Barry Roubaix 2011

Otay, I love this race, I love the course. It mimic's a lot of how I train, back roads on my single speed cross bike. And most of my early season miles is on the fixie...so this race is nothing new, my body is use to this type of race.

What I wasn't use to was the gear ratio that I selected. I've been running a 38x17 the past two months. Last year I had a 39 tooth chain ring along with some different cranks, so I assumed I used a 39x16. So I decided to switch from a 17 tooth to a 16 tooth and I thought I would be okay.

I was in Wave 3 with all the people over 40, single speeders and fixed geared racers. There were a ton of fast cats, so the roll out was fast and I could see the lead group pull away, which is no big deal so the panic button wasn't hit just yet. The pavement treated me well with my gear selection...I was rolling along, spinning at about 110 rpm's while working a little on the climbs. I was happy. Then we hit the dirt and a few climbs. In traffic, with a long line of cyclists in front of you, it's hard...no, impossible to ride the single speed style which is gain some momentum before the climb, so I was working real hard near the top of the climb. After a couple of these, I was unable to recover as I would have to keep pedaling down the other. With this said, I didn't even bother hitting the panic button, I threw the whole thing away. I knew my day was done and it was confirmed when people that I am always in front of starting passing me.

With each proceeding climb, I was digging deeper and spending more money than my account had. I decided not to worry about the race and my standing as I did have some big plans. I stilled raced when I could, but with this gear ratio, I lost way to much time on the climbs.

I ended up finishing in 2:26, a whopping 18 minnows slower than last year! I never cramped, just couldn't turn the cranks like I wanted too. I have a good baseline of where my fitness is at and let's just say...I'll be riding more real soon...just don't run me over on the pavement...

Go ride!