I just had a really tough week so coming home to find my new Compex Sport Elite on my doorstep was a great reward. I immediately opened the box, pulled out my hat and wore it while walking my dog that afternoon. Sadly, I then had to make some client calls and couldn’t test the Compex. But I did skim through the material and looked at all the options for electrode positioning - I can’t wait to try each and every one.
Yesterday I had an allergy attack so slept most of the morning and then had to work all day. Perfect conditions for using Compex, but I wanted to read the manual before using it the first time and I didn’t have time for that. However, I knew that with a race today, I’d have a great opportunity to use my Compex. So first, about the race:
Today, I did the Bunny Hop Criterium. This was only my second road bike race - I’m a Cat 4 - and this event had both a Cat 4 race and a 35+/45+ race starting an hour later. Because my biggest goal event of the year is a half-iron distance duathlon, I decided to register for both races. Each was 45 minutes and how hard can 45 minutes be when you are training for a 56 mile ride, right? Sadly, not right. If I hadn’t registered for the 35+ race before the Cat 4 race, I don’t think I would have afterwards!
The Cat 4 race went pretty well. While I didn’t manage to stay with the lead group, I did manage to find a chase group to ride with. We almost caught up once, but never quite made it. However, it was nice to have a group to ride with and have the opportunity to draft some. Tiring but not unmanageable. Still, I didn’t have high hopes for the second race.
Between the two races, I was talking to another Cat 4 racer about the event and ran into a friend from triathlon. I went over to meet her new puppy and was introduced to a member of her team who was also doing the 35+ race. This turned out to be my salvation in the 35+ race. What I didn’t think about when I registered was the number of Cat 1 women who would be 35+. They went from the whistle and I was immediately outclassed. Worse, on the second turn, I heard a loud metallic scrape. Which sounded a lot like my rim rubbing against the pavement from when I’d blown a tire off a rim last summer. Worried about what it meant, I didn’t want to go too hard until I checked it out. I spun easily through the rest of that lap to the pit, found out everything was fine, but didn’t get a free lap so had to chase the rest of the race. I believe this meant that I rode with the group for about 250 meters out of a 45 minute race.
Thankfully, the woman that I had met before the race was trailing off the back of the pack - this was also her second race. I thought that if I caught her, I could at least help her until I couldn’t ride anymore. I managed to catch her and pull for a while and then she pulled me and we worked together until I couldn’t do it anymore. I haven’t looked at the data yet, but at the end I was only riding about 12 mph up the incline. I can’t even remember how many times I had been lapped. I was last - which I believe is the first time I’ve ever been dead last in a race - but I finished.
I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to using my Compex when I got home! Sadly, one of the key things I missed in reading the instructions is that I needed to charge the Compex before I could use it. So after some food and a nap and some rehydration, I’m now enjoying my first active recovery program and can’t wait to try the next. Just the little I’ve been able to do makes me know that tomorrow is going to be a far better day than if I didn’t have the Compex.
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