Race report: Floyd Bennett: 5-12-09

By Daniel McMahon

From the moment I decided to douse my Merlin with lemon Pledge and start riding again (it must have been in the deep of last winter) I began thinking about when I’d be fit enough to do my first race and not get pathetically shelled. And until Tuesday night, it was starting to gnaw at me, the anticipation eating me up.

It’s difficult to tell whether you’re ready to race after such a long time off, especially if you’ve been training solo and know you’re overweight for racing.

But after nine years off the bike, save for a few spins here and there in the park and the occasional mountain-bike outing, I finally lined up at Floyd Bennett Field (FBF), out by J.F.K., in Brooklyn, N.Y.

But a little history.

After joining the Kissena Cycling Club over the winter and renewing my USA Cycling license, I started to ride regularly and work out in the gym.

About three times a week I’d jump on the bike in the winter cold and ride the 3.4 loop in Prospect Park; twice a week I’d hit the gym near work, doing some swimming and leg and back workouts. Nothing crazy, but enough to get back on track.

Now it’s almost every day that I’m riding, and it’s easy to do since the warmer days of spring are upon us and summer’s coming up fast. Maybe too fast.

I used to race Cat. 3 many moons ago, so restarting as a 4 made sense. I raced at the “Nationale” level in France, but I’m not sure how that translates over here. While in France, I accidentally did an “Elite” race, which is just below pro, and quickly got my ass beat. It was the same race Thor Hushovd had won before turning pro.

At any rate, I’ve learned to manage the herniated disk my doc diagnosed over the winter, and I’ve overcome a nasty over-the-handlebars wipe-out while mountain biking in the Arizona desert on my winter vacation. That crash left my knee in stitches and plenty of pain for a month. So no training in March.

I’ve been on just two group rides with Kissena, and both were good for me, albeit tough going seeing as I was struggling the first ride. That one was back in February. It was cold and the guys were riding hard enough. We did 60 miles or so, and it was a four-hour outing. Did I mention it was cold? About 20 degrees F.

Well, it was a great way for me to get that first hard ride in. It’s kind of right of passage—that slap back to reality that roadies everywhere know well. I did get dropped when the road went up, but the guys always waited. I was embarrassed of course, but they were cool about it. Embarrassed because I’d been in amazing shape long ago and about, um, 40 pounds lighter, but that’s another story for another time. Suffice it to say I felt like Jan Ullrich in early spring.

The second ride, about two Saturdays ago, was much better, and a good sign that I was on my way to decent form. I say that humbly. We did about 50 miles, up the river road along the Hudson. We did some good climbs, too. I hung tough and still got dropped but only a bit on the one big climb, which was okay with me as the in-shape guys were going pretty hard and duking it out for K.O.M. bragging rights, so it seemed.

Meanwhile, I’ve been riding mostly in Prospect Park, doing tempo rides but also intervals. The interval days have made a difference in my form. I usually ride for 1.5 or 2 hours, depending on my goals for each ride and things like weather and work and daylight.

My short intervals are straightforward. I ride to a standstill at the bottom of the one decent hill in Prospect Park, then sprint as hard as I can to the top in the biggest gear I can. I completely recover, barely turning the pedals around the rest of the loop.

My short intervals are straightforward. I ride to a standstill at the bottom of the one decent hill in Prospect Park, then sprint as hard as I can to the top in the biggest gear I can. I completely recover, barely turning the pedals around the rest of the loop.

It took getting used to as I want to start spinning again, but I’ve read about the importance of completely easing off, and it’s paid benefits. I do this about six times, with a good warm-up and cool-down, of course. I have noticed that I am getting up the hill faster by the week, and I’m feeling stronger, fitter.

This specific training helped me not get dropped in my first race at FBF (schedule).

As I said, this was my first race in nine years, and I was nervous about racing again. Not nervous about riding in the pack again or nervous about crashing, but nervous like, Am I going to get dropped the first lap? Am I going to learn that I’m still out of shape?

Well, it turned out that I was indeed hurting the first two and half laps, which I expected, and for a minute I felt like sitting up and pulling off the course, but I denied myself and hung in. Amazingly, on the third lap I felt fine.

Not strong like the guys jumping off the front or the guys pulling the pack. But decent enough to ride in the wind a few times as I moved up the field a bit, and strong enough to bridge several gaps that opened each lap because, well, riders at the back aren’t that strong and don’t pay total attention to the task at hand. I was riding comfortably in the field in my first race after nearly a decade. This was cool, and I had a smile on my face.

On lap 8 of 10 on the 2.3-mile course some guys in front of me who were not paying attention bumped each other and went down hard (one ended up with a broken collarbone, so I heard later). I swerved around the crash, missing one bike by about about three millimeters.

I stopped to make sure the one guy was all right, as he looked badly hurt and wasn’t moving at first. When I was sure he was going to be okay, I looked up and the field was off in the distance, so I just rode a lap to cool down and stopped at the start/finish to watch the inevitable field sprint.

I figured that I would have at least finished in the pack had I not stopped for the crash, with the possibility of moving up to get a top 20 or 15.

Well, the point is I was feeling very good about being in decent enough shape to at least do a pack finish. Maybe not much to some, but from this I can move onward and upward.

The race was a good reminder to stay as close to the front as possible and not get lazy and fall back much, which is all too easy to do. I thought the corners, though rounded, were a little dicey—lots of loose gravel, potholes, and tree branches sticking out in your face (I made the mistake of not wearing eye protection). But it was relieving for me to get that first race done with.

I also enjoyed helping out at registration, where I met a bunch of racers from all the different teams.

Floyd’s a cool race. There’s really nobody out there except bike racers. It seems very no-frills, which I like. And it’s excellent training. Beats doing intervals, as Eric, a teammate, said to me.

We averaged 25 mph, which was decent. It was windy.

It was great to see so many Kissenas out there, too. Everybody was  positive and supportive and having a good time.

Next up is the Tour de Parc crit on Sunday, May 17, 2009, in Wantagh, N.Y. It’s out on Long Island and supposed to be fast and fun.

I’m doing it. See what happens. Do my best race.