Blather on Bicycling

I’m back from the Elkhorn Classic in Baker City, where someone named Sather scored a podium finish.

Elkhorn is the closest thing to a local race that we have, and fortunately it is one of the best stage races in the US. It was my first race when I started racing 4 years ago and it has become a yearly tradition. I went into this year’s race not knowing what to expect because my form has been all over the place, mostly bad the last couple months. I haven’t had a good field test forever. Then, I tried to climb Anthony about a week before and completely imploded. So, I took some days off and tried a new taper strategy leading up to this race. Wednesday before the race, I tried a 3 hour ride and was a complete zombie. I felt extremely empty. Then, the next day, my legs were spinning effortlessly the entire ride. Weird.

I’ll start with the most exciting result of the weekend. My boy raced in Category Training Wheels in the Saturday race. The race bible indicated the race was to start at 2:15 so we showed up at 2 pm in time to get a full warm-up in, only to find the competitors lining up. I loaded him into the shoot and, without even a warm-up, he came out drilling it. Kids races like this are all about the experience. Everyone is a winner. It’s fun seeing them all try their hardest and even the last place finisher deserves the same praise as the kid who crosses the line first. Parents are just happy to see their kids out their enjoying the fun. . . . Luke was 3rd place, 2nd in the boys division. The girl that won had an unfair advantage because she had a TT setup that included a basket and streamers on her handlebars. By the way, if you’re looking in the OBRA results you won’t see his name listed on the GC because the erroneous race bible made us too late to get a number on his bike. I went to file a protest after the race, but I couldn’t find Candi Murray.

Interestingly, the race didn’t end at the finish line. The leader kept going and, just like lemmings, the rest of the tikes kept following straight toward an open street. No one was up there stopping them. I saw some fear-filled parents running after their kids, but a kid on a bike is much faster than most parents. Further evidence that bicycle locomotion is superior to bipedal. Finally, a racer sprinted down the street and got them turned around.

My race didn’t go as well. In Friday’s race, I made the selection on the final climb and was involved in the sprint, placing 20th. I carried the 20th place on GC into the Dooley stage on Sunday, 1:40 back of the leader. This set me up for a big test on the final climb. My legs were feeling strong all weekend, and I was comfortable over the first 2 climbs of the day. Then, a dropped chain in the feedzone had me chasing solo. For some reason, no one was behind me chasing after that climb. Near the top of the 3rd climb I had almost caught the group, but a spoke broke and I couldn’t get the attention of the wheel car.

And that ended my race, and my 2007 racing season. What started out as a promising race season fizzled with sickness, fatigue, and untimely mechanicals. During the season, I accomplished the most important thing by getting tenure and promotion at work. This means I don’t have to show up for work anymore so I can start some real bike training.

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.