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April 23, 2005
2005 Durand Road Race
This morning I headed east to Durand, Wi to participate in the Durand Road Race. Durand is about 40 mile south west of Eau Claire, Wi in the middle of no where. The town sits on the Chippewa River and the landscape surround Durand is beautiful.
The conditions today were pretty gnarly with 30 mph winds from the north and the air temperature hovering around 45. At least the sun was out so it felt a bit warmer when the wind was not blowing across your face.
I rode the Cat 5 race - 27 miles, two laps around a 13.5 mile course. The course consisted of almost all rolling hills with a few steep, but short climbs thrown in to wear the legs down.
The field today for Cat 5's was 50 riders. I ran into a few riders that I raced with on Tuesday at Opus. As we awaited our start time there was this guy next to me doing his first bike race. He bragged about how great he was at century rides so he hired a coach and came out to try his hand at racing. I think he got a rude awakening. As we started, he was all over the road because he could not hold his line in the wind. I never saw him after the first mile or so.
The race started out a bit slow. I was stuck near the back of the pack and was concerned about getting up front so I would not miss the break. About mile 4 or so a break of 12 - 15 guys happened. I was able to hold on and stay with the break. Many of the riders really did not have a clue on how to ride a pace line with a cross wind. This left me struggling against the wind more than I wanted.
A mile or so after the break, a couple of riders took off up front. They never got too far ahead, maybe 30 - 45 seconds. I ended up settling behind a tall rider which let me get out of the wind. As we turned onto the back side of the course, the hills got more frequent and steeper. I found myself coasting down one hill out in front, but I sat up and came back to the pack.
A rotation on the front got into a groove and I never had to take a turn. Then all of the sudden the tall rider moved to his left, rubbed a tire and went down on my left side taking another rider with him. The crash happened right next to me (a bit nerve racking) but I luckily did not get tangled up. The break regrouped quickly and got back to work.
Our plan was to try and catch the riders out front just before we got to the start/finish line and started the second lap. The guys pulling started to slow down, so I just got into my aero position and turned up the pace a bit. I pulled until we caught the rider up ahead and the break slowed a bit which allowed me to catch my breath. I actually rolled across the start/finish line in second as there was still one more rider out in front.
As soon as we turned onto the front side of the loop and got just about over the first hill, a Flanders rider attacked. This is the same guy who beat me to the line in our back of the pack duel during the open race on Tuesday night. I stood and pounded my pedals until I got on his wheel. A couple of other riders made it as well. There were now 6 of us with one rider off the front.
As we came down a hill just before a short and steep leg burner, I jumped with one rider to bridge the gap to the lead guy. I had assumed everyone would have come with me, but just one guy did. As we caught the lead rider, we all decided to work together. The pace moved up and my lungs really started to burn. I should have sat back and made the other two guys pull more, but I didn't.
As we turned onto the back of the course, the first few hills really took it out of my legs. As we crested the top of the second climb, two riders blew past us. The other two guys could react, but I just did not have it in me. They never got more than 30 seconds ahead, but I was out there on my own with no else to work with in the heavy winds.
I was able to hold my position 6th right up until the finish when the Flanders guy passed me. I jumped on his wheel and gritted my teath. Half-way up the final climb to the finish, I put it all out there and came around him for 6th place.
All in all I was psyched. I had ridden a good race, made the right breaks and had enough will power to sprint through the finish. I wish I could have been a bit stronger because I think our break of 3 could have stayed away. Either way I am psyched with my placing.
Posted by kermisch at April 23, 2005 4:16 PM