Tour De Dung, my first bike race

So last year a buddy of mine talked me about bike racing, and after going to a few Crits and track races I was sold and joined Recycled Cycles Racing Team (RCR).

After a couple track races I was soon sucked back into the Tri World and bike racing was put on the back burner. After a long 2008 Tri season that consisted of all ½ Ironman events, I decided I was just going to bike race.

After looking over the wsba race calendar, I have highlighted several of interest from now until September. While March has been a crazy month for weather, I chose one that racing friends said would be a good first race, Tour De Dung in Sequim, WA.

That week the weather was complete crap, snow, hail, and COLD. While we talked about playing it by ear, we were determined to make it out there….and we did. A total of 7 -8 from RCR. I think 3-4 guys from Cat # and 4 of us from Cat 4/5.

Race was delayed 2 hours b/c of snow/hail and a certain section of the road being a little sketch. 4/5’s kicked off close to noon and had a field of about 60. 3 lap course instead of 4, which for me would be a much better choice I found out later.

So I’m coming off a marathon from the previous Sunday and not much recovery. Maybe not my smartest move but I was amped up about getting the racing season started and get one under my belt to determine if it’s going to be something I like or not. I like.

I have nothing to compare it to so conversation afterwards was good. From some buddies, they said the first lap was fast, and it seemed like it was. We had a handful of dudes that took off away from the pack early, but eventually we caught them.

The weather turned out to be sunny and the roads were not to bad. While there were a couple of squirly dudes, I felt like the pack rode well. I rode upper front to mid pack most of the time and even jumped out front a couple times.

About mile 20, just over an hour or so into, my legs were pretty much done. I fell off the back on a small hill, fought to catch up, then continued to hang off the back until the attacking, chasing, etc really started and I was just riding to finish. A dude from 4 Corners and I played 2 man pull the rest of the way in and chit chatted which made for a good finish.

I learned a bit that race and look forward to getting stronger as the season goes on. The one thing really look forward to is riding with the team in races and putting things into play. Attacking, chasing, pulling and really working as a team to get us to the front, our sprinter(s) in the right spot, or creating a huge break.

BR