Slightly better weather than last weekend (uppers 40s and sunny at the start, with temps quickly rising) brought out the crowds this weekend–51 riders in the 4/5 race. I caught a ride from Stuart, thus avoiding a 25 mile warm up for a 27 mile race. I felt pretty terrible on our first warm up lap, but the second felt much better. I was essentially treating this as a “training” race, knowing that I probably didn’t have the legs yet to do anything other than sit in, and I was hoping to have enough legs to at least stick with the pack throughout the race. Meager goals, indeed.
The start was reasonable, and the pace didn’t climb much on the first climb up Sundust Road. I settled near the back of the main group, looking for opportunities to move up, lest I miss a selection. The first run up Sundust did its usual job of splintering the group, and we were quickly whittled down to 20-25 riders. The pace didn’t climb much on the subsequent laps, but the group was fairly twitchy, and the speed was inconsistent, especially on the downhill rollers on the back half of the course. This made for lots of bumping and braking. This was due at least in part to a rather loose interpretation of the yellow-line rule that governs the race (that is, don’t cross the yellow line)–many riders who backed off the pace a bit on the climb would bomb down the rollers, pass on the left, and settle back into the group. I found this frustrating, as I worked hard to move to the front on the climb, only to see our smaller group swallowed up again lap after lap (that said, none of us were pushing the pace on the rollers, either).
It seemed there was always someone dangling off the front, but it was never more than one or two guys, and within a lap, the group swallowed it up. With two laps to go, I watched Ben Stephens move up on the approach to Sundust, and I thought “here goes the move.” For most people, this would mean grabbing Ben’s wheel and following him. For me, I just shrugged and thought “eh, someone will catch him.” Off he went. The pace climbed on Sundust this time, and it hurt, really, for the first time during the race. Ben seemed to be gone, however, with a few others. A small group of us lost contact with the main group, then we pinned it a bit, and within a mile caught back on. The group didn’t work hard on the rollers, and the break gained a bit.
Heading into the last lap, the pace picked up again, and the hill hurt even more. I stayed with the group, though, but the pace was still inconsistent on the rollers. What the heck? Isn’t that the break up ahead? Once on the last stretch of road before the finish, I gunned it, figuring I could at least try and drag the group further along. The worked a bit, and the pace increased. I pulled off and was swallowed by the group, and was nearly run over in the process. We caught the group before the finish (which I watched from the back of the pack), but apparently this wasn’t the break. A wasted effort, apparently, to catch them. Live and learn.
Anyway, a good race, I think, for early in the season. I’m looking forward to riding with (most) of the team at the last Mingo race in two weeks.
Posted on 5 April 2009