Pescadero Coastal Classic Road Race Saturday June 4, 2016

Still looking good, but losing contact on the first of three ascents of Haskins Hill
photo: Tali Herzka

Result
10th of 17 among my group of 55s

Group

Master 55+ cat 123 (17 starters), combined with the Master 45+ 123s (21 starters) Field total=38

Course

2.7 laps over a 28 mile loop in the beautiful coastal hills of San Mateo County for a total of 75 miles. Notable features are three climbs:

Stage Rd. climb #1, 1.1 miles, 259 ft. elevation gain, avg. grade 4%

State Rd. climb #2, 0.7 mi., 276 ft., avg grade 7%

Haskins Hill, 1.5 mi., 566 ft., avg. grade 7%

The first two short climbs have technical descents.

My goal

Similar to the race last weekend, I hoped to stick with the lead group, though it would prove tougher with much the same crowd that I raced with at Cat’s Hill Criterium a few weekends ago.

The Race

There's just no way to candy-coat it, I was lame today. I felt great and fit going into this race but if that was the case, I’m just nowhere near the level of my competitors. From the whistle Hunter Ziesing (cat 2, Hammer/53x11), who had been just telling me about how tough it has been fighting bronchitis, bolted otf. I think everyone thought he was just kidding around, but I think it was Hans Gouwens (cat 2, ThirstyBear p/b Akamai) who took the move seriously and jumped to join. The rest of us jammed and averaged 23 mph chasing to the base of the first climb.

The two climbs and descents of Stage Rd. helped to both reel in the early attack, and shed a dozen or so of our field out the back. I don’t count myself among the most competent, but there are a surprising number of sketchy descenders among the 123s. I found it necessary to leave a lot more room to avoid the crazy, changing lines that some were choosing. This bugged some behind me and I got yelled at for letting gaps open up more than once.

Jon Ornstil (cat 3, Hammer/53x11) will scold me again for not noting his performance today, but honestly Jon, I just had a hard time getting up to where I could see the stellar action you and Hunter were creating.

By the dip before hwy 84, there were a few splits in our small peloton and I was barely able to latch onto the tail. There was a group of 8 off the front, according to the moto ref, by 45 seconds, including seven 45s and one 55. Still recovering from the chase onto the tail of my group, I couldn’t work my way up front to help chase yet. Somehow by the base of Haskins hill, I think we came close to catching the front.

This first time up Haskins was nuts. 7:44, I’ve never cracked 8 minutes on this hill. As good as my photo above looks, I was losing contact with my group. Over the top and down the other side I caught back on. Our bunch had another big gap to suck up to the lead group. I thought about sitting in, but thought about how I yelled at other riders on the same course last year when I was frustrated that our group then was in a similar spot, so chose to work, trading 1 minute pulls with a Thirsty Bear rider. There were about seven more passengers, but I hoped some of them would get to work when they recovered and remember my effort (Pollyanna huh?). What an idiot! The moto ref gave us another time check: “One forty! One four zero!). I cracked. I waved the guy behind up to let him know I was dropping the wheel ahead. The pace I had been keeping was about 27 mph and I couldn’t latch onto my grupetto. Here’s where my “$50 weekend training ride” began. There are a couple other factors that went into deciding to work so hard here but it’s kind of political and I can’t go into it, but let’s just say the effort was an “investment”.

There was no glory in the remaining 47 miles, but I did work with a few small groups of riders, that included Greg Spanier (cat 2, Team STAND/City Cycle) and Brian McAndrews (cat 2, ThirstyBear p/b Akamai). Brian and I were still hoping to pick up a few Premier Series points, so hoping at least that not too many 55s were up ahead.

Up Haskins again for the Third and final time I just set my mind on not allowing any from my race to catch me. No danger there, and I crossed the line shortly for 10th. Not the proud bunch finish I was looking for.

Takeaways

If I could have avoided cooking myself on the earlier chase, I could have sat in and waited for the final rush up Haskins, plain and simple. I knew it at the time, but I don't have the benefit of racing with actual teammates this season, and I have to build alliances, so had to sacrifice a bit.

On the positive side, by hanging in there, I collected six more points in the NCNCA Premier Series where I'm in seventh place (scroll down to the 55+ 123 group). The tough thing is that the six ahead of me keep showing up and riding stronger, so it's tough to move ahead. But I'll keep trying.