Three For One: Mostly about the race in Negba...mostly.

I had promised that I would keep track of my races on this blog.  I broke the promise.  When I started training on a road bike back in August, I made a deal with myself that I would try and do some of the races.  I recognize that I have many physical limitations, the worst being a very tender back, but I thought that I could work on my core and hang in there. To some extent this has been true, though I do have a bit of sciatica that I have to monitor all the time.

As for the races, well, there are now three official ones that I have attempted.  I won't go backwards beyond saying that I have been hanging in there and that I did well enough (for the luck G-ds were with me) to actually win one.  Today, however this was not to be the case.

Karmiel Criterium

Last week a group of us went to the south to Negba to practice on the course for the race that was held today.  Lior, who does not seem to warm-up, took off at about 45KPH and we huffed and puffed watching him fade into the distance.  He finally tired (not actual fatigue, but I think boredom from riding alone), and allowed us to "catch-up." The four of us road the course and tried to do so at race pace.  We were joined by another group (Velo) and all worked together.  I struggled, at times, to keep contact with the group,  but overall felt good.

Lior

 Then I got home.  After a meal I was on the computer and had a massive vertigo attack.  Vertigo is a strange beast, and I have been getting far too many attacks lately.  I went back to a homeopathic practitioner who is trying to help me, and hope that she can get me stabilized.  What is so damn frustrating about vertigo is that is lingers, or at least what I have does.  For the next few days, the world did a slow spin; nausea coursed through my body, and I started getting a series of migraines.  Needless to say, I was unable to exercise for several days and I am still amazed that I made it through Monday at work for my head had evil elves in it pounding with their nasty little sledge hammers.

But I got through this, and by Tuesday could train again.  Thus, from Tuesday thru Friday I got in some good training rides and gradually started feeling stronger.  I also managed to get my new wheels onto the bike (see pic below) and no doubt, this made it easier for me to stay with the peloton.

The race started at around 7:05 this morning.  Lior, myself and Doran were in the masters group (40's and 50's) and Yariv was in the Master's 30 group.  We all wanted to ride together, but there were just too many people.  As it was, our group seemed huge (75 people), and this worried me a bit.  

Negba is a strange beast.  You begin on a road canted downhill and reach these wonderful speeds that make you feel like superman.  Couple this with middle and past middle aged men (many type A),  jockeying for road space with pylons flashing by on the left, and you get the picture.  Very fast and very dangerous.

We banked quickly on lap one and headed up a very easy incline then spent the next few kilometers flying once again downhill, this time a serpentine downhill, most of us trying to hold our line while a few yahoos seemed to forget that there were others around. We would do this five times and I wondered if we would all be alive at the end to tell this story.

Right from the start, I was ever so proud of the three of us and found that we all had the ability to maintain this pace and stay pretty close to the front of the pack.  Lior was reigning himself in and Doron, who has a splendid form on the bike (he had not raced in 10 years), easily stayed with the peloton.

The Peloton moving ever so quickly!

The first few laps, overall, were uneventful and there were no breaks of significance for we were just moving too fast.  On the third lap (if memory serves me), the Master's 30 group overtook us on the quick descent right after the start/finish line.  Yariv came to my side and said "hello" and did not see the pylon that was smack dab in the middle of the road.  I have never seen anything like this, but the pylon became ensconced right behind his front wheel.  I was sure that he was going to have a major crash, but he shimmied about, braked heavily, and "safely" stopped his bike.  He told me later that he took the pylon out and then rode like crazy to catch his group.

Yariv (See his halo!)

 His group...We now had a problem.  Our groups had become one, and the big group that we once were became huge.  Finally, a race car pulled in front of our pack and made all of us stop. We had to wait a few moments for the the Master's 30 group to depart and then we started racing again.  This was a first for me, but it was a good call by race officials.

I also got knocked into the gravel on this lap as well, when a verbose rider engaged in a conversation with his friend and then drifted into my space pushing me off the road!  He too almost went down and I had to do my best to get back onto the pavement.  I think I got a bit lucky that I did not go down, but I never really felt in too much danger thankfully.  However, there were a lot of crashes I was told during this race, and at the end saw a good number of people with road rash.  I pray nobody got too hurt.

The final few laps continued to be fast and short, hard probing jumps ensued.  However, nobody really could break away on their own as the road appeared to be just too fast and the peloton was able to chase down all attempts .  It even rained a bit during the ride and thankfully those in my group heeded the now wet road and slowed on the sharp turns to be safe.

As we were about to go up the final incline, I spotted the rider in my age group whom I thought I should shadow if I wanted to at least place.  I worked my way up close to him and as he accelerated, I did too.  However, besides the tweak I felt in my hamstring (old problem), I also had a rider cut me off and lost all momentum.  Could I have caught him?  Most likely not.  Would I have been closer than I was (I was about 20 meters behind him)?  I think so.  Regardless, I did give it my all and ended up sixth in the Master's 50.

I think this was a good race for those who rode today.  We all finished safely and Yariv had experienced divine intervention of sorts after colliding with the pylon.  Doron was so fast and fluid and Lior is just a strong man with so much talent.  Having Alon there for us meant the world too and seeing Tova, who is even older than me and riding so well, well that was nice.

Doron

Yet, during the ride home, I felt a sense of disappointment with my performance.  I drove with the radio off and tried to examine why I felt this way.  What I discovered was not that I had set the bar too high for myself, but instead, that I feel so compelled to even set the bar.  I do this in my work as well, and though I wish I did not- I do.  After a good sleep, and I did need one, I woke-up with a much more positive attitude.  I am pleased to have the opportunity to compete and truly do feel blessed to be in this position.  I don't love racing and competing against others, that I know, but I do love competing against myself.  It is fun to "win," and I won't deny that, and since I have won so infrequently in my life, the thrill of just placing does have an opium like effect.  But the true drug, at least after a good sleep I began thinking, is knowing that I did my best, my friends did their best, and we were all safe at the end.