With Iceman done and behind me, and with time left to reflect on how the race went, I think it's due time I share a race report:
The morning started off well, I woke up early, got in a solid breakfast of two waffles, some fruit, coffee, a ton of water, and a hard-boiled egg. Knocked out a few emails at breakfast, then it was time to prep. My bike was ready, I got dressed, started loading my car with the stuff I wasn't using for the race, when I realized my shuttle was leaving in 10 minutes!
Rushing down to load my bike into the Uhaul, I forgot I was still wearing running shoes! I darted to my car to grab my Giro's when I saw the shuttle pull out of the lot. CRAP! Luckily the Uhaul was still in the lot and they let me sit on the floor of the truck to the start line....crisis averted.
Once at the start I went into race mode. I had all of my gear in line, got my warmup in, and was lined up front row for my wave. As we were slowly let up to the start line I made some chit-chat with the other guys near me, only 2 of which seemed there to "race" rather than "ride". I thought this race would start like a CX race, maybe I thought that since I've been in CX mode for a while now.
As the whistle blew, I gunned it. Only 4 other guys came with me, none of them interested in going around and taking a pull. I led us out onto the road, made a left onto another stretch of road, then as we came to double-track I picked it up a little more.
At this point, when we came into our first taste of sand, there were only 3 of us left. A guy on a Specialized came through and took a pull up the first couple of mini climbs, but I could tell that even small inclines were gassing him. We rode together through the first few climbs, but when we hit our second somewhat substantial climb I attacked him and he was gone.
Now I'm only about 5 miles into a nearly-30 mile race and I'm solo. A typical mountain bike race that may be fine strategy, but with roughly 2000 people who started in waves ahead of me and a course perfectly suited to drafting I wasn't loving my position. Luckily I had my PowerTap Pro and used it to the best of my ability to pace on the long open fire roads and not attack too hard on the longer climbs.
At mile 7 we came to a longer steady climb, so I shifted down into my little ring and spun like crazy up it. My hope was to keep my legs fresh as long as possible, and to this point it was working. As I crested the hill I pushed the left lever to shift into my big ring and got nothing but grinding. "Curious". So I released the cable, and tried again, though this time I got no grinding and the trigger just kept rotating around. Once the big lever had made a complete 360* rotation, I knew I was in trouble.
With a fast 22 miles left, I was stuck in my 26t chainring, and had to spin a 26/11 as my biggest gear out on the roads. I was routinely seeing 130+ rpm to keep whatever speed I could, but was losing time and losing it fast. My guess at this point is that I had passed about 300 people, maybe more. If I wanted to have a chance I had to put as much time between myself and the guys I had previously dropped when in the big ring.
I started attacking climbs, and taking more risks. On downhill sections I was tossing my bike off the trail and bombing through bushes. On climbs I was forced to dismount a number of times for slower riders and run around them. I came to one particular climb that was so backed up I dismounted at the base and ran the entire thing through the woods, passing I would guess about 50-60 riders.
Singletrack sections were the worst, with riders all over their brakes poking through, so I was forced to either wait or find separate lines through the woods. Some riders were extremely cooperative about letting me pass, others not so much. By mile 20 I was in extremely heavy traffic and passing people 10 at a time. Many of the passes were done in the sand using CX skills that have been given to me by teammates and guys much faster then I. Drifting through sandy corners, taking really poor lines, and riding outside my comfort zone were the only tactics I had to keep moving at my pace.
With about 3 miles to go I was getting really gassed, and was trying to focus on riding smooth. With about a 1 left I got caught behind a tandem in singletrack that wasn't letting me through, so I was stuck behind them for an entire section, my guess is about 2-3 minutes and I'm thinking I lost at least 30 seconds.
Into the final two climbs I gave it all I had left and watched my heart rate soar. I knew I was almost there, I knew with all of the spinning I had done my legs were OK, I wanted to pass as many people as I could. Into the finishing chute I went around 6-7 people sprinting to salvage what I could from the time lost behind other riders.
In the end I finished 1:57, 2nd in my wave and 5th in my division. I'm not sure when I was passed by the rider from my wave, sometime in traffic I assume. The other 3 that beat me had preferred starts and killed it.
Conditions this year were perfect. Rain mid-week packed much of the sand down, temps were in the high-30's to start, the sun was out, there was little wind. My tire choice was great, though the rear 40c Happy Medium probably didn't save me much over a 2.0 Furious Fred since the Freds do well in sand.
Next year with a preferred start, or maybe even shoot for the pro field, I think I can pretty easily knock off 10 minutes or more.
Traffic or not, the race was amazing. Totally my style of course, great people all over, a festive atmosphere, I couldn't have asked for more from the race.
I will be back for sure, and I will be faster.
My ride, post-race:
No comments:
Post a Comment