Raccoon Rally 2007 - Road Race

For the last 2 weeks, I have not spent every waking hour slightly hungry, or with that hint of "ugh" every time I walk up the stairs... yes, I went on vacation. So mileage was down, and ice cream consumption was up. Probably not the best time for the ice cream, as I put on 5 pounds before my target event, the Raccoon Rally road race. 48 miles of hilly... dare I say, mountain road race. It's 2 laps of a 7 mile climb, followed by a 7 mile descent, then a 5 mile climb, and a 5 mile descent. There's nothing crazy steep, but it's enough to get 5000 feet of climbing in.

It's also 3 hours away. So I travelled out on Friday night with Thom Dominic from Color-Me-Safe (CMS). On the way out, a crazy raccoon decided it would be a good idea to get a wild hair, and run in front of my van while I was doing 75mph. It was his last idea, and Thom and I were discussing how that could be a good omen, Nailing the Raccoon Rally and all.

We arrived at the camp ground at about 9:30 and set up the tents by lantern light. Thom checked a few mechanical questions for me, and all was good as we turned in by 11:30 for a reasonable amount of sleep before some serious riding... Unfortunately the family in the site next to ours had a group of at least 4 teenage girls... and it must have been slumber party night, as they were talking and giggling all night long. Thom was more bothered by it than I, but when they were still going at 5am, I chalked off the rest of my sleep time, and decided to get up. It's all prep to make you tougher, right?

Race time was 10:30, and Thom lined up with Brent Evans in the 1/2 race... 14 in the field including Torrelli's Batke and Hopkins. They got a five minute head start on the 3/4/masters/womens field.

Snakebite had pretty good representation in the 3/4 race with Dave Steiner, Tom Keller, Chris Bilowich and myself. Since they combined the fields with the 35+ and 45+ masters and women's fields, our group was actually close to 70.

On the gun, the pace is instantly hot, and comments are flying around comparing it to a crit. With the large field the only real way to move up was on the edges. For some reason, every one was on the yellow line, so every time someone was moving up, half the field would scream "Yellow Line!" There were quite a few times I was pushed over the line, as guys came over, with plenty of open space on the curb side... as far as I could see. So it was mostly elbows out and protect the front wheel.

Last year, I lost the front of the race as the field split at mile 6 where there seems to be a little bit of steeper grade. So I'd been telling everyone to be careful there, be near the front and be ready to hold on. The team was doing well. Dave and Tom were up in the front 5-10 range. Chris and I were a bit further back near 20 or so. I had my computer set to watch mileage, waiting for the 6 mile point. I was a little concerned to see Dave and Tom both taking some wind... but I was too far back to bring it up to them. I'm not working for anything except to stay with the front group to the end.

I guess that last year, there was one guy in the front group that was the sargent, screaming at everyone to work. Tom pointed him out at the start line, and he again was ready to drive the troops. As we got to the 6.5 mile, he started shouting to the front guys "Pick it up!", "come on!"... and so they did. It was good for me, as he was also telling me what the plan was. I was encouraging our guys as I moved past them during the accelerations. Hoping that it would give them each enough to hang on.

We all made it over the top, and started the first descent. Sarge was still trying to get everyone to work... though we were in a much larger group than last year. My guess is that the first climb had shelled probably half the field of 70. I stayed near the front 10 and did my best to stay off the front. There was a bit of a rotation going on the front, and I tried to sit on the back of that. As the rest line came back, I'd let a gap open so that the workers could fill them in, and it worked pretty well. The team seemed comfortable, as we made our way to the bottom of the next climb.

The second climb seems more difficult than the first. It doesn't climb quite as much as the first, but the whole climb is a little bit steeper. I shifted down to the small ring as we made the turn at the base to save the legs, and up, up and away we went.... again. I continued to sit in about 10 to 15 back as we head up. We came around one turn, and I can see a group ahead of us. Are we going to catch the A field? Man we are moving. If we catch them, then they haven't really started racing yet.

At about half way up, I'm in the middle of the lane, with Sarge half a length ahead of me to the left. He decides he wants to get to the front, so swings hard to the right to move up the field along the inside. He doesn't look for clearance, he just turns, takes me over with him! I yell, and Chris yells as his front tire hits my right shoe! Damn it!

