Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Zoar Raod Race - 2004

Stark Velo

August 8, 2004

Geoff Zylstra has been gunning to win this event since he raced it last year as a 5. Of course, we took a couple of risks to his completing the plan by A) Catting up to 4, B) racing hard on the Tuesday (where he came in second in a break) and Saturday (Blossom Challenge)prior to the Sunday race. Recovery was a big issue. I'd decided to ride for Geoff before we got onto Chaos, and my plan hadn't changed. My dream of being the super domestique!

I've been talking to Geoff about putting a 12-25 cassette on for climbing races, especially after getting dropped at Chippewa Creek. He's been against it, saying it wasn't necessary. Maybe not, but I'd rather have, and not need it than the other way around. The decision was made when I talked to Dan Guggenheim on a training ride about it. He's the Chaos strong man and won Zoar 5 last year. I asked him what he thought about it, and he gave me the OK. So I ordered it, and put it on. If I didn't use it, I was only carrying a security blanket. OK by me.

We also had Ryan Williams show up, so the team had 3. I had been talking with Dave Steiner also, and hoped to recruit him for some help, if I could. My plan was to help out where I could, and watch for any breaks that went. If a break started that had representation of a few key teams, I'd try to bridge to join it. Else, given the opportunity, I'd kill myself for Geoff.

Sounds fun, huh? Here's why. Geoff is a climber. I can climb, but I usually am right behind Geoff when it gets steep. Close to equal abilities in all else, I could work to give him the advantage. The Zoar profile has 2 significant climbs. The first is a roller with nothing real steep, but hurts a bit at the end. The second climb is longer and steeper. It would be manageable, except for the last pitch. You get close to the top, and turn into the steepest section. So it's hidden around the corner, and it looks like a wall when you see it. After each climb are long descents where I can usually make up ground.

Four 10 mile laps. I'm hoping to hang in for the first 2 to get the lay of the course. I'll be looking for breaks in 3 or 4, and then be ready for the sprint up the last climb, and the decent to the sprint finish. Granted of course we didn't blow our legs out at Blossom. Geoff and I drove to the course together, and he was a bit worried about his recovery. I had the advantage of a 9 hour sleep, and reasonable meal and relaxation, so I was slightly confident in my legs. It's another 2 race weekend, which has been trouble in the past, so we'll just have to wait and see.

The Race

And my problems start. We arrived at 9 for a 10:00 start. Somehow I managed to get in line for the 1 port-o-pot at the exact wrong time. Not that the line was long, it just took some people FOREVER to finish up their business.... net effect... no warmup for me. I got about 5 minutes before the start. Bleach.

Fortunately, we had a 2 mile neutral rollout. Unfortunately, I must have stepped in something bad again. I could not get my right cleat clipped in. For the first half lap, I was riding with my right foot free. I was so preoccupied with it, I ended up behind a larger rider as the road tipped up for the first climb. I like to think I have a pretty good sense of who to follow to maintain my position. And I'll switch wheels pretty quickly if I find I'm wrong. Somehow, I ended up in the back end of the group on the first climb because I was boxed in behind this guy.

At the top, I jumped around and chased back on.... still trying to get clipped in. I reattached to the front group, and FINALLY got clipped in. Now I could relax and start working our plan.

Up the second climb, and I'm starting to worry a little about being able to stick with the group until the finish. I was fading through the group on the climb. I didn't use the 25, but the 23 was definitely in the mix. The 25 was definitely comforting with the prospect of 3 more trips up that last section.

A really nice decent down to the finish line. The whole first lap was a nice recounter of the course. Once we made the turn onto the second time around, the pace slowed up a little while the group started thinking about the next set of climbs. Our average was about 21 mph for the first lap.

The second lap was pretty uneventful. Stark Velo seemed to be running the pace in a little local turf action. My legs still didn't feel great on the climbs, but I was staying in the group. Ryan was riding well, until we hit the steep section of the last climb, where he'd fade a bit through the pack. I gave some encouragement as I passed, and it was down through the finish for lap 3.

The plan was working fine. No breaks and I had a good idea of how the course would go. I was eating and drinking fine, and intended on dropping one bottle at the finish before the fourth lap. Easy locale to retrieve it, and a little less weight to carry up that final steep. I was concerned about Geoff, as he seemed to be further back than I was, which is where I wanted him. I didn't think I could drop back to get him and still bring him forward.

