Road Racing & A Ice bath

For the last couple of weeks I have been watching the race results at the Tradewinds Park Series. Gunther Volkswagon put up $1000.00 for the top 3 spots for the final race on August 30th, and I decided to go and try my chances at the money. The main reason I felt like I had a shot is because I beat most of the top 10 finishers on a regular basis, and I wanted to ramp the legs up for Santos this weekend.

I went to Active Cycles to have Nick figure out what is wrong with my shifter because I have been having problems shifting from the small chainring to the big. I was at the shop and Bob Mc stopped by to pick up his lights for Santos, and we chatted a little. I had my yorkie Lance with me, and he asked if I was bringing him this weekend and I said yes. His wife Amy loves dogs, and maybe yorkies in particular. We decided to meet at Sunrise/Pine Island to ride up to the park for the road race Bob doesn't really want to try his chances at Road Races as he feels it's too dangerous.

I got to our meeting point, and there was no Bob. I pulled out my phone and had a message from him. I called him back and he was running late, so I told him I would start riding South and meet him. I rode about 5 miles South and hooked up with him, and he pulled me for 20 miles all the way out to the park. I tried to pull some, but he wanted to get a great workout, and he wanted me to rest my legs for the race. My heartrate never went over 144bpm, and we are going between 21-25mph. We stopped at a light, and his heartrate was at 167bpm. Damn, that guy is working hard for me.

We stop at a gas station about a half mile from the park, and I buy him a 32oz Powerade for the 20 mile escort to the park. I drink 1 of the Powerades, and top off my 2 water bottles with the other and we head to the park.

We enter on the south side of the park, and take a road that brings under Sample Road and onto the northside of the park. I get there and I start to see all the usually suspects that I have seen from Rosewood Series. I pay for my race, get my number put on and take a stroll around the course to take a look at the layout.

The course is wide open in some places and very narrow in some places. The backside had a huge headwind, and you have to be smart to make sure you have good placement for drafting and positioning. As I'm warming up and starting to see very, very good riders that are out. After the first lap I can see that riders are still going back out, and take another lap. By the time I came back around everyone was sitting at the start/finish.

This was by far the biggest group of racers that I have seen before and all the major players were out in forces. AEG Toshiba, Preferred Alliance, Herbalite, B&J & Mapei, Bluestar, Loco's, and Bike America. Gunther of Gunther VW had his lead VW bug take us on a parade lap, and Wes told me that the announcer said that 99 riders had signed up.


The parade lap was nothing of a parade lap, as the speed was over 30mph and I felt like we were racing. As we finished the first lap, the speed really picked up. The front group is putting the smash down, and I'm in the middle of the pack and my heartrate is over 160bpm and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have rode 37 miles before I got here. It bottlenecks and guys start throwing helmets to keep there space. I panic a little bit as it opens back up and it surges again, and we are over 33mph, and this is the first lap.

I'm still mid pack and the pace is evil. At this point I change my goals and start to settle for top 20 instead. The pace is just relentless and the surges out of each corner are just painful. I'm ignorant enough not to get dropped though. Everytime things get really, really tough, it systemically slows down. What I suspect is the weak riders are being shelled off of the back. I can tell that it has gone down, because I don't feel the burning in the legs, and I look down and it's 158bpm. That is the first time that I have felt slight recovered in the first 15 minutes.

A whole heap of riders have been dropped, and it is confirmed as I come through the start/finish and I can see riders on the sidelines that were just in the race 5 minutes before. The pace slows down and I get a chance to move up to the front, and I'm in a 8 man break as we surge. We go back through the start/finish, and we make the next left hand turn, the group is back. OK, it is a waste of energy to even go off the front, so I abandon that plan and stick to the upper front group. Close enough to stay safe, but with good enough position to finish in the top 20 for the sprint.

After 25 minutes the last really hard surge has come and gone, and the pace slows down considerably. I look back and I can tell that the group is almost half of what it was when we started. Now the group does not surge out of the corner, they just keep it steady. The attacks go off the front and they are brought back without the full on attacks. I know it's going to pick back up and get really nasty, but the major players have done a great job of breaking the legs of everybody, and getting rid of the pretenders.

