Tapering off on my training this last week really paid off, and I had plenty of energy for the climbs and occasional rapid accelerations of the peleton. In spite of this more careful approach to race day prep including going to bed early, I had race day butterflies and lost 2 hours of sleep in the night. None of that seemed to matter much after the neutral zone climb past Song Mountain resort and onto the real race start, Otisco Valley Rd.
Once again, I was supremely focused and quite a bit nervous about riding in such a tightly packed bunch for the first 15 miles until the Amber Rd. climb, which separated the riders out for the first time. I was involved with a little bit of inadvertent jostling, when a fellow racer's handlebars hit my sides on a few occasions. That certainly did nothing to ease my anxiety, but halfway up the first Amber Rd. climb, the pack was a bit more separated and I could concentrate more on positioning myself best to respond to short climbs and accelerations.
The first Amber climb had me struggling to catch the back wheel of fellow riders on a few occasions, but I remembered some really helpful advice from a fellow Cookie about how if you are suffering, you can be pretty much guaranteed that others are suffering equally, so as long as you can push ahead and grab that wheel, things would surely settle down before too long. This suggestion proved to be true time after time, and I was elated to be still in the lead group leading up to the short but insanely steep Hunt Rd. climb, a.k.a. THE WALL.
There's a temporary reprieve after the wall, followed by a second short steep climb, and I attacked the wall too aggressively, which meant that I spent the next mile or two chasing to get back in the group. Sure enough, after catching the group, it was fairly easy going up to the second Song Mountain climb. At this point in my ride I ramped up my consumption of weird bike nutrition. All in all, I had three gels and a power bar, along with my two bottle of 60% water and 40% gatorade. This was just the right amount of fuel for this race.
My average speed for the first lap was 21.5 mph, and the second lap was quite a bit faster, at least until just after the wall. On the second lap, I felt about 10% stronger, and it really helped that the pack spread out substantially. I was able to match each and every acceleration and climb, including the wall.
With about 12 miles to go, I started cramping up in my calves, something that almost never happens to me. Also, my lower back was starting to hurt, so standing gave me a temporary reprieve, and I had enough fuel left to do quite a bit of standing as we approached the third Song Mountain hillclimb. With about 7 miles to go, I joined the leading 5 riders for a paceline that lasted about 3 miles until once again, the group reassembled.
I had to dig really deep for the final ascent, and this is where I dropped back a little bit. I just didn't have what it took to keep up with the leaders, though it wasn't devastating. When I think about the fact that I finished somewhere between 45 and 46 seconds behind the race winner (20th place out of about 60 in my 45+ Masters category, and most likely in the top third of the 35+ Masters category), I have no complaints about my performance, especially considering that this is my second race ever. Now I'm waiting not so patiently for the final results, so I can compare my stats with all other riders who did 55 miles. Should be interesting.
Finally, one more shout out to Ernie Bayles, who really helped me out with pacing and some priceless advise afterwards about waiting until the last mile to make your move, not to mention his encouragement throughout.
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