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July 20, 2008
Tour of Granite Country
This past weekend I race a stage race called the Tour of Granite Country held in Albany, MN. It was comprised of a time trial, a circuit race, and a road race spread over two days. For the Master's 35+ 3/4 category Bob Rolle, Tim Lewis, and I were the Loon's racing. First up was the 7.2 mile TT. When I was driving up to Albany Saturday morning it started to rain. By the time I pulled into the registration area it was raining pretty hard and was just 62 degrees. Luckily for me the race was delay for about an hour and by the time I rolled off the rain had stopped. I did not have a chance warm up and pretty much rolled up the start line and it was my turn. I had my clip-on extension on the Cervelo. This past week I pushed my cleats all the way back on my shoes and found that I could get a smoother pedal stroke. An added benefit as I did not have to sit on the nose of my seat in my TT position either.
I rolled off into a head wind and my goal was to hit the hills really hard and recover on the flat, downhill sections. I gained on my 30 second man, but as we went through the turn around, the strong tail wind may it hard to catch him. I could feel my stomach starting to cramp from the effort, but pushed hard through the line. I stopped the clock at 17:24. I averaged 304 watts for the effort, but only like 24+ mph. Rolle and I did a good long cool down and then it was off to the car to change. Tim, his girlfriend, Bob and I headed into Albany for lunch and to get out of the rain.
After lunch we had about hour and half to the circuit race. I camped out in the car and quickly fell asleep. A quick rap on the window from Bob woke me up and I had 45 minutes until the race start. After getting ready, Bob and I went and rode the 5.5 mile circuit in reverse to get a sense of the course. There would be a strong head wind along the finishing straight and and back side of the course. Then there was about 2 to 2.5 miles with a strong tailwind bringing you back to the finishing straight. On the first time down the tailwind section on the first lap a GP rider jumped about 500m from the right had turn onto the finishing straight. I dug hard to catch his wheel and we were off. We worked well together going up to the start/finish line. Every time across the line we could earn time bonuses. Knowing I needed to keep him motivated to help work with me so I let him go across the line first. He started to sit up after the line and after a quick chat we went for it. We hammered on the back side into the head wind and opened up a huge gap. We stayed out front the whole time and on the last lap I started to suffer big time. The GP guy was stronger and doing more of the work, but he wanted me there as long as possible. As we were about 500m from turning out of the head wind and into the tail wind I slipped off of his wheel. Mentally I was spent and could just not get it together. When I popped we had about 30s on the group. I made it over the small hill and just could not find any power. As the group caught me I worked my way in pretty well and again was on the front. I covered a few attacks on the tail wind section and as soon as we made the turn onto the final stretch the whole pace turned up.
I was going as strong as I could but suffering like a dog. I ran myself off the road, my eyes were crossed and ended up losing the wheels of the main group and rolled into the finish about 15 seconds back, giving up a 1/3 of what I gained in time bonus'. I was pretty pissed at myself for popping and I should have been able to hold on to the break and take second. On the way home my back and legs were feeling pretty crappy. Throughout the night my body was just sore and tired. I got a decent night's sleep, but was still pretty pissed off. Yeah, I was in a break all day and worked my ass off and helped the GP guy take the overall and the win, but I wanted more.
I was motivated going into the road race but very unsure of how my body would respond. We knew with GP in the overall and having the biggest team presence that they would be attacking all day. Silver, Loon, and The RVCC guys all agreed to work together. We rolled out pretty easy with clouds overhead, 65 degree air and no wind. It was ideal conditions. We were doing 2 laps for a total of 52 miles. There was one decisive climb and a series of rollers on the 13 mile drag into town that would bring many attacks. There were time bonus' the first time up the big hill and then again at the finish. GP made several strong attacks leading into the major hill, but nothing stuck. My goal was to gain at least the 15s time bonus up the hill, which I was able to do. Just after we crested we tried to get a break going, but we quickly got back. As we turned onto the back side of the course where the rollers really started, every time the road turned up there was an attack. About 3 miles from the start/finish line on the first lap a GP guy got off the front solo and we were content to let him hang out there. The first lap actually felt slow, but as we turned onto the second lap things started to heat up.
I had been doing my share of work, but nothing to crazy. As we started the second lap I could tell that my right lower back was starting to cramp. I started spinning a lot more and stopped using larger gears. Due to the GP guy off the front there were not as many attacks, but the pace was high. As we came into the decisive hill again, I moved to the front and kept my legs spinning at about 120 rpm. I led the group over the first section of the hill and as we turned left up the steep part, I was able to ease a bit and work myself back into the group. We cruised down the hill and as soon as we turned that attacks came again. This time they were hard and long attacks, forcing everyone to react. Bob went off after the first attack and brought a strong reaction. Then the oddest thing happened, the GP guy in the overall lead attacked hard. RVCC started to pull him back on the decent.
I could tell the GP guy was slowing and hurting a bit, so I moved to the front and rolled by the RVCC guy and said let's go and make him hurt, so we went. We went hard and dropped the GP guy and put a good split in the field. At first there were four or five of us and slowly grew in size. Soon our group looked to be back together, but we did not realize that the GP guy was still off the back. As he rejoined the group, GP moved to the front and slowed everything down.
We all stayed together for the next few miles as we turned onto the finish road. I was sitting up front and felt good to go for the win. About 1.3K from the line a GS guy went and I hopped onto to his wheel, knowing he would sit up, but I was hoping his effort would drive a bit of a split. My goal was to not get boxed in. Another guy went and I followed again, and then we saw the leader from GP go and we went again. Another GP guy was pulling away and I shifted down and went for it. I dragged myself to the line for second place, but had to do another bike throw to ensure I got it. I took 2nd and another 15s for a total of 30s on the day. I moved up into 7th place overall.
In the end I had a great weekend of racing. Bob and Tim were a blast to race with and I can't wait to race some more with them. I got to experience how my body would react to multiple races in a short period and I rode aggressively. Now a bit of rest and back to training.
Posted by kermisch at July 20, 2008 8:01 PM