 |
| Start of the breakaway |
Event
|
Leesville/Lodoga Road Race |
Date
|
07/05/14 |
Group
|
M45+4 |
Bib #
|
711 |
Result
|
1st of 13 (2nd in the combined field of 26 riders: combined with M35+4 and two additional solo category riders) |
Course
(per race flyer)
|
New course due to a 13-mile gravelling of Leesville Road. A 70-mile out-and back course using the second half of the old course, with one major climb up Grapevine Pass (the old downhill) instead of Leesville Gap climb. Pavement is good to moderate (no bad pavement like in the past). Route: 7th Street (old Hwy 99W) north to Freshwater, west to Danley, north to Maxwell-Sites (jog to left at ca- nal), west to Lodoga, and past lodoga 5 miles to the current end of pavement for a turnaround, then back (north on Leesville/Lodoga Road, (becomes Lodoga/Sites, then Maxwell/Sites), south on Danley (jog to left at canal) to Freshwater, turning left to finish on Freshwater just before old 99w). Finish is 1 1/2 miles from parking/start area. |
Course
(my notes)
|
The only comment I have is in regards to the “no bad pavement...” remark. There is a 3 or 4 mile stretch of very bad pavement that you cover in each direction, prior to the turnaround. |
Details
of Race
|
This
is likely the longest road race course for my category in the
season. In preparation I made sure I rode several long, hard
trianing rides over the previous 3 weeks.
At
the time of this race, two large brush fires are burning to the
southwest:
The 7000 acre Monticello Fire near Lake Berryessa and 
A
thick layer of dark smoke stretched across the highway as I drove
north. Luckily my race course was 40 or 50 miles north of this, so the lungs were spared.
The
geography of the region is pretty fascinating–starting in the
agrigulture-based, near-sea-level, northern central Sacramento
valley where rice, sunflowers and other vegetable crops grow, the
course climbs northwest, over some rocky wrinkles, over a
1750-foot rim, dropping into a 1300-foot plateau to the
west of the central valley. Once on this plateau, we travel south, over
extremely rough, patched asphalt before turning around and
returning via the same route.
This
year's incarnation of this race is a few miles longer than the
traditional course, which had to be altered due to new gravel on
the much-loved old course. Veteran riders of the classic course were
blasé about this version prior to our start, but I have a feeling
some have changed their opinion, even though the precious gravel
section was missing. Everyone speaks fondly of this gravel
section, but I'm guessing that it had to be omitted because
generally it takes some months for roadbase gravel to settle once
it's distributed. I've driven a newly graveled, nineteen-mile
section of highway 20 and the loose drifts of gravel were barely
negotiable by motor vehicles, let alone bikes with 25 mm tires.
We
rolled out with about 26 riders in a combined field of thirteen
m45+4, ten m35+4, one or two m45+5 and one w4 due to some low
turnout. We were all allowed to work together.
A lead vehicle took us through a 1-mile neutral lead-out. At Freshwater Rd. the race was on. The
pace was fairly relaxed, since everyone was aware that one
significant climb was coming, which summited at about mile 27 in
our 70-mile race.
In researching the preregistered riders' road race rankings, I figured that my friend Rob Easley (iRT-Reactor p/b JL Velo) was my closest competitor, but since we were combined with the m35 group, there were several unknown players to watch.
The
weather forecast indicated that the high temperature would be 100°
at 4pm. We'd be finishing before 1pm so I calculated that we'd
have mild, 90° breezes in our faces over the final 24 miles.
At
around 20 miles we passed the neutral feed zone (why they call it
a “feed zone” I'll never know, since there's only water). I
planned to take on a bottle, since I try to drink at least one per
hour. I quickly tossed my empty into the pile, but was too far to
the center of the lane to reach for a hand-up. We would pass here
on the way back, but the bulk of the race was yet to be ridden
before then. A gracious Cushman & Wakefield rider shared his bottle
with another rider and myself who missed hand-ups. I don't see his
name in the results, but “thanks!”