It takes me a minute or so to settle down... and the Sarge must have been rallying his troops. The pace picks up again. A gap starts to open in front of us. Chris is just ahead, but fading. I pulled up behind him, and encourage him on. "We need to get up there!" It's enough, Chris picks it up before I can come around, and we get across together. I want Chris to get into the field though, not to sit on the back. I told him "move up the right side" as we close in. Then we make contact... "come on, up the right." He doesn't seem to want to, so I encourage again... "come on, like this... follow me up." And I move into the safety of the field. I guess Chris stayed at the back, because it wasn't long before the group was down to about 15... and I was the only one left from the team.

Over the top and the Sarge started up again. Trying to encourage us to work together on the descent. The group was not really interested in working though, so one guy gets to the front, tucks in and just drops the descent. I fall in right behind him and do the same. If anyone wants to come up and work, they are welcome... otherwise, we'll just go at this guys pace. This actually works well, as it gives Dave a chance to bring Tom and Chris back into the field... actually, Dave brings it all back together.

Through the start finish, and some guys start to get antsy. A group of 4 gets a small gap, and I follow wheels to close it. Then a Penn State rider gets a larger gap. A single guy for the rest of the race? The field lets him go a ways and settles into the climb. I'm again watching the mileage and looking for landmarks.

As the climb continues, we pull the lone rider back, and I start to notice that either I've been moving back in the field, or we're loosing people. At about 5 miles, I'm at the back of the group with Chris. Tom is in the field still, but I don't see Dave, who was behind me a short time ago. At six miles, Chris and I are dangling at the back of the field of about 20. There are a couple of others guys with us, and there is a wall of about 5 guys at the front driving the pace..... we dig in a bit and make it back onto the back. I should have taken my own advice here, and moved INTO the field, but I didn't. We dangle again, and this time the other three get back onto the field... but I'm falling backwards.

And I make the fatal mistake.... we're close to the top of the climb, so I convince myself that my superior descending skills will allow me to chase back on once over the top. I really know better than this, but I am a good liar. Usually I lie to myself when the alarm goes off in the morning. I can sleep for another 10 minutes... you know. Soon, it's an hour later than I wanted it to be. You can understand my believing my own lies when I'm asleep, but I guess I can also lie to myself when it gets a little hard on the bike... or I actually fell asleep on the bike for the couple of minutes it took for the field to get 200 feet up the road.

Over the top, and the field is about 200 meters up the road... I can close this, dig in! Then it's 300meters. COME ON! WORK! 500 meters. I need to get up there before we start the next climb. It's about 20 against 1, though I know that only 5-10 may be working... still, I know I will not be able to force myself to climb alone as fast as the group will go... I'm watching my HR, and I'm pushing pretty well in my threshold zone a first. Then as the gap opens, and my pace picks up on the descent, I back it off (why?) to a tempo effort.

I'm continually looking back, but I see nothing. I'm trying to look when there is enough straight road behind me, but it's tough. There is only one point where I think I see some riders, but it's a fleeting glimpse.

At the bottom of the descent, there are a lot of cabin areas. Sure enough with about a mile or so to go to the turn onto the last climb, two cars pull out in front of me. One with a boat on the back.... and I get caught behind them. Shoot! Now the chase is over. I don't really want to fly around the cars, so I sit up for a minute or so.

I make the turn and shift to start my solitary climb. It takes me about another minute to formulate my plan for the remainder of the race. I decide it is now training... so I shift to the cyclocross training mode. I decide I will set my climbing heart rate at threshold and work that for the remaining 4.5 miles to the top of this climb. Then I'll time trial the descent at the same or bigger effort. I have to split it like this, cause the thought of another 10 mile time trial didn't sound that great to me. So off I go.

