|
What Chris saw:
Category: 4
Result: 1st
From all accounts, this was a hard race. Windy, hilly, and hard. I had ridden most of the roads before, whether it was in a training ride or another race, so I could kind of remember what I was in for. Tim, Mike and I got there about 7 am with plenty of time to warm up. I had been told that warming up was vital because the climbs started so quickly. I set up the trainer and spun out. I was not able to do a day before ride because I was busy picking up a track bike and I had a short date Friday night. (She ended up not speaking much English so it was a very short date. Back to race day...)
It was very windy. Especially for 8 in the morning. And the wind was blowing east. A head wind up the first climb. As we took off, everyone joked for a few minutes because they started the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 10 min after us. They were obviously going to catch us. To make it even funnier, as we start up the mountain, we were going about 10 miles an hour. It was just Donn and I in the race, so we were not responsible for pushing the pace; that should have been up to AV and SQOV. Most everyone made it up the first climb ok. Then the descent was not as fast as it could be because of the head wind. I remember going down at 50 mph on a training ride but the head wind made us go about 35. That is fine with me and everyone was together again on the second climb. During this time I am hanging out towards the back because no one was really pushing it to bad. We do the rest of the lap, fast in the tail wind and really slow in the head wind.
After the first climb on the second (of 3) lap, a solo attack gets away. Since I did not know the guy and I did not feel like breaking with one guy for 35 miles, I and everyone else let him go. We putts around the rest of the lap.
Now we are finally on the last lap and a few of my friends I know are scheming up a plan for a break. We decide that we should go at the base of the second climb. We get ansy and want to go at the feed zone but we talk ourselves out of it. At this point I just about figure the soloist is gone. We are catching people, but not him. Towards the end of the first climb a couple of guys get about 10 seconds on what is left of the group. By the bottom of the final climb its about 5 seconds.
One guy (not the one I had plans with) takes off. Then my friend takes off and gets on his wheel. I figure now or never. I had hesitated and that left me with a good gap behind the first 2, the new 2 attackers and then the group. I catch the first 2 and pull them up to the 2 attackers. Now we have a group of five charging up the mountain. I was not at my limit, but pretty close. We put a good gap on the group. When we get to the summit my friend cant get into the big ring and had to stop. That really sucks, but...
Now we have 4 and one guy out in front, somewhere. Now the fast stuff begins. Not steep, but a good tailwind. We are pacelining at about 40-45. The four of us catch our leader right after turning right on the Altamont pass. He was quite lucky to get into the group. We slowed up a tad. I would have blow by him, figuring we was toast, but he ended up doing ok in the group. We worked together and stayed away. Once we knew we were gone, I did a long slow pull early and pulled off, allowing me to chill about 3rd or 4th wheel.
The finish is a right and another quick right then a long headwind finish straight. No one wanted to do a lead out but then someone jumped into the last two turns. I went second and tried to get on his wheel through the turns. He had a small gap out of the turn and then he got out of the saddle for the sprint. I started to dance to quickly get on his wheel so I could take a 2 second break and then power by him for my first victory as a Cat 4. The other three could not hold my wheel and I end up winning by about 30 meters.
It was a fun race and I look forward to the 3s.
Back to top
|
|
What Tim saw:
Category: 5
Result: Off the back
Drove up with Chris and Mike. We arrived in plenty of time for a decent
warm-up.
After the first-half of the first climb on the false flat just before
the last half of the climb, I knew I wouldn't be able to hang with the
pack. I got dropped on the first steep-pitch of this part of the climb
and that was all she wrote. I met Mike on Altamont Pass and we finished
the second lap together and at our own pace.
Hopefully, Winters doesn't have as much climbing.
Back to top
|
|
What Donn saw:
Category: 4
Result: Did not finish
I flatted about 1 mile into the race. The tube blew out my tire sidewall which put a 2 inch gash in my tube. I had a patch kit and CO2 but I was unable to safely fix it, so I rode back to the start and went home.
Back to top
|
|
What Rory saw:
Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack
Brutal. Tough. And to quote Jorge in his very
clearly enunicated lip movement, "HARD!".
Indeed, the
race did begin with a climb... the first lap is very
deceiving as to the difficulty of the race because of
the tailwind along with the group moving at a pretty
fast pace... you appear to be stronger than you really
are. Coming to the summit into the descent, I lost
the group. Descending is a limiter of mine in RR even
though I topped 47 mph. I even saw some guys veer off
the course!
After this broken contact on the first
lap (after second ascent), I rode solo most of the
time with the main peleton in my sights... it was
painful having that dangling carrot in front of me and
not be able to bridge the gap. The second lap was
extremely tough, though I did not cramp up; the solo
effort was more than enough to fatigue me out.
As a
result, I sprinted to the end in 24th... not too
shabby for 2 month lay-off. I definitely recommend
those who are nuts enough to consider it next year to
prep themselves in the hills. Im sure all of the
racers were glad that it wasn't hot.