Shortly
after the feed zone, Rob and I led the pack up the main climb. We didn't have a plan, but we pushed the pace (because that's how we climb). We were careful
to keep our pace manageable for a handful of riders so that if we
had a gap at the summit, we'd have the potential for a successful
breakaway. It wasn't yet clear whether the real climbers were "flying their colors" so we kept studying the group. Both of us knew it would be very hard work to maintain and
build on such a gap with so many miles yet to go.
Several
miles of very rough asphalt caused each of us to skip a turn or
two in our rotation. At the turnaround one of the guys spotted a
box of neutral bottles next to the course marshal. I looped around again and grabbed one while the
other three agreed to soft-pedal until I caught back on (thanks guys).
We
rattled back through the rough stuff while we saw a chase group of
about five riders on their way to the turnaround. One was a
teammate of Don's, who seemed to be asking us to ease up and let
them catch on to help our breakaway effort. I'm not
sure if there was a vote, but the four of us continued our strong
pace, which had produced a two-minute gap since the top of the
climb.
Don
has raced the original course at least once, and was really
forthcoming and helpful in sharing his knowledge of the distances
and other details of the roads we were yet to cover. This was a
great psychological aid to me, as it helped to break the rest of
the race up into manageable chunks as the fatigue and cramping set
in. For two of the 3-1/2 hours of the race I was at threshold.
At
52 miles, we came to a small rise which coincided with a new wave
of cramping. Don was also having an issue of some sort. Rich and
Rob maintained the pace and opened a 250 meter gap. I
recovered a bit, checked to make sure Don was with me and began reeling in the other two. We were 200 meters away from
regrouping when up ahead we saw Rob hit the pavement. I could see Rich slow up to see if he
was ok, then he rolled on (it's a race after all... and he checked on Rob, so that's cool). I picked up Rob's ejected bottle as I approached, to hand over. I came came alongside to make sure he was able to ride. He
said he overlapped wheels with Rich. He had some road rash on his hip and
elbow. He got going and the three of us started chasing Rich.
For
these remaining 18 miles Rich plowed, solo, into a 10-12 mph
headwind with a 30-second gap. We only gained on him briefly with
4 miles to go. Don reassured me that Rob and I would still finish
“one, two”, since he and Rich were in the m35 group which
would be picked separately. I thought “yeah, but it would sure
be nice to catch him!”
While
Don and I didn't hesitate to mention it when we were hurting, Rob never
let on if he was fatigued. He looked solid all day. I wasn't sure if we
were going to challenge each other for the line. Over the final
kilometer I was overcome with another wave of leg cramps, so I got
out of the saddle again. This carried me to the 200m-to-go marker,
where I just kept hammering (mostly to look good for the finish
line folks).
After
a short, painful ride back to the cars at the school where the
race started, I had a shower in the school locker room before
waiting for official results. Yup, first place! What did I win?
This t-shirt.
 
No
podium photos at this event though, so I have to be satisfied with
the free watermelon they were slicing up.
And so
there's my first 1st place finish. With thirteen riders in the
category, the result is good for seven more upgrade points
(current total: 16). Of the sixteen official races I've ridden since last September, this makes nine top-ten finishes... for whatever that's worth.
|
||||
Advice
|
Don't miss the
bottle hand-ups (or stick an extra in your jersey pocket). Don't expect to stay away if you get away alone on the climb. Be
smart about easing back enough to take a few riders with you over
the top... you'll need them. In our case, four was a perfect
number. The rough pavement section is significant, but probably not long enough to worry about running wider tires at lower pressure for the whole race. I had 23 mm clinchers (110 psi front, 120 psi rear) and was glad of it for 80% of the ride. The rest of the time I was looking at Rob's 25 mm tires enviously. |
Awesome! Congratulations on your victory!
ReplyDeleteHooray!
ReplyDelete