Valley City Road Race 8/25/2007

So, this is the third year I've been at this race. The first I was driving a lead vehicle, the second I was standing at the corner of Dallas and 303 all day. I don't mind working the race, it's kind of fun... but I was really hoping that I could jump in at some point. Well, the stars aligned and we had enough volunteers that for the first year ever, we've been able to put some SBR jerseys into the SBR Valley City Road race.

I stood at the corner for the first wave of events. The cat 4 race had Pete S. and the cat 5 race had Matt O. racing. It's fun cheering the fields on, and keeping things safe at the same time. Standing in the sun for 2 hours is not the best warm up, but I did work up a sweat, so that's something, right?

After the cat 5s were done, Matt got changed and relieved me of my duties. Off to get changed and whatever warm up I could. It turned out, I had a few minutes, so some efforts were done, but I was hoping that it wouldn't go too fast from the gun.

Tom K and I were able to jump in the 1/2/3 field. Dave S had dressed and was ready to go, but then got the call to drive at the last minute, props to Dave for being all responsible like and working instead of racing.

With 29 1/2/3s in the field, we had the largest "A" race turnout since the races inception. I knew it was going to be painful, being my first 1/2/3 race with a legit cat 3 license. It would also be a good test of how my fitness has been going with all the down time from vacations and visiting that I'd been doing lately.

As we rolled across the line, Polo from RGF took the initiative and rolled away from the field with Andys Burns (COBC) in pursuit. Nobody else really took too much notice, as it seemed the first lap was mostly for warm up. I stay near the front, and pulled through when it was my turn. But I certainly was not going to work yet. I'd done enough of that thing at Westlake, to only get jumped by the fast guys and feel like a chump. Half way through the lap Paul Martin came up and started putting in some short efforts to keep the break close. Jeremy Grimm also took a couple of digs, but it didn't seem that he was serious yet.

There are 3 climbs of note on the course. Two on West River, and one on Lester about 500 meters before the start finish line. As we hit the second climb, Tris Hopkins (Torrelli) punches it up the right side, and I jump on his wheel. I think Dan Quinlin(MVC) also jumped here, and got between Tris and I and we were away. I really wasn't planning on jumping, I just used that pull to get over the hill, but it wasn't long before the gaps opened between Tris and Dan and I. I was suddenly in between... not really wanting to kill myself to close a gap that I was not sure I cold hold for 3 more laps, but out in the wind. Quick decision, work hard enough to get over the last climb in front of, or with the group, but don't kill myself out here. It worked out a nice lead and fade, cause I was safely back in the fold as we headed to the line for the start of lap two.

Dan came back in short order also, as did Polo from his move. So it was Tris and Andys off the front, and then everyone else chasing. I guess we were shedding a lot guys already, as I found myself at the back of the field at times, faster than I wanted. Lap two was a lot about the chase. Paul would pull along at 35 or so, and then pull off.... and all the guys on his wheel would sit up. Pretty funny actually. So when I found myself on the PM wheel, I was committed to at least pull through. I may not contribute a lot, but I don't feel so silly then. The advantage was I felt like I could contribute. It was a blast, sitting on Pauls wheel at 35mph, just motoring along and feeling pretty good, not in the "tongue on your stem" level of effort.

As we headed out Lester, more and more of the big guys made their way to the front. Turning off Wolfe, Quinlin got to the front, and started pulling down Station. I was on his wheel going into the S turn with a bit of a gap, when he made some kind of squirrley move... I'm not sure what it was, but I backed off a second, and he pushed again. So I sat up to come back into the field.

The chase reorganized as we hit the gravel section on Station. Quinlin is again pulling, as we pass a truck parked in our lane. This caused most of the field to sit up, except for Rudy from Lake Effect, who rolled off the front alone for a while.

