Not to be discouraged with the less than amicable weather conditions, Ben and I laid tracks for the first road race of the season on the WCA calendar. Ben comes into the event weighing a fairly stealth 160# or so, 18 less than Tucson, so I was excited to see what he could do. About an hour to post time, there were 5 competitors signed up so we weren’t even sure if there was going to be a race. The field must have been sitting down the road watching to see who all was going to show before actually pulling in the lot to pay for an entry to experience the windy torture it was bound to be. At least the rain stopped and the wind dried out the course before we got rolling.
About 25 hardy souls shivered at the line getting instructions just wishing we could get some self-generated heat going. We were off and for once, it was nice to see Fleck of Mack not take a flyer after going 40 yards and making the first turn. The first hill looms a short 3 miles or so into the first lap so everyone was being fairly patient. I pick a spot on the right trying not to get trapped by professed non-climbers of the group and work my way to the front. It’s moderate, but not too hard of a pace. We crest the top, do another series of up’s and down’s where Halverson attacks on a big downhill and we eventually reel him back in. Somewhere between the hill and the catch, I roll to the back to assess who’s breathing hard. I don’t have to go back but about 10 riders where I find Keith K. patrolling and I inquire if there was a crash or something because the rest of the field was gone, including Ben who cracked on the climb and wondered exactly who’s legs he’d brought that day.
So there you have it….11 riders off the front ready to do battle. I was outnumbered and tried to be smart about my effort not having two very memorable past events. Brian Hertzberg made a short lived attack on the second lap but the wind was a formidable opponent to anyone’s aspirations of going away solo. After we rounded through the start/finish of lap 2, Gordy went off the front as I was leading the pack and everyone seemed content to let him go. I realized I was outnumbered and I wasn’t burning matches to bridge back teams with 2 racers in the group only to have them attack. I could only hope they wanted to work together to bring him back. Up the hill we went again with me leading the charge. Eventually the decisive move was made by Halvy to bridge up to Gordy and I should have tagged that move with certainty knowing I had the gas to ride along. If the field went in tow, so be it, but it was a bad decision not to follow. It seemed some were saving legs or just were not feeling it so help keeping the pace up was sparce. The duo engaged in what good time trialers do and that is slowly ride off over the horizon and it didn’t take long to realize we were racing for 3rd. Dang it. The unfortunate thing was Downs, Koechell and some other ISCorp rider were in the field not at all obligated to do much work which is why missing the move by Halvy was stupid on my part. It was energy conservation time waiting for the final sprint to see what I had left in the tank. On the lead in to the last 1000 meters, I found myself blocked by John Van along the side of the road which was a rookie mistake. I contemplated a crazy, unsuspecting move off the shoulder thinking nobody would could possibly attempt it, but I thought better of it being on my freshly built SL2. It was safer to play my cards in the sprint rather than going down in the ditch. Ryan F. finally got out of the saddle and we’re all reaching for gears. My legs are not great though and rather than taking an aggressive move behind Downs, I try to sprint it out on the right side of the road instead. I have nothing though and can only manage a 7th. However, that’s a 7th amongst some top riders, all of arguably higher caliber than myself. It’s good to be back feeling good in a race though and hats off to Ryan for a great race. I hope it was an anomoly and I don’t have to battle with him in future outings.
As I was racking the bike after the race, I noticed a suspect crack in my Zipp 303 rear and it’s going to need further evaluation to determine if there’s an integrity issue. I believe there is but I’ve not once gone down on these and they only come out for race days so I have no idea where this might have happened. Hopefully Zipp has a good warranty program.