Springbank RR, or Where Did Everybody Go?
One-word synopsis: DFL

Executive summary: A lot of mistakes were made. It cost me any chance at a decent result. I suffered. I did not earn any upgrade points.


First of all, a huge thanks to mjdaley and mcdaley for being our gracious hosts on Saturday and Sunday morning. It was lots of fun, and if I ever get drunk enough to agree to do the race again, we'll be hitting you up again. Anytime you want to come into Toronto and need a place to stay, let us know.

This weekend wasn't supposed to be my glorious return to racing. That was supposed to be Good Friday, but the weather and license issues prevented that. Springbank was next up. As mjdaley has explained, this criterium course plays out in a certain way, and that way does not play to my strengths. In general, the bunch will stay together, and the winner will be the fastest sprint to the line. Since I lack any fast-twitch muscles fibres, this isn't a race for me. My goals were: stay in pack, practice group skills, if there's an opportunity for a late-attack, take it.

I haven't turned a pedal in a race in about seven years. After almost four years away from the bike altogether, this winter has been rebuilding a decent base of fitness. I felt good, definitely good enough to hang with the S4/M3 crowd. I don't have a huge base of experience, but I've been in a good number of races, and have associated with enough highly experienced racers to learn a number of tips. There are few things that will happen during a race that I haven't seen before, or heard of, so I should be well-prepared. I've passed on these tips to anyone who asks what to expect in a race. Let's look at each of these tips, and see how I broke it, and why it cost me the race.

#1. Rest the day before, with a short spin and a few form sprints to keep the legs loose and awake.
Saturday, I did two hours on the trainer, using the Spinervals "Have Mercy, The Sequel" DVD. A number of high-intensity sprints, a 30 minute tempo effort, other assorted goodies. I burnt my legs out. Granted, since this wasn't a peak race for me, I don't feel too bad, since I needed the miles anyway, but this didn't help my performance on Sunday.

#2. Get a good warm-up.
Although we got three laps in, and a few high-effort minutes, I could have used another lap or two and more sprints to make sure everything was working. My legs didn't fully wake up until halfway through the race.

#3. Be comfortable on the bike and in a crowd.
This was a major failing. Even with all the hours on the trainer, Sunday morning was the first time I had been on my road bike outdoors since 2003. It handles differently than the MTB, so feeling sketchy going through corners was going to cost me. Again, by mid-race, I was in good shape, but there wasn't enough saddle time beforehand. Since I felt sketchy, I couldn't hold wheels tight enough in the group, and was going to be kicked out the back quickly. If anything destroyed my race, this was it.

#4. Line up near the front at the start.
mjdaley explained, if you line up at the back, you have resigned yourself to the tail of the slinky, or to fighting your way up through the group. I'm not combative enough on the bike, so although I can hold my place, I'm not skilled enough to take someone else's spot. Being last off the line made me last into the first corner, which made me last at the finish line.

#5. Hold the wheel in front of you. Do NOT let go.
See #3. I was tentative, and didn't follow close enough. By corner 2 of lap 1, I was getting gapped. This is not a good sign.

#6. If you come off, do everything in your power to get back on as quickly as possible.
Major error numero two-o. I got gapped on the first lap. In my head, I thought, "I'll catch back on at the little climb." It didn't happen. I thought, "I'll time-trial my way back on. They'll start to slow down, and I'll be right there." It didn't happen. The group can keep a higher pace, for a longer time, than I can. My race was over at that point. As I've been taught, as soon as that gap opened, I should have panic-sprinted to catch back. If I gave 100% and caught back on, then I might be able to catch my breath and stay there. If I gave anything less, I was never going to see them again.

So that was my race. For all intents and purposes, it was over halfway through the first lap. After I was completely shot, I caught a few other stragglers. We worked for a while, then when I was finally warmed-up and pissed off, I accidentally dropped them. So, at least my TT strength is there. As I've commented to mjdaley, for both of us, it wasn't a matter of fitness, just tactics and experience. I need to find a club to practice pack-skills, and seriously consider a shift to triathlon/duathlon for next season. Since most races in Ontario are crits or non-selective RRs, I won't be at the front too often. My steady-state strength is a major plus in tris.

Officially, I am 30th of 30 finishers. The commissaires didn't do a great job of keeping track of those who were dropped by the field, so I'm listed behind a few people I was actually ahead of. I can live with my placing. It bothers me more that a guy who was dropped and rode in our chase group jumped back in the field as we were being lapped, and is credited with being on the lead lap. Another failing of the OCA.


Now I shoot for the Niagara Classic, on some of my old roads. This race has 5 serious climbs, so as long as I don't screw up the other parts, I should be able to place well. Hopefully in two weeks, people will be looking at the results and say, "That guy who won, wasn't he DFL at Springbank? Did anyone check to see if he added a motor to his bike?"