Wednesday 10 March 2010

Rutgers Classic

        Back when I first heard I was heading to Rutgers, I contacted the Crew team (rowing) to see about joining the crew team when I came over to the US. I was told that unfortunately the Crew team only accepted undergraduates, as graduate students were ineligible for many college events. I was understandably disappointed, but I decided that I would try out a new sport instead.
        Now it seems a fairly common switch to change from rowing to cycling (for example, Rebecca Romero won a silver medal in the women’s quad in 2004 before winning a gold medal in Beijing in the individual pursuit in track cycling) so I decided to look into cycling with the Rutgers team.
        Immediately after contacting them I was struck by how welcoming the cycling team was - there were a few grads on the team and everyone was very generous in their advice and support. Hence, when I arrived in New Brunswick, I hunted out Kim’s Bike Shop - a local store owned by the parents of a past Rutgers cyclist. I met with Dave (who graduated a year earlier) and I eventually decided to go for a GT Carbon Sport.
        Fall term was then spent getting used to the bike. If anyone has never ridden a road bike before (like me) then you might be surprised just how different it is compared to a mountain or commuter bike. For a start, it is pretty wobbly - if you aren’t that confident and take a corner a little sharply you will end up on the floor. Secondly, you have to get used to using cycling shoes and cleats - where you ‘clip’ your shoes into the pedals enabling you to apply power throughout the whole pedal stroke, not just the downward section. Now when I first tried to use cleats I promptly fell off the bike... Luckily I was indoors at the time without anyone watching, and after a lot of practicing while holding onto the wall I finally was brave enough to try actually cycling.
        The difference between road cycling and ‘normal’ cycling is quite pronounced, but road cycling is hugely more efficient - everything is designed for maximum speed: lightweight frame, drop bars for aero body position, cleats to enable power throughout the stroke, thin tires for minimal friction, the list goes on and on. It may be a little uncomfortable to start with, but you soon get used to the new body positions and movements. I started going on group rides with the cycling team as soon as I felt confident, usually riding in the groups for the ‘over-insulated and speed challenged’, so the pace wasn’t crazy and we stayed together as a group. I also started increasing the distance I would ride, towards 25-30 miles solo, and peaking at a fantastic 58 mile Princeton group ride in January.
        In the meantime I had signed up for a triathlon (I’ll be doing a proper blog post about that later) and through a combination of exercise and good nutrition had lost 37lbs in 4 months, hitting my target weight of 180lbs (12st 12lbs) just a matter of days before my first ever cycling race - perfect timing! My first race would be the Rutgers Classic weekend (the first weekend of the East Coast College Conference), and would actually consist of 3 different styles of racing - Individual Time Trial (ITT), Criterium (Crit) and Circuit Race. It was great that my first race would be on home soil - being familiar with the course made me feel a lot more comfortable. I would be racing in the Intro Men, a category for beginners, or near beginners that meant we would be ‘looked after’ - whatever that would mean!
        After multiple emails, team meetings, sign-making sessions and beginners racing clinics, race weekend loomed, bringing with it a whole bag of nerves. On the Friday night we did the slightly mundane tasks essential to a well run race: sweeping key corners of heavy gravel, marking out potholes, flyering cars to let them know where they weren’t allowed to go. Then it was time for an early night and good night’s sleep before a 5am wake up call. Getting up that early I grabbed a quick bowl of oatmeal and headed down to Johnson Park, where the ITT was going to be held.
        
