Sterling Classic

After reading my friend Rich's race report from the Sterling Classic road race, I now have the courage to write mine. Rich is a strong cyclist who I ride with in the mornings and he's always leading the pack up the hills. So, it was comforting to read that he absolutely hated the race too.

The morning started at 6am when I got woken up by my alarm clock and the sound of rain crashing against the pavement. I thought, ugh, are they really going to have this race in the rain?

I show up at the race hoping that not all of the women would show but I soon realized that only the beefiest and toughest girls showed up. This didn't help my ego.

I struggled with what to wear since it was off an on raining and mid 40 degrees. I settled on capri length pants, a shirt, arm warmers, gloves, and my light neon jacket. The race started with a neutral start - basically rolling at 10-15 mph until the start line which was on top of a steep hill. The girls saw that hill and they were on top of it with lightening speed and I had already been dropped. I watched them ride away and I was alone.

The rain was picking up and I was getting really frustrated that I didn't have clear sunglasses. My dark glasses were all I had and it was as if they were fogging up on the inside of the lenses. I wiped them, licked them, and shook them but nothing would un-fog them. All the while rain and dirt was hurtling into my eyes and I was getting so pissed that I considered thowing the sunglasses into the woods. It was the combination of getting dropped in a second, getting sprayed in the face with rain and dirt, and generally being on edge from riding in the pouring rain that made me want to quit right there.

I turned the corner for the second half of the loop and found that it was on an off-ramp to a highway. I'm a safety freak and this really pissed me off. We were in the middle of farm-land Massachusetts and they couldn't find a better option than having us ride on the off-ramp to a highway? I was so irritated at this point but kept peddling through the "finish line" to start on my next loop. People were there cheering me up the hill and my mood lighted enough to keep going.



On my second loop I had to to talk myself down. I said to myself - you're doing this for the experience, it's crappy weather but you didn't expect to win nor come anywhere close, you knew that these girls would be much faster, you usually get beat by a lot in a triathlon on the bike so why would it be any different here. All you have to do is ride for an hour and it's over. You can handle it.

So, I kept riding. As I passed through the finish line for the second time I had the urge to tell everyone how cold I was. I wondered to myself how much colder I could possibly get on my last loop. The answer is, pretty damn cold.

My feet were numb, my body was cold, I was absolutely soaking wet.

By the time I finished the race there were only two people at the finish line. They were like - what happened? I said - well - I got dropped on the first hill and rode the whole damn thing by myself and now I'm absolutely freezing. How do I get back to my car?

They gave me crappy directions and I rode down some long winding hill to get back. The "get to the finish line" movement was now gone and all of the remaining heat from my body was escaping. Not knowing where I was, I reached for the GPS on my phone for directions. I could hardly take off my gloves to activate the phone. My hands were shaking and I was standing in the middle of some nowhere street in the pouring rain. I nearly broke down right there. I knew that I was all I had to get myself out of this situation and that this is how people get hypothermia and into serious trouble.
Again, I had to talk to myself - you can do it, it's only 5 more miles to get back to the car. Just peddle and concentrate.

After repeating the GPS directions event a couple of times I finally figured out how to get back to the car. As I rode back, I saw Rich's group starting their race. I got closer to my car and the skies opened up and it started gushing rain. It wasn't even like standing in a shower but more like riding through a swimming pool.



Somehow I got my bike and my body into the car. I was shaking so hard and my body was so cold that I could hardly get my soaked clothes off my body.

The words - this experience ranks up there with the all time dumbest things I have ever done - kept ringing in my head.

I shivering in my car for the next 25 minutes and blasted the heat for the entire ride home. It sucked. The only good news is that now I know I can ride in the rain. The end.