Back to top
|
|
What Jorge saw:
Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack
I wasn’t too thrilled in doing another road race with
death hills but I went anyway cause I could not think
of something better else to do in a Saturday morning.
After fort ord last weekend and timpani my legs felt
like turds the whole week so all the riding I did was
the valley ride on Wednesday and short commutes to
work the rest of the week.
Showed up to find the usual
suspects, signed up and chit chatted a bit to kill
time before the race. Based on everyone’s accounts and
reading previous years race reports, looks like its
going to be a day of pain and suffering. Got a
descent warm up on the trainer and it was off to the
start line.
As usual the start was delayed by 15
minutes which was then spent bull shitting with
everyone to pass the time and calm the nerves before
the start. After words of advice we were all left to
our own devices and were immediately greeted with a
long uphill climb to the top of Patterson pass. With
the massive headwind, side wind towards the top of the
climb nobody wanted to push the pace which was
perfectly fine by me so the group largely stayed
intact by the end of the first climb. Although I did
suffer up the first climb, I had no problem staying in
contact with the front and stayed with the pack down
the climb towards the next climb.
The next climb
started out with surges and I quickly went into the
red and started to drift toward the back and from that
point on it was nothing but pain and trying to latch
on to wheels that I can follow. A couple of guys rode
off the front on the climb and it broke the peloton in
pieces by the time the climb was over. I found a few
guys behind me so I quickly jump on there wheels and
started to chase as soon as we got done with the
climb.
The trip back for me was the best part of the whole
course, with flat straight roads and a massive
tailwind I was amazed at pedaling at 40 mph without
hardly making and effort at all. There where 5 of us
in this chase group and we all did our share of pulls
in an attempt to catch some of the guys up the road.
Towards the end of the flats before we make a turn
towards Altamont raceway, a couple more guys joined
our group which definitely help in our attempt to get
back with the lead group.
Right before making our
first and bell lap of the course we spotted the lead
group up the hill and after miles of chasing, rejoined
the group before the start of our second attempt up
Patterson pass. I took a look around to see the damage
done after the first lap and saw half the pelloton
still intact. I felt a big sigh of relief and finally
I could take a rest from chasing like a dog the last
couple of miles, me and an AV guy did must of pulls
and I tried to keep the pace high so not to lose too
much time to the lead pack, I felt so proud of myself.
Like the first time up the hill, nobody wanted to
drive the pace so the pack took its time, I quickly
took the time to eat some gels and keep hydrated for
the last time around the course. Suffered towards the
end of the climb and almost lost contact on the way
down towards the second climb. Made it back to the
lead pack and once we hit the second and final climb
of the day, attacks started going left and right and
that was the end of me.
Suffered up the climb trying
to limit the damage with the hope of catching a few
people for the return trip home, found some wheels to
follow and ended up chasing with the same group of
guys from the first lap. We were never able to catch
anyone so it was only us four at this point. Around
two miles before the finish the last short climb pass
Altamont raceway I cramped hard and ended up dropping
from the group, I was so frustrated at the end cause I
was looking to battle it out in the sprint and I know
I could at least take on one of them but oh well what
can you do when your legs don’t agree with you
anymore.
After all said and done I pulled a 19th,
average about 18.44 mph and it took me 2:26 hours to
finish the 45 miles. It was a hard race and
definitely builds character, I rode as hard as I could
and it showed by the cramps I was getting towards the
end of the race. The wind was a bitch and a couple of
times there I felt like I was going to get blown off
the bike. I’ll be back next year!
Back to top
|
|
What Mike N. saw:
Category: 5
Result: Back of pack
During warmup my heart rate was reluctant to respond- felt like it
was going to be just like last week: off the back. The start was
delayed for a while, but it wasn't just me who cooled down.
During
the start to the feed zone, the pace was very mellow because of the
gigantic headwind. I'm sure no one in front wanted to much work. This
let me and pretty much everyone else get warmed up again. After the
feed zone, the climbs started getting steeper the intensity got up to
level.
The climb was insane because the pack dwindled into a single
file paceline. The last stretch to the summit was worst because there
was a side wind in which it was very difficult to get any draft off
the rider in front because they climb near the edge. I end up falling
off the back a couple hundred feet before the summit, and tried
chasing the pack with two other riders working with me. I went a
little to hard at one point during the second climb, and then
basically gave up.
I wait a while for Tim to catch up. I see about
ten to 15 riders pass me and I was thinking Tim must've went back
down the climb to the car, so I started going againg after a couple
of minutes. Tim ends up catching to me on Altamont pass and we do a
nice fat-burning workout through lap 2. We decided to sprint the
finish and he over powers me to get 2nd to Dead Last. Jorge was
telling us that the pace died down during the 2nd lap, so it might
have been possible for me to rejoin the pack. I guess I just have to
tell myself to never give up.
Back to top
|
