this quarter-mile-long hill at 25-26 mph and I was sticking with the pack, even passing a few riders on the way up. The rest of the way I sat at the back, hanging on to the draft and even trying to move up into the field a few times but I wouldn't stay there for long.

I grab a water bottle from Louise in the feed zone and
start my third lap on the road race.

But as we came thru the feed zone finishing our first lap, I was still there and I heard a lot of cheers for me as Jonnene and other friends saw me dragging along with the pack. We covered the first lap at a 24.8 mph average and I was exhausted! Right then some guys attacked and really stretched the group and I lost contact. I chased for over a mile, getting within 20 meters of the back of the group but couldn't close it and finally had to give it up. I rode the second lap and most of the third lap by myself. The Cat. 4 field caught me early in my third lap and I took a 5-mile ride sitting in their draft...that was actually quite fun to sit back and let them do the work! I let them go eventually and just kept pushing to the finish. Officially I came in 15th place in the Masters 45+ and got a single point for my omnium total.

That night we met up with some of our teammates at Outback and replaced some lost protein. BTW, I had chicken and ribs...yum!

Sunday morning was the crit and Jonnene's legs weren't quite there. She fell off the pace early but kept going and finished her first criterium and stage race. It was so cool to watch her do this bicycle racing thing for the first time and I think she'll try it again eventually. I think she enjoyed hanging with the other girls on our team, too. She wasn't able to help them during the races but I think they liked having more friends and teammates on the road with them.

Lined up for the criterium.
I'm in the white helmet, listening to the pre-race instructions.
I was ready for the weekend to be over!

My crit wasn't really much to write home about. I was hanging on the back of the pack in the first lap...like the road race it started FAST...and as we took the fifth turn, a right-hander, the guy in front of me started having problems. His name was Pitt and he rides for the S3 team...he's been racing for a number of years. As he leaned into the turn his bike started to wobble and he suddenly fell on his right side into the pavement. My momentum wouldn't allow me to go to his inside (the safer route) and I had to head for the outside of the turn while watching where his sliding bike would go. I ended up having to shoot a 2-foot wide gap between the opposite curb and his bike at 24 mph. I didn't feel any panic at all during this and just did the only thing I could do. The result of this was I got separated from the pack and couldn't catch back up. I ended up catching a guy named Michael from England who rides for Absolute Racing and the two of us just finished out the race. He let me finish ahead of him since I pulled him the last three laps which was very sporty of him. Like me, he had been sick over the winter dealing with an embolism in his circulatory system and had only been back on his bike for a handful of weeks. Very nice and courteous fellow.

Now we're home and the gear is put away. Time to rest!