Well, lady luck wasn’t on my side on Sunday. We had near perfect conditions, mid-upper 50s, just a beautiful day. Brian and I did some recon on Saturday where we rode from the Feedzone to the final climb up Stage Rd, hitting some of the infamous spots such as Becker Rd and Meetinghouse on the way…getting a feel for the gravel/dirt sectors. Overall the course isn’t really a “climbers” course per say. They are too short. Just lots of punchy, short power climbs. Now that it isn't to say it doesn't help being on the lighter side.
A few pics of the countryside & a shot of Meetinghouse road:
Positioning wasn’t too difficult. You could move around as needed. So, we rolled the first ~5 miles pretty casual as a group of 4 just gently rolled off the front the pack. From the sounds of the chatter between a lot of the riders, it was pretty clear that many of these guys race against each other in this area often. Nobody seemed concerned by the early controlling break. I had planned on just staying invisible and holding my cards close to my chest until later in the race. There really wasn’t any reason to do any unnecessary work with only two of us in the race. Passing through the covered bridge and then onto the first gravel section was fairly uneventful. There were little efforts here and there on some of the rollers as we approached Juniper Swamp.
I probably wasn’t positioned as well as I should have been coming into the Juniper Swamp climb, but once we hit it, I just gradually starting accelerating making sure I’d get to the top 10-15 riders by the crest where I was pretty sure a gap would open to the field. It did, but it was early and the surge eventually slowed to where groups behind could catch on. I just remember lots of flat, downhills and a few 3-4% gradual sections until we made a left on Joe Bean Rd at ~mile 23. The Joe Bean climb is the longest climb and it’s on paved road. It ramps up pretty steep for a bit and then just stair steps up for a good 5-6 min all out effort. I was positioned well in the top 15. Some dudes on the front really jacked this hard. I looked back about 2/3’s up and there was a nice gap opening to the field behind. I’d say the pretenders got shelled here. There’s a pretty big descent that follows and the folks in this move didn’t seem like they wanted to really go all in just yet so I just surfed wheels and was back to conserving energy. I didn’t really look back too often to take note of the damage, but the field was definitely whittling down slowly but surely.
The next big test was at Carney Cassidy Road at ~32 miles (a new addition to the course). Brian and I drove the first 40 miles of the course and to be honest, we were a little nervous about this section being a hot spot for moves to go. It’s pretty much all loose gravel. It starts out steep and then stair steps up for quite a bit. I had good position in the top 15 going in and began clawing my way up. It was during this climb where I started to have the realization that this was going to be a GOOD day. It felt like some guys were getting fatigued and I was starting to have good sensations in the legs, having no problems keeping with the leaders pushing the pace. Again, I think there were about 10-15 of us that separated from the field, but again a downhill came and not everyone was committed so folks could catch back on that were relatively close.
We eventually hit a short paved section after dive bombing some pretty rough pot hole ridden gravel and then right as we entered the next gravel section I felt something funny. My rear tire felt flat. I kept looking down saying, “No, it can’t be a flat?!” Yep, it was a flat. Raised the arm and pulled over to the left. I appreciate whoever the guy was that told me to get to right so the wheel van would stop for me (they won’t stop if you are on the left). So, I watch our group go by….then about 25 seconds later a group of 20-30 riders in our field go by…oh, looky, a car. He stops and I let him know my rear is flat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m TOTALLY thankful that I even got a wheel and this volunteer was there to help, but I swear it took about 2-3 minutes to get the wheel on and going. He REALLY wanted to do it for me which I obliged at first, but then I just had to say, “I’m sorry, let me do this.” He gave me a push and I began my solo time trial. I knew I’d probably never see the front of the field again, but I told myself before the race that I would never quit, no matter what. Really not much left to say, I just buried myself for the next 25 miles or so to the finish. There were riders all over the place, some from the prior 3 races and some from mine, so I’d just pick a target and ride as hard as I could to catch them…blow by them onto the next target. I think I caught a glimpse of the wheel car on Meetinghouse, but it was way off in the distance. Ended up rolling in alone for 44th place, 6 mins behind the winner.
On Meeting House in chase mode:
No regrets on the day. It’s racing. Shit happens. When I went to change the tire this morning before work, I found a nice chunk of jaded rock in the tire, so it wouldn’t have mattered if I went tubular or clincher, 23 or 25. I left it all out there and had a wonderful day. Made even better when finding out Brian had a very solid day with an 11th place finish. I’ll be back for sure! There's just nothing that compares to it. You definitely need to be fit to do well, but as in all races, a little luck can go a long way too.
Congrats to a former teammate Andrew Shelby for taking second in the Cat 4 race! Exciting to see. Also, thank you Pete and Nicholas for the feedzone assistance! Glad we could repay you during your race.
