4/26/09: Haystack TTT

The postponement of this race caused it to fall the day after Deer Trail. Which ended up in my favor as a dress rehearsal for Dead Dog at the end of June. We fielded a team of 5, all of whom raced the day before at Deer Trail. I, for one, was curious to see how my legs would feel as well as those of my teammates.

We agreed to start out very conservatively - holding in the reins and pulling thru-and-out without spending any time on the front. We wanted to check our legs and get a rhythm going before we started ratcheting up the effort. Which was important. While the race was only 16.3 miles, the wind was blowing fairly strongly, and the rollers late in the race would sting the legs of anyone who started out too quickly.

After about 5 minutes, we were all getting a little antsy to start pushing harder and taking longer pulls at the front. So we did. Everyone was pulling strongly. I had the dubious task of fighting to regain Matt Duncan's wheel at the back as first Matt Drinker and then Peter Dunlap pulled through after I pulled off. Drinker and Duncan are two of the bigger and most powerful riders, so at times I wondered if I was going to fall off the back. Simply put, once we put our heads down, we were hauling ass!

About halfway through, Dunlap had had enough and fell off the pace, but continued strong to the end in his own right. Ben Buxton, our 5th member, continued to power the 4-man train and force the effort. With about 10 minutes left, Drinker and Duncan were hurtin' units. Buxton and I sat on the front and traded pulls, easing off just enough to allow the two Matt's to stay on our wheels. We stayed calm and didnn't panic. We were flyin'.

With about 3 minutes to go, the two Matt's rallied and drove themselves into the ground to finish strong. We stomped on the pedals and crossed the line, the 4 of us in tact. We ended up winning by 30sec over Spine & Sport and 56sec over Studio 1 Dental. They ended up 3rd by a mere 0.3sec over Blue Sky Velo in 4th. Man, that's close!

Intra-team as well as inter-team support are both great. While we race to win, as we're getting older we're keeping in mind that this is just for fun.

Next up: Lookout Mountain Hill Climb on May 2nd. Stay tuned . . . It's gonna be a leg ripper.

Till next time . . .
Nate

4/25/09: Deer Trail RR

So, after 2 postponements due to shitty weather, racing finally got underway this past weekend. Saturday's race was a 58-mile RR over barren, rolling hills among ag land about an hour east of Denver. Whipping winds on a 2-lap 'L' (so out/back on the long leg, then out/back on the short leg, twice).

Deer Trail takes place over very narrow roads and the yellow line rule is very strictly enforced (like, no room for interpretation; if you got bumped across the line, you’re almost assuredly DQ’d). So, 30min in, I see what I consider to be ‘the’ break go up the road, and it includes about a dozen riders. Diran says to me, "You should go up there." Teammates of riders in the break are blocking the roadway, there’s no way through. I ask Matt Duncan if we have anyone up the road; we don’t. Shit! We’re fielding more than 10% of the entire field and no one made the break??? I try to be bold about it – “On your left!” – and the response of the guy in front of me is “Nope." If I don’t go soon, I’ll never be able to bridge up. I’m champing at the bit, just waiting for the slightest lapse in attention by either guy right in front of me. Finally, I see a sliver of an opening between one guy and the yellow line. I shoot forward, and I'm off to the races. The gap is pretty wide, so I’ll either make it or flame out, but I'm committed. Matt and Ben Buxton also make it out of the peloton and take 2 great pulls. Their efforts leave their legs a bit parched and they tail off; but their efforts help me take a breather before digging deep to complete the bridge.

Finally get there and settle in at the back. I look over my shoulder and the peloton isn’t responding. Which makes sense, given there’s over 2 hours left to race. 10min later, I’m wondering if it’s all worth it. Our group isn’t working well together and our lead is dangling at about 200m. I almost throw in the towel because there’s no way I can race this hard for another 2 hours. Finally, we figure out a pecking order and smooth things out, and our lead balloons; the team did a fantasitc job of disrupting the chase so that this could happen. 13 becomes 11 becomes 9through natural attrition. To me, the group’s still too big and there are too many dingleberries. One guy actually had the audacity to say he wouldn’t work with us because he has teammates back in the peloton. I asked him if he was friggin' kidding. You ride defensively when your teammates are UP the road, not behind you. Needless to say, he started taking pulls and did a great job of adding to the break.

With about an hour to go, the remaining 9 of us have a nice paceline going. Time to slough off the dingleberries, so instead of pulling thru-and-off I pick one of the longer climbs and accelerate on the front, drilling it for several minutes. 9 is now 7. I let the paceline settle down for another 10min or so, then drill it again. 7 is now 5. Now it’s manageable. During the final 40-45min, I try 4 times to shake off a few more and realize with about 15min left that it’s not going to happen. So, I save it for the sprint.

With 1k left, Lars Finanger from VeloNews takes off. We all catch his wheel, but I make sure I’m last in line. I want to either surprise from behind or counterattack the next attack. Strong crosswind coming from the left, so we’re echeloned across the road, Finanger on the yellow line and I’m riding the shoulder in the back. With about 400-500m to go, we come up on a lone rider from the 35+ group which went off in front of us. He’s just free wheeling it in because he’s so far behind the front of his own race. He clearly doesn’t know we’re coming. Greg Krause jumps right as we catch this lone rider. Cody Cox (who won the Air Force RR last weekend) and Finanger start grabbing for his wheel. James Mapes is blown, but can’t admit it to himself. He’s in his death throes and the lights are out. Consequently, I’m completely boxed in with him on my left and the free wheeling 35+ guy directly in front of me. Panic sets in. The only option is to slow down, get to the outside left of this mess and then wind up the sprint from there.

Screw that! I yell, “Mapes, get outta my way!” Thankfully, he’s not brain dead yet and he gives me the slightest avenue of light. I shoot through it and start frantically chasing the 3 guys left in front of me. Blow by Cox and Finanger, and am barreling down on Krause but run out of pavement. Still, I’m very pleased with 2nd.

Peter Dunlap finished 17th and Andrew Bagnato crossed right behind in 18th, so we maxed out the BAT placings of 3 in the top 20. Great start to the season and an awesome overall team effort!

Ride Safe,
Nate