Second time through the rollers, I'm not as crisp as the first time through. It seems that over the second one, I end up at the back of the field instead of off or even near the front. Through the twists, a small gap opened up forming two groups before we got to the hill on Lester. Over the hill the gap opens and 6 more are away. Paul Martin, Jeremy Grim, Brian Batke, Dan Quinlin, Chris Cioccio and a Breakaway rider I don't know get a gap. I'm completely shattered as we hit the top, and Rudy is yelling at everyone that we need to close that gap before it's to late.


The turn onto 303 before Lester Hill. I don't remember this gap, or even closing it... but I know I did somehow, someway, cause I was on the other side at some point.

The chase group is Rudy, Tony Marut, Brian Diffenbacher, Matt Weeks, and Pete Baughman from Lake Effect, Tom Keller and I from SBR, Thom Dominic from Color-Me-Safe, Jim Matson from COBC, a BV Velo rider, and a Spin rider or two and an RGF or two. We just can't get organized. Our paceline is disgusting, Rudy would pull, someone would pull through... then no one. It would happen repeatedly. I would work, Matson would pull through, Rudy would come up... then nothing. It was pretty frustrating, cause the front group was in site for nearly the whole race. We just were not closing in on them.

And we kept loosing people from the chase, so I guess we were moving pretty well. I looked down quite often and saw 28-29-30+mph. I felt good, doing a bit of work, then fading back. But then someone would open up a gap in front of me. Someone would have to close it back up.... I was never sure if I was safe either, cause guys I'd normally trust were blowing up. Through the third lap and into the fourth. It seemed that Matson, Diffenbacher, Rudy and I would do the most work. The Spin and BV Velo guy were a not very smooth, and would either pull really hard, or sit up when they got to the front. It just seemed really hard to get together.

At the start of the fourth lap, we were down to 7 or 8 in the chase group. The Lake Effect guys had blown, with only Rudy and Brian still there. Thom Dominic, Matson, the BV Velo, an RGF and a Spin guy were still together. Tom K had disappeared after closing one of the gaps for me, so I was alone but still felt good enough that I might get back to the front of the race.

At the top of Lester hill, we passed Batke messing with his chain.... will he be able to chase back onto our group? We were still working inefficiently, but we were not loosing much ground on the front group. As we made the turn onto Wolfe, the Breakaway rider came off the front group and started heading back to us. So there are at 6 big guns up the road, and 8 or 9 chasing. Batke did not make it back on to us, and we were gaining on the front group... the attacks must have started.

I was starting to feel the work by now, like I was loosing power and my heart rate was down and not coming back up. I was still working as hard as I could on the front to get back to the race, but I was not feeling very well. I noticed that I had not been drinking at all, so started to try to get fluid in me to help. We hit the rollers, and I again went straight to the back of the group, and needed to use my sprint just to stay with the group. I'd made it this far, I wanted to get as good a place as possible... and I didn't want the "non-workers" to get better places than me... I should say, guys that didn't work as much, cause I think we all worked pretty hard to get to this point.

Last time up the Lester hill, I felt good about finishing well with the group.... when everyone went by me... over the top, at my limit, I just could not close that little gap one last time, so I shut everything down. I'd done my work, I could roll in for whatever place I got. Well, for 100 meters or so I shut it down. Then I talked myself into one final sprint for the finish anyway. I tried to sprint, it was lame, but I pushed it across anyway. By then I'd lost 15 seconds, and got scored as being a separate time. My group ended up just catching onto the tail of the front group, and got the same time as Grim did crossing the line.

It was a really "fun" race in a painful way. I'm pretty happy with my efforts and my 14th place since I was part of the chase and contributed to that part of the race. Of course, I would have liked to have made the front group, and had the legs to stick with it. I think a lot of that was my placement when we hit that last hill. Though all three of those rises killed me on the last three laps. Staying close to the front group was a big confidence boost, that indicates that we made a tactical, not necessarily a fitness error. I was also pleased that I had chased back onto my group as often as I needed to, instead of seeing the gap and just calling it a day... though I would have been happier with just one more successful chase right at the finish.

My legs are totally blown right now, so it's recover, recover for a few days. I guess I raced harder than I have in a long time. It's cool, cause it's build up to cyclocross season now. These efforts can only help.