Grinding it all the way to the finish
Saturday I went down to Henderson, MN for the Sibley Road Race. This is one of my favorite courses as the hill makes the course tough, but the winds are what can define the course. When I woke up, the temps outside were just 34 degrees… This was kinda crazy considering it is May and the temps should be much higher. There was actually frost/snow on the ground in areas. The forecast was for dry, but cold weather with light winds. In actuality it was semi-dry with moderate to strong winds at times. On the second 3rd and 4th lap of the race we got a nice 5 minute shower of stinging hail.
The weather kept the fields small for everyone and for the Cat 3’s it was just 17 of us. The usual suspects were there and the field was comprised of the stronger racers. For LSC is was just Jeff and I. My strategy for the race was to cover breaks and keep out of the wind as much as possible. With a week off of racing, I was not sure how the legs would respond. They felt a bit dead and simply lacked some snap. My hope was that the hill would be a nice tempo pace up and that the harder racing would be fighting for wheels in the wind. At 72 miles, the distance was definitely at the top end of my training.
I knew that Jordan, Keith, Garrett and the Synergy guy would be ones to watch. Interestingly enough Garrett and the Synergy guy spent a lot of time in the wind making small attacks here and there. Nothing got away and whenever things did start to get away the breakaway never worked together. I came to the front a few times trying to just keep the pace high and thin our small field of 17 down to 5 or 6, but we always came back together. I never really felt like guys were consistently pulling through. So I simply followed wheels.
As we came through the 3rd lap into the fourth I was a bit nervous as I was not feeling great. I was cramping a bit and still lacking energy. Making it over the hill for the 4th time with one more to go, I definitely gained some confidence. A few moves were tried but again to no avail as we toped the hill and entered in the strongest winds on the course. Once we started to loop around on the back side, the winds were at our backs for the most part and the pace was much higher, but easy to ride through. In the final stretch I expected a few more attempts at a breakaway, but nothing really formed and it was going to come down to the final hill. I knew there were a few guys that had done very little work and might still be fresh, but I also felt that I had the will to win the race.
As we got on the climb a few small attacks went, but I kept my head and let the group pull me back up. As we came the 1/2K to mark, I was close to the point I was willing to go for it on my own. About 30m before that, Jordan jumped. I had stayed on the outside so I would not be blocked in and went with Jordan as well. Keith was right on Jordan’s wheel and I was trying to bridge up. I was definitely at my limit. As I tried to down shift, I simply could not get my thumb to push down on the shifter to get into a harder gear. I had no idea if someone was right on my wheel or not, so I just kept digging and digging. I was a good 6 seconds back on Jordan and Keith, but rolled in solo with about the same time between me and the 4th place rider.
While the race was not as hard or exciting as Ken Woods, I took my first podium spot with a 3rd place finish. I felt good that kept my mind about me and was able to fight my body to get to the finish line. More fitness is under the belt now and I am looking forward to the Birchwood Road Race in a few weeks.
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