5/16/10: Sunshine HC

A little late here. Apologies.

Slow start to the season given the really weird weather we've had here in CO. Mid-May and I've raced 3 times. Go figure.

The Sunshine HC almost didn't happen, too. The week of the race, we experienced snow (a lot of it!) and multiple days of rain. The climb is just over 9 miles and averages nearly 8% - a real ball busting grind. The final 3+ miles are on dirt and there are a couple sections in excess of 20%. The threat was that the race would need to be shortened and end at the top of the paved section if the roads couldn't absorb all the week's moisture.

After raining the day before the race, the morning of dawned clear but cold. As I drove over to the race venue, my car thermometer registered 38-40 degrees. The temp at the start was 42. Up top it was going to be quite a bit colder, so it was imperative to send some clothes up in the support vehicle for the bone chilling (and jarring) ride down.

The Pro/1/2 field was bigger and deeper than it was for the Lookout Mtn HC two weeks prior. Taking the lessons learned from Lookout, I was determined to sit in for as long as possible, then survive to the top. When the gun went off, the field took off like a shot. I was pretty amazed at how fast the race was from the get-go, given the road starts really pitching up at the 2-mile mark. Pushing 350+ watts, I figured either the pace would slacken soon or I would blow up. Thank goodness the pace slackened.

I was feeling fairly comfortable in the middle of the pack. About 2.5 miles into it, just past the Poorman Rd. turn-off, the road steepens and stings the legs something fierce. The effort required to stay on the front took me to 350-400w and lasted nearly 4 minutes. But, the effort has a definitive end, given the road relents for a few minutes right after this pitch. I focused on collecting myself, slowing my breathing down and letting the legs recover to prepare for the next acceleration.

We hit the crest of the paved climb in just over 26 minutes. We were absolutely flying! Just over 30min into it, I had to allow myself to fade off the back. The dirt is immensely harder than the paved road, so if you're blown at the top of the paved section, you're hosed. I wanted to settle in to my own rhythm the final 18min or so.

Overall, the dirt was surprisingly OK. It was really slow given how tacky it was from being saturated. A couple times it literally felt like someone was pulling on my jersey and slowing me down as the dirt sucked on my tires. Some portions were firm, others were soggy. And still others were downright drowned in standing water (luckily, the dirt beneath the standing water was firm; the challenge was navigating the submerged potholes).

I settled in with another rider who had a teammate 100m up the road. So he sat on my wheel (understandably so). I tried to get tactical and get him to pull through - really slowed down, weaved back and forth across the road, and so on. I lost focus on "going for a PR" in my attempt to get a reprieve and a breather. No such luck (again, understandable). What I did accomplish was letting the guy's teammate get a bigger gap on us. Eventually the gap was big enough so we could not catch him. That's when the guy on my wheel decided to pull through and drop me heading into the final rise to the finish line.

Regardless of this inefficient riding on the dirt, I still set a PR. Surprisingly. Felt pretty good about my race. Ended up 15th, but still felt limited when things really heated up. Still some work to do!

The descent was absolutely frigid! The legs felt really good, so I headed over to Flagstaff and pushed it up to the amphitheatre at 301w, then headed over to Long NCAR at 312w to round out the day. Hopefully the additional 30min or so of hard climbing will help come Evans.

Ride safe,
Nate