8/1/09: Salida RR State Champs

Salida is a beautiful little town, nestled among the mountains in south central Colorado, and home to the hardest road race in the state. Each lap is 12 miles and includes more than 1,300 feet of climbing per lap. This would be a perfect course for the Pro Tour World Championship race; Euro courses hold nothing over this course. Get antsy and spend your energy too early and the second half of the race will be the worst death march of your life. Wait too long and you risk too many folks being together at the end making the gallop to the finish more of a crap shoot.

My goal was to close out a successful season with another solid performance. In my only other showing at Salida 2 years ago, I experienced a terrible day physically but somehow managed a top 10 placing. I was motivated to improve upon that and all indications pointed to a potentially great race. I figured Lars Finanger and Todd Robertson would be the 2 riders to keep an eye on in order to decide exactly when to floor it and when to ease off the throttle.

During the 7-mile neutral promenade from downtown Salida to the actual start line, the legs felt good. The skies were crystal blue where we were headed and the temps were comfortable, though they were slated to rise to about 90 by the time the race itself heated up in the last couple laps. We were to complete 5.5 laps, with the finish line being atop the tough climb at the end of a 1,000m false flat which was straight as an arrow to the line.

Moves worth paying attention to went early and often. I started out holding back, letting others work to close the gaps and sitting in whenever possible. Lars and Todd were the main drivers of these moves, so it was definitely too dangerous to let those big diesels get up the road too far. Out of sight would definitely be out of mind. And, just like at Dead Dog, we had to deal with the maddeningly brainless riding of Brian from Hart. Another very strong rider, he appears to have no concept of how to fluidly work within a group. I lost track of how many times he grinded himself off the front of the paceline to stop it dead in the water. And no amount of coaching seemed to help. We were all a bit relieved when, during the end of the 2nd lap or thereabouts, he decided to push on up the road alone.

Unfortunately, Salida became the race where I had my Denis Menchov day - what could go wrong did and at the absolute worst time. I flatted at the halfway point, while in the lead group of roughly 15. On the descent at 2.5 laps, not far after the finish line, I skittered through an S curve and nearly wiped out and nearly wiped out a couple other guys. John Moro said it looked like my rear tire was going flat (which caused the skittering it turns out). But, the rest of the descent went fine so I chalked it up to some poor bike handling on my part. However, after the right turn at the start line and the next right turn onto the long stretch along the highway before beginning the climbing again, the rear tire felt about half full so I pulled over. Yep, going flat. My teammate, Ben, was in this lead group so as he rolled by I told him to keep going.

The timing was awful. Brian from Hart was still solo up the road and his lead had grown fairly quickly to nearly 2 minutes. Given how strong he was at races like Dead Dog, it was time to start reeling him in. The wheel change took about 2 minutes by the time the support truck pulled over and I found the right wheel to use (I opted for a 10spd SRAM given I run RED). I started back up right as Jordan Sherr, also from Hart, came by and he said he'd try to help me catch back up. A great gesture. For the life of me I could not get on his wheel! After a frustrating mile with my legs on fire, I looked down to see the brake pressed hard against the rim. SHIT! So, I stopped, centered the brake and made sure the wheel was also spinning centered, then got going. Now I was fine, but even further back. I caught Jordan and suggested we work together and see if we could catch back on to the lead group. But, I dropped him as the climbing again started. I wavered between easing off and staying with him, and forging ahead to try to catch the lead group; I decided I had to go for it or I would certainly never see the front of the race again. Sorry, Jordan! I blew past a bunch of guys and trimmed the lead to the leaders to about 45 seconds - I could just see them up the road. For the entire climb through the finish line, about 13-15 minutes, I averaged roughly 350w. An effort I was not going to be able to maintain for much longer.

Then, with about 1 3/4 laps to go, I exploded. At the bottom of the descent approaching the start line and the flat part of the course, the lead group extended its lead; the chase on the lone leader was full gas and the group was motivated. Cutting their lead on me to 45 seconds was the right tease at the wrong time. I completely overextended myself and paid dearly for it. My body imploded so hard that it was all I could do to keep the pedals turning over. Jordan came by me, steady as she goes, as dida couple more riders, in that last lap. The only thing that kept me going was the prospect of a top 20 finish to gain a precious BAT point for the team.

I limped across the line in 21st (irony at its finest). This course was every bit as hard as I remember from 2 years ago. First flat ever in a race since I started bike racing 5 seasons ago. Had to happen at some point.

I found Ben and Brad Winn from our 2s crew, and slumped down on the open bumper of a moving truck, full of post-race supplies. Someone, I can’t even remember who, handed me an already-open Coke, which I promptly chugged. Came right back up. Looked like cat puke on carpet. Nice. Must have sat there for close to 30 minutes trying to get my bearings so I could contemplate remounting my bike to first complete the race lap back to the start line and then the 7 miles back to Salida and my car. At that point, what should have been viewed as a perfect cooldown scenario instead loomed like a monumental effort.

Lars and Todd were the strongest 2 in the race, hands down. They dictated its ebb and flow. Hats off to them for their top 10 finishes, and to Jayson Middlemiss for his impressive 3rd! While this is not the way I would have liked to end the season, I am wholly looking forward to my scheduled month-long break. Figure Labor Day is a fitting day to blow the dust off the bike and start preparations for 2010.

Continued good luck to those who will continue to race the remainder of the season!

Ride safe,
Nate