Taicang Jincang Lake International Bike Festival

This last Saturday was the Taicang Jincang Lake International Bike Festival. This event would would be a road racing event for the whole family. Saturday the road racing categories included the Elite Race, Children's Race, Middle School Race, and Open Race. Sunday would be the team events. These would include the Club Relay, Company Relay, and the University Relay.

The event had many sponsors and they would be able to display their products at the festival. The sponsors included Giant, Specialized, and Trek, along with other sponsors for exercise equipment and outdoor gear

I would participate in the Men's Open Division. This race was a 30 km road race. It would be my second road race in China. From my previous road race experience, I knew this race was going to be very fast. I was not sure how fast I would ride. I did average about 30 km/h in the Shanghai Duathlon, so I was sure I should be able to go faster.

Our race would start at two o'clock in the afternoon. We arrived a few hours earlier to complete registration. Here I am taking the bike to the registration area to pick up my race numbers. I was given No. 3.

The whole day had been pretty gloomy. It rained in the morning and I was wondering what the day would hold. I was definitely hoping to race.

Here Freddy and I are at the starting line. Freddy would also race his first road race. We spend a good amount of time at the starting line. The weather was an issue and the organisers were concerned with safety. Finally after, 30-40 minutes, the race organisers decided that we would race. They had a general announcement that the race would begin and they also announced that it might rain, so we must think about safety throughout the race.

We were all ready for the race to begin. Once the race started, the speed went up really quickly. There was one major accident at the start where I saw one guy go down and another guy flip over him. It's kind of interesting, you see it, you pass it and you keep going at 30+ km/h. We hit 43-44 km/h for the first two kilometers. The main group quickly sped up. I ended up with a group of three foreigners and we were working together for a the first 15 km. We actually were doing pretty good. At the turn around, we could still see the main field probably less than a km ahead of us. Then at km 16. I tried to pick up the pace and got a cramp in my calf. I was forced to reduce my effort and for 1/4 km I shook off the cramp. I got back to speed, but remained a distance away from the group that was working with me.

The last 2 km were uphill. A great Spring Classics's finish. Here I come pulling to the finish line with a nice group trying there hardest to catch me. They had been working together for the whole race at the turn around at km 15, I had seen them. When I my calf cramped up, I was sure they would catch me, but they didn't. I was not going to let them take me out at the finish line. I had raced to hard to lose anymore places.

I put my head down and pulled the bike all the way up the 2 km ride. I keep up the pace 33-35 km/h all the way up to the finish line. They were really going to have to ride very, very hard up the hill to be able to catch me.

They didn't catch me. I made it to the finish with a good lead ahead of the next group of riders. I had completed the 30 km race in 50:59. I averaged 35.3 km/h. It felt good.

I had enjoyed the race. I would like to get in the peloton next time. I need to work harder at the road racing and mountain climbing. I think by next year I should be able to race harder. I would say, not bad for an old guy competing against a lot of younger guys.

What's next? Well Hangzhou Half Marathon!