Over the past three Sundays I’ve participated in men’s junior bike races that have been held around my area.  Key word “participated”, I never actually completed the races, but I started, held on as long as I could and then was passed by the “fine gara” car and did some training laps before heading home. 

Since women races have been over for more than a month and I am not allowed to race in gran fondo or amateur races because of my Elite license, there is a rule that says I can race with junior men.  But whoever had the brilliant idea that even elite women could race with junior men was a nut case.  These guys take a turn and then sprint straight-aways at over 50 kmh.  As much as I tried to start off in the front of the pack or train during the week to sprint and change rhythm quickly I just wasn’t used to their speed.  After the start I stuck on for the first turns and tried to grab a wheel that could keep me in but I gradually moved further back in the group until the next sprint broke me and I fell off completely.

Race One

The first weekend I did a race in Pinarollo Po (about 1.5 hours away near Pavia).  After realizing that EVERY racer has to do a bike check, I made my way through the swarm of boys to finally do the check and take my spot near the back of the group for the start.  It was a flat course of 13 laps of about 8km, I did a warm up lap and noticed all the elbow turns that I knew would be tricky in a group.  Sure enough the flag dropped for the start and it was like letting the cows loose.  They shot out with such speed that in my head I was already freaking out about how to stay on.  Then came the first turn after about 1km and it was a complete hault.  Then sprint, then hault for another turn, then sprint, then hault, then sprint, hault, sprint, HAULT … wait but there’s no turn? Why is everyone stopping?…. crash … so about 20 seconds of getting over the bikes in the small (wide enough for one car) road before another SPRINT to get back with the group.  At this I was left in the dust.

Talking to my dad and uncle after the race they said not to be too disappointed.  I can’t expect myself for one, to go that fast in general (as most women cyclists would have trouble hanging on at those speeds, not sure if they were just trying to make me feel better), and second, to be able to change speed so fast after only a few months of training.  Being the only female cyclist in the race it was also hard to judge as I had no one that I could compare to or discuss the experience.  But taking the positive outlook, I got experience.  I did the warm up, the bike check, the start, and the work to try and stay in the group.  I’ll take any race I can get, even if I can’t finish it at least it’s experience.

Race Two

The second week I did a race that started at Cabiate (a town south of Como), did 8 laps of 5km and then headed north along Lake Como to Ghisallo for the finish.  With all the turns I was able to stay in the race longer.  The slowing of the group allowed me to move up in position, take the turn, and then pedal for dear life to not get dropped off the back.  After a couple laps my legs couldn’t go all out for the long sprints and I was passed by the team cars.  My uncle said that I wasn’t the first to drop off though.  There were others that couldn’t hang on that dropped out before me.

So after the group finished the laps and headed out to the open road I planned with my uncle to follow the race signs to a certain point and then cut the course to the finish.  It was a good 50km more of riding, where I arrived at Ghisallo (top of a mountain) from the opposite side as where the race arrived from.  This way I arrived about 10min. before the finish and was able to see the winner and racers cross the finish line.

(This is the start of the Cabiate-Ghisallo race, I’m the third from the right giving the death stare at the course ahead)

Race Three

Last Sunday was the close of cycling season in Italy.  I did a 12km team time trial (crono squadra) in the morning.  It went pretty bad.  In the first 200m the lead motorcycle made a wrong turn and so from the beginning we had to turn back and lost at least 30sec.  Then after a solid 11km of pushing with my 3 other teammates (1 ex-pro, 2 amateur riders), the lead guy made a wrong turn just 300m from the finish and we had to turn back again.  Let’s just say it was a good effort and fun for the experience.

After the AM riding session I left almost immediately and went to Besnate, for the 1pm start of the junior men’s race.  It was 8 laps of 13,8km.  This would be a harder and different experience from the last 2 races since it wasn’t a flat course, but half uphill and then the second half downhill.  In fact, the nice weather didn’t dim the aggressive energy of young men.  I was with the group working well in the first half of the gradual climb through the small towns (about 5km), then on a sharp turn it appeared someone thought to go straight and caused a crash and thus a nice jam in the tight street.  After the turn, there was a short downhill, then a flat before the steepest part of the circuit.  It seems like crashes get the riders all fired up because on the downhill then flat they shot out like bats out of hell (as my grandma would say).  At that point my fatigued legs couldn’t take the intense change of rhythm and I lost distance to the main part of the group.  I was trailing at the back, but right around the end of the first lap the cars started to pass and I was left with the others that couldn’t take the quick bursts.  I did another few laps and then headed home by bike for a solid day of training and experience.

These races have been good experience, but I am excited to see how different it is to race women.  I hear they don’t shoot out at 50kmh… but if they do at least I know how it feels to push my legs to the point that my quads feel like they’ll burst and lungs to a burning that I’m trying to get any little bit of oxygen to keep the lactic acid from taking over.