At the start of the race the corral was packed in the 'serious enthusiast' category which I had signed up for but there was tons of room up front in the 'racer' category so I just jumped in there - probably somewhere around 200th position at the start..
Looking at the results from last year - the first year of the race it was obvious that anyone really fast or who took racing seriously had opted for the 100 mile race option. I thought my ability would be able to produce a time in the top 20. I also knew there would be a lot more competitive riders in this race compared to the previous year as I am sure may people had seen the results and decided to throw their hats into the ring.
As the gun fired and we started to roll out I immedtiatly began to rue my decison to not come mentally ready to start in the racer group and place myself somewhere up front. The first hitch was showing up a little overdressed. The previous morning I had been out for a group ride in about 5 degree weather as a scout mission to help me decide what to wear in the morning. The forecast was for similar temperatures but as we milled about the start area it was considerably warmer than the day before. I ended up removing my legwarmers and hat and forgot to buckle my helmet after putting it back on. As we rolled out of the corrals, I realized my helmet was not buckled and had to stop and fasten it losing another couple dozen places in the process
As we left the resort area the pace began to pick up. Although we were still neutralized the speeds were defenitly quicker and riders were starting to move up in the group. I took it easy and would just jump on wheels as riders would move up. I continued to make my way forward and as we hit a long straight I could see well up the road and the line of cyclists seemed endless at this point.
Finally we hit a corner and the road started to go uphill. The first big climb had begun. It was probably something like 5km long with grades alternating between false flats, 4% sections and some shorter sections up to 10%. I always knew it would be the 3 big climbs where I would have to make up ground. I started to pick up the pace and began passing people aware that my work rate was getting pretty high. Soon I was passed by another rider so I got on his wheel as he was
setting a really nice pace and I just followed him for at least a kilometer. At one point he messed up a gear change so I decided to go to the front and do some work. He and I worked togther quite well and picked our way forward passing dozens of riders on the way up. As the climb reached the summit we found ourselves alone with a big pack of around 20 riders around 200m ahead of us. We decided to work together to bring this group back as the alternative would be to do way too much work early or get caught by packs from behind. The first couple minutes we were having a hard time - we were only able to close the gap a little bit but after a while the
pace in front must have slowed a bit and we each put in some pretty hard turns and were able to bridge.
My new partner almost immediatly went to one of the front positons of the group while i hung off the back to recuperate. I was happy to recover for a few minutes while others would set the pace up front. I was especially impressed as there was a guy riding a hardtail mountain bike (with slicks, but still...) who was crushing it putting in massive turns at the front. As I started to feel better I made my way forward and started to take my turns at the front and help drive our group forward. We were constantly picking off individual riders and small groups as we flew through the countryside. This part of the course was either flat or slightly downhill and we were
probably averaging 40kph for over half an hour.
As we approaced the 'King of the Mountain' climb our peleton became more stretched out as Dave D (the guy I worked with earlier) took some hard turns at the front. As we flew down the straight toward the base of the climb we were strung out in a long paceline or in 2 wide formation at some good speeds. We hit the base of the climb and again I knew it was time to put in some work and get myself further up and with a good group by the top of the climb. After only a minute or two of climbing I was 3rd wheel in a small group when the rider in front of me for some reason wobbled violently, came to almost a compelte stop and I was unable to avoid him and ended up going into his rear wheel. I went down, hurting my right hand and skidding on my back. As I was laying there all I hear is 'sorry' as dude rides away. I was angry but for some reason thought it was kind of funny at the same time. Within 20 seconds I was back on my bike and driving a furious pace fueled by anger. Luckily I had my powertap to remind me
that I was going to have to ease up now or blow up later so I scaled back my effort and began to set an even pace as I picked off riders left & right.
