The racing season seems to be opening in Buffalo this weekend, with the Giro della Primavera (Race of Spring) Training race series that will stretch out to the end of March. Each weekend has about 60 miles of racing and possibly close to 70 miles of riding. Saturday races are pretty flat and chances are they'll be fast. Sundays have a bit of rollers, but I prefer going to Church.
So its a question of racing on Saturdays in 30 some degree temperatures! I sure don't have those solid pro instincts in me, but the look of this race series sounds like it'll at least begin that development process. Besides, Stage 5 of the Tour of California should also be a motivating factor.
Last years Giro's are still colorful to me, when I was a fledgling new born in bicycle racing. I met some interesting characters, including a quite youthful 70 something old Italian veteran rider named Ron Palazzo who decided that I need some coaching, Italiano style. That, I thought, was hard to beat.
As I write this, I realize there are about 50 days to go to the Battenkill Roubaix, quoted by some as "America's Queen of the Classics" and "The Biggest and Best Small Town Race in the U.S.A". Big is a good word. Its a popular spot for elite/pro racers. The total number for registrants have also topped the 1000 mark!
As some may remember, this is an A race for me in my schedule. Here's an elevation graph of the race. It doesn't look super-intimidating but there are still a couple of rough unpaved sections and almost 5000 feet of climbing jam packed into a half century. That with the temperatures will be a classic early season race.
P.S : How do you guys keep finger tips warm riding 50 miles (in excess of 2 hours) on a frigid, cold day? I'm contemplating rubbing petroleum jelly (vaseline is sort of an insulator) on it under two layers of flexible glove coverings.
3 comments:
There are a few grinders on that profile. Good luck. I wish I could give you some cold weather advice, but in 30 degree weather, I don't ride.
Will Thanks for the idea. I think ski gloves, lobsters etc might work. I don't happen to have any of these with me so I'm considering the layers, with a base of a thin liner wrapped around like a boxer's hands to protect my knuckles from the cold. Something should work, I could take a little pain but its when the it stops that worries me. :)
BTW, I think I may have been out of my mind when I wrote I'll use petroleum jelly. Its clearly useless against the cold. Maybe I got the idea because I used it once to insulate a wound against the wind.
I was out today, March 1, and it was the windup to a snow storm which is still raging. I was only out for an hour on the coastline and it was about -2 degrees c. I wear ski gloves too and the lobster mitts look good. The neoprene gloves they sell for paddling and cycling look good but my hands sweated in them and then got even colder. It's my finger tips that get cold. The rest seems to do ok.
Good luck.
-B
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