Individual Time Trial
        Unlike a lot of riders there, I was kind of looking forward to the ITT, and not unexpectedly it turned out to be my best event. The ITT consisted of a 2.7 mile course with two 180° turn-arounds that you had to complete as fast as possible. You were completely on your own, being sent off in 15s intervals and drafting (riding close behind another rider to avoid the wind) was illegal.
        I suppose it is probably the rower in me (with all those 2km tests!) but I really liked the idea of just being me against the clock - if I was fast I would do well and no external circumstances would affect the result.
        After a 5am wake-up call I was down at Johnson Park helping set-up and then I was hopping on the trainer to get warmed up for the race. A trainer is a little stand that you attach to your back wheel. Your wheel is then placed on a small cylinder that offers resistance through either fluid, magnets or wind (although the latter makes it sound like you’re powering a jet engine not just riding a bike...). This means you can ride your bike while stationary, allowing you to get your legs warmed up without having to weave your way through cars attempting to park. Before I knew it the Introductory Collegiate Men (Intro Men) were being called to the start line and I was off!
        The race was certainly hard, and my legs were pumped full of lactic acid by the end but it was also kinda fun. I had a fairly quick start averaging 23-24mph on the first stretch, trying to ensure I took Pat’s advice and took the most direct line from apex of corners to the next apex and it was great to hear some of the Rutgers guys encourage me when coming out of the first U-turn, just when I was starting to really feel it in my legs. Coming back up the course I managed to pass the rider in front of me and, after avoiding a stray line of geese, was at the second U-turn, where Cristian was yelling at me to catch the guy in front. I didn’t want to let him down and sure enough I soon passed the guy who started two in front of me, however by this point my legs were in quite a bit of pain! I was passed by a really quick DeSales guy right at the finish line (he placed 5th in the Intro Men) but otherwise was pretty pleased with my run.
        I later found out that I finished the course in a time of 7:38 and that put me 16th in a field of around 50-60 Intro Men - a result I was very happy with! It would also have placed me 78th out of the 120 D-Men (the next category above Intro) so that was pretty pleasing too. It was much better than I expected (I originally just hoped to not finish last) and after the race I was pumped for the Criterium that afternoon!

Criterium
        After finishing the ITT we cleared up the course materials and headed over to Busch Campus for the Crit around the training bubble. Now a Criterium is a style of race where riders race over a very short lap (usually around 1km) that is usually in a square with sharp 90°+ corners so technique is key. As an Intro I would only be racing for 20 minutes, unlike the hour the A Men would be racing. For the 30 minutes before the race we had our ‘Intro Clinic’ reminding us of cornering technique, a very important skill if we wanted to still be on our bikes at the end of the race! Very soon though we were lined up at the start line and setting off for 2-3 ‘coached laps’. Coached laps are something they do for intros to help us get comfortable with the course - we head round with some A riders from the different universities who give us tips and pointers for the actual race. Although these were non-competitive laps, there was certainly a bit of jostling for position to ensure a good start position.
        I managed to line up at an end of the second row on the start grid and before I knew it we were off for our 5 lap race. I soon found that I could happily keep up with the main pack (around 30 riders), and slowly worked my way towards the front. I then did something pretty stupid: I made a big push the second lap in. I was taking the first corner of the lap and realized that the rest of the front pack weren’t really putting full effort in so I whipped around the edge and took the lead. I tried to pull away and create a bit of space between me and the pack, however I soon realized just how much more difficult it is to ride on your own versus in the pack. I only managed around half a lap before the main pack caught up with me, and my legs were screaming at me by this point. To give them a little break I headed towards the rear of the main pack and enjoyed the ease offered by drafting. Unfortunately after spending my legs too early I struggled to work my way back up the pack and by the final lap I was firmly in the middle/rear of the pelaton. It didn’t help that on laps 3 and 5 I had guys crash out just in front of me on the final corner, resulting in me having to take wide lines to avoid getting caught in the carnage. As I turned onto the home straight of lap 5 I stood up and started my sprint powering through to earn the 21st spot on the board from the same field as in the morning.
        I certainly learnt a few things with my first Crit experience, that I will be taking with me into the next few weekends. Firstly, I need to be much more tactical about when I push. If I had left the push until maybe the 5th lap there is a chance it could work - if I know I will be able to put that extra burst of power when others can’t it may work out a pretty good strategy for me. I also learnt that crashes are pretty scary, but if one happens around you they are surprisingly easy to avoid (generally it just means taking a slightly non-standard line). Finally, make sure when you go for the home sprint that you have enough control over your bike - I saw one guy from a university that will remain nameless who in the sprint of my race stood up for a big push, and promptly lost control of his bike and crashed, taking off all the skin on the end of his thumb and good lot from his thigh in the process... Not fun...