I ended up doing the climb a minute faster than last year even with the crash so I was pleased with my effort. Unfortunately I reaced the top alone, about 20 seconds behind a group of 4-5 guys that seemed pretty strong. I took a gatorade from a volunteer, struggled with peeling the safety tab off the top of the bottle and could not get it off and just chucked it to the side of the road in frustration. The group ahead had built up a little more of a gap and as I was still alone I wanted to get up to them rather than allow a group to come from behind and get me. They were riding a furious pace and I was killing myself to get up to them. I cut the gap down to 10m after a while but I was still pushing 400watts or so and could not get on the back. Finally I decided that I was going to burn myself out if i did catch them and would get blown off the back shortly
after anyways, so I decided to sit up and wait. A couple individuals came up and I tried going with them - the two of us working together but it quickly became apparent that the group was gone and not coming back. Again I sat up, looked back and saw a massive group coming about 100m back. I took it easy, drank, ate and eventually got swallowed up by the group. I fell into the group and got a good ride as the course turned downward and we flew down some hills and I tucked into the group in the flats.
We made some good time, but the small group I wanted was nowhere to be seen ahead. After a while the road flattened out and I knew that we would soon be heading uphill again. As we rode in the flats I moved my way up front because the group was too big and I did not want to get caught out by a split in the peleton and then have to solo to the lead pack. It was still a very large group as I moved into the lead 5-10 positions and started to take a couple pulls. As the road hit some rollers there began to be some splits off the back of the group. Soon after the road turned uphill into another climb. This would be the last climb and it started as a pretty modest climb toward Ravenna.
At this point it became obvious to me that there were 2 guys at the front driving this group so I made my way up there, took my turns at the front and when it was time to drop back stayed up front in 3rd position after coming off the front. Anyone in the group was happy to give up their spot as I think the uphill grade had started to take its toll and most of us were happy to have others take up the pace-making. After each turn up front I would check the back as I drifted off the front and could see our group getting smaller and smaller. We were now approaching the town of Ravenna and we were probably down to 5-6 cyclists. As we made the corner in Ravenna I looked back and everybody was gone. It was me and another guy. He was one of the guys I had earlier identified as the 2 strongest guys who were pulling the group. I am not sure what happened to the other. The road now got even steeper and we had many stragglers and small groups ahead of us again. I let my new partner do most of the work - I was hurting at this point and each time I took a pull it seemed about half the length of my partners pulls. He didn't seem to mind and I was able to recover a bit during his pulls and also in the steep sections where he would fall back a bit. We continued to work together passing probably between 15-20 riders from Ravenna to the top of the hill at Scenic Caves Road.
As we came near the top we passed a group of 4 who managed to jump onto our wheels. I was really looking forward to crossing the summit and was struggling to hold a wheel and between the fatigue and a loss of concentration my partner accelerated through the 90 degree turn at the top and in the blink of an eye had 20m on me. I accelerated and dropped the group that was on my wheel but my guy continued to acclerate away from me. I decided rather than chase him, I should just set my own pace and try to distance the group behind me.
I was fine with letting him go - he was stronger and certainly deserved to finish ahead of me, but now I had expended too much energy and on a flat section of the descent I was exhausted and allowed the 4 guys behind to come up on me. By the time the road went downhill again, 2 passed and 1 stayed behind me. We commented to each other to play it safe on the descent as it was extremely steep and twisty too. As we hit the bottom I repassed one of the guys in front of me almost right away and began the run-in to the village. I knew it was only another 2-3km so I used my power meter and just tried to hold around 300 watts. I eventually came upon another rider - one of the 4 that passed me - and steadily approaced and then passed him. Coming to the finish there were another 2 in front but it was apparent I was not going to be able to make a pass when they accelerated late as they saw me coming from behind. I just continued setting my pace based on power and came through a couple seconds behind.
Overall I was very happy with my results, my time was definitely around where I thought it might be. In fact it would have been good for a top 10 compared to last years times. Starting closer to the front might have allowed me to shave a couple minutes from my time and come in with one of the groups that finished a couple minutes ahead of me. I love agressive group riding and never really having the opportunity to race this was a great experience riding at my limit, working with others, bridging gaps, dropping people and getting dropped. The dynamics of a race make for a really fun and interesting ride. The course was well suited to my abilities as I am strong in the climbs but struggle in the flats. The 3 big hills allow me to make my way forward in the race and I can conserve energy in groups in between the climbing sections. Obvioulsy starting closer to the front would have its own difficulties as it is going to be a lot harder sticking to a group of 8 guys doing 35kph compared to sticking with a group of 25 doing even the same
speed.