Up the first hill, I did drift back a bit and Geoff found me. I gave a little encouragement, as it seemed I didn't come back all that far from where I was normally sitting. So I hoped he'd stay with me to the next climb. At this point I pretty much knew I'd make it with the group to the finish. The question was could I follow a break.

On the decent I moved up into the top 10 again, and we started the last climb. It's an interesting dynamic on the hill as the group rolls around you. Guys falling off the front, others moving up to the front. I ended up staying about 10th-15th wheel, but I think most of the wheels changed around me. Geoff went over in front of me (GOOD!), Ryan had real trouble getting over. I gave Ryan some more encouragement, made it over the top with a gap in front of me... so I drilled it to catch back on. Not at my limit, but I was flying past some of the guys to catch Geoff again.

At the bottom, Geoff and I exchanged pleasentries ("nice climb, Geoff", "nice descent, John"), and started talking last lap plans. I really wanted Geoff closer to the front at the start of the last climb than he had been. I told him I'd help if I could. I didn't know if Ryan was back on, so we'd just work together until we found out. I dropped the bottle where I wanted and we were off for the finish.

On the back stretch, we REALLY slowed down. We had an average of 21.8 for the race, but were going about 15. Must be time to fuel up again. Goo and water... and watch the front. We did about a mile or 2 at this pace, when a Summit guy jumped and the pace picked up. I would have liked the pace to stay high over the first climb, but couldn't do it all myself. Then Ryan came around, I tried to get him to chase and attack to lift the pace. From his previous 2 climbs at the end, I didn't think he'd make it in the finish, but I hoped he'd bury himself here to try to shed some guys. Not to be, as we caught Ryan and the summit guy right before the climb.

I had a little chat with Dave, who gave me tons of confidence. "No one in the group is stronger than you are, how much pain can you take? 30 seconds more than everyone else is all you need." I didn't believe a word of it, but it gave me a good boost anyway.

So, I had no idea where Geoff was again, but I found an MVC wheel to take right to the front. He went up, I just followed. There was the MVC, a Stark Velo and 2 Kraners (?) guys together at the front. So I just sat 4th wheel and let them rotate in. up over the second climb comfortable in 4th wheel. That would deliver me nicely to the base of the last climb. I hoped Geoff was somewhere close behind me.

As we hit the climb, I could feel the roll again. I'm peeking over my shoulder looking for Geoff. Hoping he'll come around me or get on my wheel soon. He comes around shortly before the last steep section. By then we're about 20 or so back. I can't get in front of him as we hit the really steep part. I told him to "Get up there, I can't help here. GO!" and he goes hard. He opens a gap on me and crests alone (Shoot). He's behind Mike and Pat from Snake Bite, and about 10 yards in front of me.

As soon as I crest, I start chasing to see what I can do. As I catch Geoff, I tell him I'm coming and to get on my wheel, and away we go. My goal is to haul Geoff up to the Snake Bite train, I think I'm gaining... and then I'm dying, and I have to pull off (I really should have just buried myslef here). I yell for Geoff to go and grab them as I pull off, and try to find the end of our line. It turns out, I'm hauling Geoff and 2 others. Geoff leads it, while I recover a bit.

Another guy came flying by, and I yell for Geoff to get on it. He does just as the guy dies. I was able to recover even though I thought I wouldn't, so I come around, and start hauling again.

I started doing the tunnel thing here. I knew Geoff was on my wheel, and the Snake Bites were still a bit up front. No one was getting in front of us, but we weren't catching anyone else either. We had our train of 4 or 5 guys, and every time I pulled off, Geoff had to work, no one else had it. I think I did 3 long pulls, I kept trying to get Geoff on my wheel. I'd shout a warning to him as I was coming and hoped he could get on.

I pulled off again at 1K, and sat in for a bit. Then came around again around 500M. At 200M, I didn't see Geoff on my wheel, so I decided to just sprint with everything else I had. I caught 2 guys that had given up on the line and know I passed one if not both of them.

I ended up 14th out of 38 starters, Geoff was a few guys behind me in 17th, so our results didn't work out the way we wanted. I was very surprised to see that we had managed to pull ourselves back up to the lead group, as they gave us both the same time as the winner. Results

Ryan finished further back, a bit over a minute behind. He was visibly disappointed in his result. He did do a load of work this week including a 3rd place at Westlake, and I hope we encouraged him with that reminder.

Dave Steiner must have suffered a bit longer than any of us, as he finished either 5th or 6th. I really need to figure out how he climbs so well. I could have used a bit more today. I guess I've got some goals for this race next year.

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