Circuit Race
        On the Sunday it was the turn of the Circuit Race. This would involve much longer laps (around 4 miles) that would include more corners, a couple of small hills and a lot more riding in the pack than the Crit. The race would last for 30 minutes in total, including a ‘coached lap’ like at the Crit. The races would also get longer as the category increased, ending with a 90 minute race for the A men racers.
        The race was around Livingston Campus (One of Rutgers’ four campus at New Brunswick) and would include 8 corners and at the end a slight hill leading into a long downhill straight making for an exciting finish.
        As with the Crit, we had a beginners clinic beforehand, this time concentrating on drafting and bumping - two slightly scary, but ultimately essential techniques. Drafting is the art of riding close behind another rider to stay in their slipstream, making life much easier for yourself. To draft effectively there should be a matter of an inch or two between your wheels, so obviously it can be slightly dangerous, hence the workshop to teach us how to draft safely. Luckily I had already had quite a bit of drafting experience through team rides so this wasn’t anything new, however even with this experience, when someone slammed on their brakes in front of me I only just managed to avoid being sent flying, and in the process managed to knock the rider behind me and send him to the floor. Luckily no one was hurt and it certainly got the message across that drafting could be dangerous if someone acts without warning.
        After a few laps of the car park drafting each other we headed to the second half of the clinic - bumping. As the circuit race was longer than the Crit, most of the riding would be done in the pelaton and so there would inevitably be a little bumping of elbows etc. As was clearly pointed out learning how to bump was about making sure you didn’t fall over and not (!) a technique to take out other riders. To practice we rode over a patch of soft-ish grass and in groups of three practiced hitting elbows and shoulders, and responding by putting enough pressure back to stop the collider, but not so much as to send the other rider flying. After a few groups hitting the decks (including a spectacular fall between three members of the Yale team) everyone pretty much had the hang of it and there was time for a quick loo stop before the race started. In the toilets there were people getting changed and so I asked someone “Is this the queue for the loo?” to which I got the response “Oh, so you’re from McGill, are you?”. Never mind the fact I had my Rutgers cap on (the rest of my kit was hidden under my hoody and tracksuit bottoms) but I am pretty sure I don’t sound much like a Canadian!
        Soon enough we were on the start line and setting off for our coached lap. As with the Crit, even though this lap was non-competitive, there was certainly a lot of jostling for position - I for one did not particularly want to start at the back end of 50-odd riders if I didn’t have to! The course was much less technical than the Crit but it also surprised me just how close we were riding next to each other, this was definitely going to be interesting!
        After lining up again the race started and I managed to cement myself towards the front of the pack. After avoiding a crash in front of me (people seem to like to crash just in front of my bike...) I dropped a little towards the back of the main pack, but found that on 5th corner (which I thought was fairly easy) people were loathe to apply much power, so I simply took the outside line and was back up toward the middle of the pack. I again attacked on the uphill at the end of the circuit, putting myself again towards the front.
        The second (and final) lap I planned to attack on the 5th corner again and at the finish, but found as I turned the 4th that I was stuck in the center of the pack, without much options to get to the sides to make the push. This was pretty frustrating and it was only on the 7th corner I was able to start working my way up. Coming up the hill towards the final straight I found myself in a bit of no man’s land, I had broken off from the group but was a little too far to catch the 20 or so riders out front. Hence the final stretch was hard work and I ended up sprinting against one other guy also in the no man’s land.
        I managed to win the sprint and ended up finishing a very respectable 22nd in the same field as the day before. I was really pleased with this result - coming in the top half of all three races was much better than I expected - but I feel that if I could have attacked a little earlier and been a bit more aggressive in moving up the pack during the last lap I could have done a little better. At least I now have some idea of tactics for the next few races, and what works and doesn’t in terms of race plans for me. I definitely think in the Crit I need to just stay with the pack and push on the final lap, whereas with the circuit I need to attack a little earlier to ensure I’m not stuck in the center of the group towards the end.

        All in all I had a fantastic weekend racing - the races were completely different to anything I’ve done before but were a lot of fun.

        


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