1st Annual Cry Baby Classic

Yesterday afternoon, the forecast for today's Cry Baby Classic was dismal to say the least. Rain and temperatures hovering around 40 degrees sounded miserable. Fortunately, the forecasters got it wrong. It was cold this morning to be sure, 42 degrees or so but the sky was blue and there was no threat of rain. I got kitted up in the car and got out to start my warm-up about 45 minutes before the expert singlespeed 9:30 start. I wore some heavier gloves, a big hooded sweatshirt, and a ski hat for my warm up. This proved to be the perfect choice. It was cold when I coasted downhill, but I didn't overheat when I ramped up my heart rate on the uphills either. I tried to stay moving as long as I could before the start because I knew once I stripped off my warm layers I would get cold in a hurry. I gave my warm clothes and tunes to Sarah and put on my helmet and some lighter gloves about 5 minutes before the start, and then we were off.



The giant dude in front of me (it's not an optical illusion) is none other than Dave Hintz. Here he is leading me into the first lap. While we would trade spots back and forth a couple of times throughout the race, in the end he proved stronger and got me by less than a minute.

Lap 1: The first lap went by without too much incident. The climbs were brutal, but the course was in great shape all in all. This was also my first bike race on home turf. It was a little unnerving at first to have almost every spectator and course marshal calling out my name when I rode by cheering me on, but in the end I think it most definitely helped me out. I came through the start/finish area to more cheering and a slight gap on Big Dave.

Lap 2: About 30 seconds into the second lap, disaster struck. Well maybe disaster is a bit strong of a word, I dropped my chain on a particularly bumpy downhill section of trail. I stopped long enough to get it back on and make sure the chainring hadn't loosened up again. It only took a minute or so, but in that time Big Dave and another singlespeeder flew by me. I had a momentary lapse into the world of frustration and self-pity, and then I told myself to HTFU. I did, and halfway through the lap I caught up to and passed Big Dave again. After another ripping downhill back to the start/finish area I was stilling feeling pretty good.

Lap 3: Big Dave caught up to me about 2 miles into the last lap, and I was content to sit on his wheel and let him pull me around for a while. I tried to make a move past him on the second to last run up, but I started to cramp up just a tad in my quads. I let up on the gas a little, and he was gone. The rest of the lap went fine, and I had a strong finish.

While I didn't do particularly well in the expert singlespeed division (8th out of 10 I believe), I was very happy with my race. The four or five guys above me were less than a minute ahead, and I was also less than a minute back on Secret Steve's wicked fast geared pace. Also, my lap times were all less than a minute apart which means I paced myself well. I think my official time was 1 hour 39 minutes and 50 seconds for 18.64 miles. My average speed was 11.3 mph, and my heart rate averaged 166.





Here we have a shot of myself, Secret Steve, Ulle, and Kevin at the finish. I think my brand new 10th anniversary DC jersey brought me some good juju today. I will wear it again for sure.

So I went home to take a shower, and then I went to work where I type this now between selling people some wine and stuff. Check out all the other numbers and elevation profiles through the link below. Have a good weekend.

Untitled by wpeterg at Garmin Connect - Details