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What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: Off the back
It is rare that a VeloPromo road race (as opposed to crit) starts on
time, mainly due to making sure that the course is set up ok. Patterson
Pass RR was no exception. We ended up starting about 20 minutes late
which is fairly typical.
Matt Idler and I were our representatives in the 4's and Alan was there
racing in the Masters 4/5. I made sure I got a front row start as I
wanted to be near the front at the bottom of the climb up Patterson Pass.
Once on the climb (the feed zone is right at the bottom) I could feel
that I was around LT already. The various ramps on the lower slopes
asked questions and the legs responded every time, but I almost
certainly paid the price of increasing the HR each time. The final ramp
before the false flat found my legs a little wanting, but as the bunch
crested the rise, they were met with the first gust of the headwind and
slowed down significantly. I was back in the bunch like a shot.
We suffered up to the false summit and there was the inhospitable
wasteland leading to the true summit, complete with howling headwind,
much stronger than it was for our recce ride last weekend. Questions
were asked up the ramps towards the summit. At the bottom of the final
ramp my legs had no answer as I maxed out and popped. 50 yards. So close!
I struggled to the top and was just in time to see the bunch disappear
out of sight on the downhill. I got myself going on the descent and
tried to keep up a good pace knowing that I might gain some time if they
sat up. I saw the bunch one final time not long before catching a rider
who I then towed down the descent. On Flynn he dropped me but I got him
back on Altamont Pass Road.
The second time up Patterson Pass Road was as brutal as the first, as
there was no shelter from the headwind which had changed so that it came
the whole way down the climb. (Thank God for the feedzone!) There were
many riders heading back down the climb, obviously dropped and deciding
that they didn't want to torture themselves. I on the other hand had
committed to finishing, so I wasn't going to turn round.
About halfway up I spied Matt I. coming down the hill. He was looking
for me and wanted company for the rest of the ride. Fine by me!
At that point we had 2 companions. We dropped one towards the top of
Patterson Pass Road and the second on Flynn Road. Once onto Altamont
Pass Road we eased up to have something to eat, something we repeated
the next time round too. We then proceeded to blast down Altamont Pass
Road and cruise along Midway towards our third and final lap.
The final time up Patterson Pass was brutal - a question of just
surviving to the top. We managed it, but were then suitably humbled by
the 1/2 women who chased us down on the descent. They sat up after
passing us, resting before the next attack which came on Flynn Road. At
this point we were conclusively dropped.
Once at the top of Flynn, is was downhill almost the whole way, and I
enjoyed it! The difference between me and Matt on Midway Road was that
he had done some extra climbing up Patterson Pass on lap 2, so I dropped
him a little and we rode home singly, but not too far apart. The good
news is that we were not the last finishers!
Wow - 5 hours in the saddle (including warm-up) - a long day and a big
effort to recover from before Sunday's race.
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What Alan saw:
Category: Masters 35+ 4/5
Result: Off the back
Well, I finally made it to a race! Too bad it was one of the most
brutal courses.
I wasn't in quite good enough shape to stay with the lead group, but
I rode my own race up the first climb and formed up with a dozen or
so riders by the time we got to the crest of Flynn, and sped through
the backside together. On the second lap the group shattered and
four of us went off the front, but I fell back by less than 50 yards
from the lead 2 by the top of Patterson (entirely brutal climb into
the headwind), but that 50 turned into 100 by Flynn.
I was pretty
confident during the descent that I could regroup with them on the
Flynn climb, but I started getting some bad cramps in my right leg
that I had to work out, and by the time I regained full power they
were OOS. I did catch another rider and we teamed up for the
backside, but I went ahead on the Midway climb and finished solo.
I have to express my admiration for Richard and Matt who signed up
and completed a third lap. I had dug my hole too deep to even face
the Patterson climb again. Next time I will either be in better
shape, or put a 26 on the rear cassette, or both.
For better or for worse, it felt good to get back in competition and
redline.
Some statistics:
- Total elevation gain for 2 laps: 5850 ft
- Max heart rate: 177
- Average upslope: 7%
- Average downslope: 5%
- Maximum upslope: 22%
- Number of days needed to recover: 2
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What Matt I. saw:
Category: 4
Result: Off the back
I was really glad I did this race, and even more glad that I pre-rode
the course one weekend earlier. If I didn't pre-ride the course, I would
haven't the faintest clue of what suffering I would go through. When I
pre-rode the course, Carlos chuckled at my 39x23 gear and said that I
would need a bigger cog for these hills. Well I made it up there on the
23, but in preparation for the race, I went ahead and bought a SRAM
12-26 cog and a new chain.
Arriving on race day, I got there with plenty of time and Richard
spotted me right away and we were parked very close to each other. I
should have brought my trainer, but thought I could get a decent warm up
riding the roads.
The start was delayed about 30 minutes, so Richard and I rode together
around the course very lightly to save the leggies for the first climb.
It was getting pretty warm by this time and I was more nervous. With
about 10 mins prior to the start we made one more quick bathroom run,
and then went to the start line where we parked ourselves right at the
front.
The whistle blew and we were off. It was a very mangeable pace up until
the steep section.I was trying to maintain a nice steady rhythm, but I
wasn't able to. My mouth was so dry and I was breathing hard already.
One quick look at my HRM flashed 191! I kept thinking, don't pop, don't
pop! It sure felt like I was going to. I was able to stay with the bunch
over the top and down on the flats. Whew. That was a hard one. I
continued to breathe pretty hard. Two more like this and I'm done I
thought.
Going into the second climb/rollers the front bunch put the hammer down
and drove the pace all the way up to the top. I stayed with them up to
the top and then fell off the back. It was just a bit much for me. I was
solo all the way back to the first climb. I couldn't figure out where I
was in the group. I saw a few up ahead about a half mile, and I saw a
ton of people abandoning and heading back down. I thought, well its dumb
if I'm gonna ride this bymyself, I want to see if Richard is
around....so I turn around and found Richard not far from me. Great, and
we've got 4 of us.
It wasn't long before Richard and I dusted the two
others in the group. We stayed together trading off work for the rest of
the ride. I had a lot of fun and I'm glad we both stayed in the race.
Going up the monster climb one last time I was so relieved that we
stayed in this and were completing the entire race. I couldn't help but
wonder how many of the cat 4's are still in the race up ahead?
Towards the last 2 miles, my right quad started cramping a bit and
richard was sailing right along. He clearly has a LOT more miles in his
legs than I! Richard finished first and I came in, and congratulated
him. We both looked around and saw another cat 4 rider roll in. Richard
said "hey we didn't finish last!!" Right on!
This was by far the most brutal race I have been in thus far. The wind
just about knocked me off my bike a few times. Even though I had the 26
cog in back, I felt the wind was a lot stronger on this particular day.
My legs were toast, and like Alan, took me about 2 days to recover.
Ouch.
Here are my stats:
- 4 hrs 25 mins in the saddle
- 71.4 miles
- 16.1 avg mph
- 47.3 max mph
- 6380 feet total of climbing
- 4193kcal burned
- 193 max HR
- 157 avg
- 94 degrees max temp
- 88 degress avg
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