Spring Valley cat 3: 5th place

Late report as I've been busy. I'll use some pictures to spice it up.

I said after last race that I was hoping to blow things up this Sunday. The course looked good for it: a 1 minute power climb leading into a false flat, then some windy criss-crossing roads. My plan was to stay near the front on the climb then hit the gas just over the top. At my weight, making a separation on a climb is difficult, to say the least. But a false flat and a crosswind play to my strengths. So hopefully the climb would leave guys a little gassed, then I could string it out on the false flat and the elastic would snap when we hit the crosswinds, leaving me and a few strong guys to form a break.

The race started off with a bang, as big Dan Waite from Saturn went to the front and roared through the crosswind section. Chip said, "Where's the fire?" Knowing Dan and his teammate Rodney Sauser, my guess was that Dan was trying to weaken some legs and set up Rodney for an attack first time up the climb. Sounded good to me -- I like working with Rodney.

We hit the top of the climb and I start my attack (all photos (c) Jeff Jakucyk):

No luck. Pace wasn't high enough on the climb and I blew the surprise by attacking in the little ring, stopping to shift (which is why I'm on the hoods in the photo), then attacking again.

But where was Rodney on the climb? It wasn't like him to sit in when there was carnage to inflict. Coming around the backside, I had my answer, as I saw Rodney waiting for us on the side of the road. A minute later he rolled up next to me.

"Rodney, you off the back?"
"Nah, got a flat."
"Damn, bad luck."
"I figure I'll just get in a hard training ride now. Want to attack?"

Ah, that's Rodney. So the second time up the climb I had some help at the top:

This time we were a little more successful, as more people went off the back, including Rodney's teammate, Dan Waite. As we came through the crosswind section, riders were sprinting to close gaps:

Soooo close .. but again, we didn't get the big separation. Down the backside of the course, Rodney and I traded attacks. He'd go off, get caught, then I'd counter. I don't know why I didn't sit in for an attack then try and go with him -- stupid. Near the bottom of the course I got to motor past the 1/2/3 pack solo as they shouted encouragement. Shortly after that two riders bridged up to me and we worked it for a while, but eventually they brought us back too. Darn those selfless riders working for their teammates in the pack!

Third time up the climb and I was paying for the attacks. I couldn't hang with the front row and had to drift back a few wheels. There would be no attacking this time:

Out of the picture above is young Cory St. Clair from Turner Logistics, who took off on the climb and had several seconds by the top. As we hit the top, everyone looked around for Echelon to start the chase, as they had been all race. But no -- the climbs were taking it out of the flatlanders. Except for their strongest riders, the Echelon train had been neutralized. Good news.

But with no padron in the pack, it took a while for the chase to get organized. Cory's lead grew. He looked good, and this was getting dangerous. The chase finally got underway ... but just then the 1/2/3 pace car came past us. Having just come up to speed, the front riders kept the gas on. Next thing we knew, Kirk Albers was in the middle of the cat 3 pack dropping spittle and F-bombs all over us. If I could make out Kirk's message between the swear words, he felt we should neutralize and slow down to let the 1/2/3s by. Last week, a screwup with the pace cars had left the pack neutralized for several minutes while an enterprising Turner rider went up the road, so the pack wasn't too receptive to Kirk's idea. Finally, the front riders slowed down not so much to let the 1/2/3s by as to curse back. As soon as the 1/2/3s got in front of us, they sat up. Great. We waited a few minutes then said, F this and started the chase again. In the end, Cory blew up, and just as we caught the 1/2/3s they caught him. So we let him drift back into us, let the 1/2/3s get a few hundred meters up the road and started racing again.

Bell lap, and at this point I figure it's coming down to the final climb, so I drift back into the pack to recover. Again, I blew an opportunity to work with Rodney -- since he couldn't contest the finish, Rodney started attacking like a madman at the front. Halfway through the lap he got away and started building up a very nice lead. He still had it at the climb, too, but he gentlemanly sat up so as not to confuse the finish. He told me afterwards that he'd have been happy to tow anyone who went with him to the climb, since he was out of the placings anyway. Opportunity lost.

So the final climb. Bike races are funny -- sports movies and Versus TdF coverage tell us that the last mile should be action packed with riders screaming in suffering. In my experience, it's nothing like that. You get to the last climb, and you go as fast as you can. It's either/or: either you can go faster than the other guys or you can't. This may be strange to say, but there's no sensation of pain. The wheels are coming towards you or they're going away. That is all.

In this case, I could go faster than the others, then I couldn't. I was about eighth at the bottom, then I was even with the front, then I was ahead of them. But about 3/4ths of the way up, Kyle Lyman from Team Dayton and Michael Whitlock from COBC attacked and gapped me. Like a big, dumb, pain-deadened animal, I kept chugging away, hoping to catch them. Now we were over the top and I'm still huffing after them. I glance under my arms and see wheels -- crap, looks like I'm leading out the pack sprint. We get to 150m to go and I try and open it up ... then close back down. 550 watts was all I had in me for the sprint, compared to 1000+ most pack finishes. So first Isaiah goes, then Cory gets his wheel in front of mine. 5th place.

Photo's not so good -- that's Isaiah in the blue Echelon gear taking 3rd, Cory on the right in 4th, and me hidden by Isaiah in 5th. You can see my wheels under Isaiah. I barely held off the Olympus rider.

Had I been smarter, I suppose I would have let off and looked for someone else to lead out. But I hate sitting in and letting the win go up the road. With two riders ahead of me, I kept the gas on. Knowing now that I couldn't close the gap, that was a tactical mistake, but so be it. I beat Blair by 3 spots, but it makes no difference on the GC since he's got that wrapped. I beat the current 2nd place, Joe Hall, by 2 spots, which still leaves me 15 points down.

Next week, Bull Run. Big packs and big money. We'll see how it goes and if I can pass Joe in the GC.