I’ve been feeling good during training this week, so I convinced myself to go over to Eugene and try out the Category 3 Oregon Championship Road Race. When you win a race, you just get to call yourself a winner. But when you win the state road race, you get to call yourself “champion.” Plus, I got to wear my silk numbers for the first and probably only time this year.
How did it go? My breakaway won the race. The problem is, I wasn’t in it. Instead, I was trailing off the back of the main field when I crossed the finish line. I was very disappointed.
The race is 4 laps with 2 significant but short climbs, Briggs being the hardest one near the finish line. Eugene is exactly the same as I remember it growing up as a kid, constant drizzle. On the first lap, I dropped my chain right at the base of Briggs Hill and I had to dismount to get it back on. I chased hard up the climb and eventually caught a few guys and was able to integrate with the group about 10 minutes later. Right when I caught the group, I noticed we were at Summerville Road, so I considered turning and going home. I spent quite a bit of energy coming back, so managed to find Gary (he’s massive) right at the back. I parked behind him and didn’t have to pedal for an entire lap.
After lap 2, I attacked in the exact spot I planned before the race. It was into a headwind and after the first climb, so I figured it would be a good place. Plus, we had just caught the breakaway so it was a textbook time to go. I got a good gap with no reaction from the field. Two other riders soon came up to me and we worked well up together until Briggs Hill. They were going strong on the climb and I tailed off right away, but I maintained a short gap. When we went over the top of the hill, I was only about 5 seconds back so I figured it would be no problem to catch on the descent. I was completely. Even though I was going as fast as I could, they kept the lead and then began pulling away when they worked together on the flats. I found myself in no-mans land trying to chase. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the chase was futile and I sat up for the main field to swallow me, which they did on the first climb. This gave me some miles to try to recover, so I quickly found Gary again and sat in. I was very tired when we hit that final climb, and struggled to just hang on the disintegrating tail end of the main field.
The break I started survived the day, and I’m convinced that little gap at the top of the climb cost me a guaranteed podium in the race. The winner was very strong, so he definitely deserved the win. So, in essence the road race was the state time trial for me, because I spent much of the race riding by myself either in front of the main pack or behind the main pack. I guess I won’t have to take my TT bike over to Corvallis this August.
Lessons learned:
- When you start an attack solo, recover by sitting out a few turns if others bridge up to you. If not, they may take advantage.
- Fight hard to keep the wheel in front of you over the top of a climb. Normally, a small gap wouldn’t be an issue, but in this case it was the dagger. I was definitely working hard on the climb but I was still somewhat lackadaisical about the gap. Instead, I should have dug deeper to see if I could find that tiny bit extra to get up to them.
- Don’t ride 105 miles to Palmer Junction the day before the race. I’m pretty sure a shorter preparation ride would have spotted me those 5 seconds I needed.
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