DRIVEWAY SERIES, 2020

     You know the feeling you get when you're really not up to a challenge, but you have to do it anyhow?  That was me for opening night of the Driveway Criteriums.  The only saving grace was the first night was the Grand Prix Loop, the longest loop and least technical.  Then at the last minute it was changed to the Championship Loop, the shorter, very demanding one.  As I've mentioned previously, I'm doing this to gain strength and speed, not to come close to being competitive.  There are no real age groups here.  Yes, there is Masters, but that's 35+ and Under 19 for the young guys.  Plus, this year the ladies would be starting with the guys, but have their own race.  My race goal is to keep being lapped down to a minimum, in addition to having a hard thirty minute workout.
     During my warm-up I had a difficult time getting my heart rate up.  And yesterday morning I did a leg workout at the gym and fifteen second power bursts on the bike.  Not a good pre-race routine.  My late winter-early spring training was lacking some quality work.  Well, the race started and I kept up.
     My first goal is to stay with the peloton the whole first lap, and later in the year it's to stay with them for two laps.  I did that.  But I wasn't the only one falling off the pace.  I latched on to the wheel of a young lady and hung on for dear life as I recovered somewhat.  After a few laps we caught another guy and eventually traded places.  When I had time I glanced down at the computer and saw my HR hovering in the 150 range.  This is about 90% of my maximum.  It took the peloton ten minutes to lap us.  With luck, it would be another ten minutes and maybe we could hold it down to just being lapped twice.
     There is a slight hill on the backside, called the corkscrew for obvious reasons, and she was having difficulties getting up it.  After a few more laps, with me in the lead, she dropped 'way back and I was on my own.  About this time I was lapped again, this time a bit more exciting.  I had hoped to be through the S curves before they got to me, but unfortunately was in the middle.  The most expedient way to get out of their way was to ride into the grass, which is what I did.  I believe there might have been some peremptory cursing as the leaders approached, but I was already moving off the tarmac.
     There were only a few laps left in the race and the peloton was heating up.  I was well ahead of them when I approached the finish line for the penultimate lap but calculated that they would catch me before I could finish the last one.  I really didn't want to get caught in the melee, so pulled the plug a lap early.
     Now for the stats.  Training Peaks gave me gold medals for five minute and ten minute power output and gold medals for five, ten, and twenty minute Heart Rate.  The twenty minute HR was 150 with a high of 156.  I'm extremely pleased with being able to hold 90% of max for so long a time.  The power numbers were also good, with 209 watts for five minutes and 192 for ten.  Yesterday's work probably kept me from holding watts for twenty minutes, but still, I'm quite pleased.  I raced the championship loop three times last year and this was the fastest time.  My cadence was on target: average 90 rpm with a high of 115.
     All in all, not bad for the first race of the season.  I need to work on proper resting, warming up, pushing a higher gear.