At about the half way point, I see another solitary rider coming up behind me... OK, Now it's really cross. Work to stay ahead of him. More effort to maintain the gap. Next glance, the gap is MUCH smaller. Woah, this guys is catching me fast. Then, he's next to me.. and it's a woman, and she's flying! I try to grab her wheel, but I don't... and the gap starts opening. More resolve... now I'm in a cross chase mode. Keep her closer! It's actually easier when I'm chasing, the gap keeps opening, but slower. 2.5 miles to the top, 2 miles... counting it down. I can still see the woman up the road, but the gap is getting larger still. Fortunately the top comes earlier than I figured. Hurray. It's all down from here.

I'm still check behind me, but don't see anyone. I figure they are there, but I do not want anyone else to pass me. The woman is gone, and I start pressuring it the whole way down. I'm sure I was going down faster the second time than the first, it certainly took more effort. At the bottom, I still couldn't see anyone behind me, when I come past the camp ground and again get caught behind traffic. This one didn't slow me as much, as the ranger in the corner waved the car over and I was able to come around. The other car sped up and turned off before I was slowed more.

As I came by the lake, I kept looking back, but the traffic obstructed my view. I made the turn onto the main road, and had a pretty good view back... still clear, but I'm not going to relax until I'm over the line. Two more rises to the finish. As I get to the top of the first, I can see a group of 5 or 6 starting to gain on me. I have to get up here before they catch me. I'm sure I can, but where is the finish? As I crest the last climb, there's still 200meters to go, but the group behind hasn't started the last rise yet. So I'm home free.... ugh. I just worked really hard to hold onto 21st place (or so).

Behind me, Dave is in the group, and comes across a couple of guys back. Chris tells me he fell off the field at the top of the last climb. He thought he was over the thing, when the road turned up again, and that was it. He said he finished about 2 minutes in front of me.

The best news of the day was Tom again pulled out a stellar ride, taking third place! This was after he had come next to me during the second lap climb telling me how badly he was suffering.... I'm deciding to not believe a word of it. Or maybe I should treat him like Pettachi... the more he complains, the more I'll work for him. I've said it before, he's got to be the smartest rider on the team. No mater what happens during the race, he is somehow in the mix at the end. Very good job, Tom!

So, I was pretty down about not making the grade. I'm pretty sure I had the stuff to stay with, but convinced myself that I didn't need to do the work then. Coming into this year, I had set the season for learning. I knew about the cat 3 upgrade goal, so results weren't necessarily the target. Learning to ride at the next level was. I did have a goal of finishing with the field here though, since it's the same field I raced in last year. I did make it exactly one lap further into the race before popping off at exactly the spot that I warned everyone to be careful. And I see it as a mental fault, not physical. I just didn't move to the correct place in the field to finish the climb, and then didn't dig in to close the gap when it opened. The game is 90% mental, the other half is physical.

On the up side, during discussions with Dave and Tom, I realized that it wasn't really a cat 3/4 race, it was a master's race. The mixed field again changed the dynamic of the race, as there were more engines to make the race hard. And it was a hard race. According to Tom, the pace on the last climb was hotter than the first lap, so it was tenacity that was required to stay with. This was all verified when the final results were posted 3 hours later....

It turns out Tom was third overall, but 2nd in the 3/4 race. Chris popped at the top of the last climb and rode in to finish in 7th. I popped after the third climb, did a 20 mile time trial (effectively) and finished in 9th. Dave came in with his group right behind me for 11th. Aside from the nice placings in a hard race, Dave and I also feel we did the team thing. Dave by bringing Tom and Chris back in after the second climb, and me by contineing to encourage everyone every time I could.

The front group did catch the A riders we saw on the second climb, but it took an entire lap to do it. That was the second half of the field. It turns out that a group of 6 had gotten away during the first climb including the two Torrellis and Thom. Thom again got worked by team tactics as there were two teams with two, and two singles. Still he managed to make it to the top of the last climb before popping off, then maintained to the end to finish shortly behind the field.

Results are posted (already) at http://heartrateup.com/PDF/Rally2007Road.pdf. Interestingly, the results indicate that the 3/4 race was a minute faster than the 1/2 race. I'm not sure about the absolute times, though if true it's because the finishing 3/4+ field was larger than the 1/2 field. Now I've got my goals set for next year.

Next up.... the cross country mountain bike race, unless I decide to jump into the short track at 6pm. Hmm.... decisions.