At the 33 minute mark the pace picks back up and it's downright full blown off the chain. The race is 40 minutes, plus 2 laps, and each laps is about 3 and a half minutes. The front group is attacking and weaving back and forth across the road. Now it's on like popcorn, and I'm in the middle of the pack and it's stretched out, and I'm not hurting but I don't see a place that I can move up yet.

When we get to 2 laps to go I'm in the same place and I'm only able to gain 2 or 3 spots when we make the turns. With 1 lap to go it actually slows down on the back side of the course and 3 riders jump off the front.

That attack shocks the group and it looks like Preferred Alliance is going to take up the chase as a couple of riders start to raise their hands like they are looking for each other to bring it back in and set up one of their guys. They can't get their men to the front and the break just goes away. On back side there is a very hard surge and we are over 33mph. We bottleneck through the last tight section and all hell breaks loose.

We are now going 35mph, and we are 400 meters away, and all I'm wondering is how in the hell am I going to have anything left for the last 100 meters. We are in the wind and I know that I can make a move as I round the last turn. I'm in the top 30, and I really want to make it top 20, so I surge really hard and I'm able to pass about 10 riders in the last 75 meters. I have to settle for a well earned 19th place. I didn't bargain for that kind of effort, but I'm glad I held my own.



I'm cooked like you wouldn't believe and actually happy that it is over. My boy Wes said that only 45 riders finished the race which was a shock. I was hurt which means the pace was really, really hard.

I came back and chatted with some of my fellow riders. A couple of racers that normally finish this race got dropped on the 1st lap after the parade lap. That lets you know just how fast it was.

I get back on my bike and I head for home, as I have 20 miles back to the house. I look down and I have a flat tire. Great! Wes, I need a ride. I'm all sweaty and stankin, and Wes is nice enough to let me put my ass on his leather seats for the 20 mile ride home.

I thank Wes as he drops me off at my front gate, and I walk the bike back to the apartment. I shower up, eat some Pollo Tropical, and download the chart. The Avg speed was 27.2 for 48 minutes of racing with a distance of 22.8 miles. When you add in 37 miles I did before, that is 60 miles for the day.

I decided that I need to do something for the legs, and I'm not going to pay for a $90.00 massage like Bob. So I settle for the alternative. Which would be the "Ice Bath". Yeap, to actually dip my lower body in ice cold water for 10 minutes. I remember reading Dara Mark's blog where she did it. I later on read Eddie O's blog and he did it also. So I went on google and did my research on the benefits of the Ice bath. Of the 8 sites I went to I only 1 said that there were no performance benefits.

I let the wife know I what I wanted to do, and that I would need her to pour in the bags in the next morning. She said "That is gonna be fun". I set the alarm for 6:45am, and the plan is to wake up go to Publix, get the ice, fill up the tub and let the ice squeeze the lactic acid out of my legs. This could only help me for Santos this weekend. If not, I could get in 6 good hours of riding.

I wake up at 6:45am and I'm asking myself why am I up so early. I walk around the house for a minute to try to gain my composure, then I realize I have the ice bath to do. I grab the keys, get to publix, and get 3 bags of Ice. 1 10lbs bag, and 2 bags of 20lbs. I get back and and plot my attack.

I need a couple things first.

It's always good to do a ice bath with bags of Ice.

You need a tub to dip your body in.

A timer is always a good thing, because it allows you to count the seconds of pain and agony.

You need a witness, so I woke up Lance and had him in there the entire time. As you can see, he really wasn't in the mood to witness anything.

I get in the water and summon for the wife to come drop it like it's cold. After she dips the ice there was an initial shock as the water temp goes down like crazy. I start to feel my toes get numb, and my legs start to spasm. It actually doesn't feel that bad until I get to the 7 minute mark, and that is when my breathing got rapid. The great thing is that the ice is melting fast, and the wife comes back with the camera as I'm praying to someone to speed up the clock.

I stay for another 48 seconds past 10 minutes, then I'm out to take a hot shower. The legs tingle and itch as the hot water douses my body. It was a good experience, and I plan to do it 3 days before all my races.

Pacer Out.