My first ever bike race!!!
Yesterday was my first ever bike race. I rode my only bike, a circa 1981 30 pound chromoly with downtube shifters.
ME AND MY BIKE
I fancied up my bike with new pink handlebar tape, a pink kitty cat seat bag, and pink tireflys. Sadly, I was unable to locate any spokey dokes. Pink chenille pipe cleaners wrapped about the blackburn rack completed the ensemble. I was attired in light green Sidi shoes, standard black cycling shorts, a long sleeve black and white running top (similar to a bike jersey but no pockets), and helmet with kitty cat stickers on it. New black cycling gloves modified to feature a pink "meow" label sewn over the original label, and pink rhinestones on the top of the glove added a festive touch to my look.
THE RACE
Anyway it was billed as a 9 mile TT but was actually 9.27 miles. I think the wind was probably 10-15 mph and it was fairly even in terms of headwind vs. tailwind. There were a few little hills but no big mountains. The little hills were the last three miles going into a headwind. My time according to my bike computer was 28.21 with 19.6 mph average and 28 mph max. According to the results my time was 26 something
but I'm not sure how they came up with that-I'm pretty sure my computer was zeroed at the start and I pulled it off the bike shortly after crossing the finish line. The very fastest dude finished in 19 something but most people were in the twenties. A friend of mine was surprised that I didn't finish last given the weight of my bike (official results not out yet so I don't know exactly how I fared). I tried to ride relatively fast but not kill myself. I did not feel like I was going to puke at the finish. I was told that if you don't puke or feel like you are going to, you didn't ride hard enough. After the race we all had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. I had about 10 margaritas and several shots and ended up puking all over them- they said, "nice try but that's not what we meant". Ha ha, just kidding about that part.
NEXT....
I had fun and look forward to doing more TT's, some road races, and crits (after watching a few and honing my bike handling skills- the bike club has a crit just for newbies coming up so that would be a good start). I hope to become faster with more riding (to include intervals), the arrival of my new sub-30 pound bike in a few weeks, and aerobars. Obviously a more powerful engine will be the most important improvement. Thanks for reading this!!!
