Three Village Tour Road Race - 9-19-08
Course 5 10 mile loops
~25 riders
8th Brian Campbell, Jay Robbins
Course:
1 mile flat start followed by a few miles of climbing then was mostly flat/rolling down hills for the remaining except for one steep grade hill in the middle (very similar to Sterling).
We shot off the start line with a huge sprit lead by Team Exidous (it feel like the Hulk ride at Universal Studios Orlando.) Even by the first set hills, riders where still cutting around, starting mini sprints, making it very squirrely. At the end of the climbs, the three lead riders were so focused on hammering they past over 4 large painted red arrows, the marshal on the side, and the large words ‘Turn Right’ painted on the road. This caused confusion and a slow down which was perfect since I was still catching my breath from the start and was feeling sick as my body was getting readjusted to racing. (I have not felt like myself since the long vacation I went between now and Tokeneke. Of course the pound of greasy French fries I ate the night before did not seem to help either.) By the last ¼ of the first lap, the field settled down and I was able to recover but I still did not have my normal zip on the hills.
It was an interesting mix of riders. Most were good climbers but there were a bunch of large riders with really good motors who could crank out 30+ on the flats but had nothing on the hills. These riders had the habit of getting in the way on climbs making the field very squirrely. In fact, I did not feel comfortable for the first two laps and had to be very cautious. People warned me about the hill half way through the course, which was really steep at the start and then had a long stretch at the top where the grade eased. (It was very similar to the eastbound hill on 255 just before entering Carilse center but much longer and steeper). The hill was long enough to stop a spirit attack but not long enough for climbers to get in a rhythm. So there was no advantage to either type of rider.
On the second lap, some of the large riders worked their way to the front section just before the middle climb and spread out across the entire road. I was asleep mentally and did not notice until it was too late. They blocked a bunch of us and a group of 8 riders broke off. Jay, I, and 10 other riders had to chase for the next 4 miles to pull them back, expending a lot of energy. But, I learned an important lesson, be at the front for this climb. Also a single rider had broken off the front and was soloing.
On the third lap, I positioned myself in the top 5 for the middle climb and had no problems. However I think the same thing happened again b/c several riders were not with the group as we crested.
By the start of the 4th lap, I felt much better, my body had finally adjusted to racing, my climbing rhythm was back, and I was not having any difficulty staying with the group. Unfortunately, Jay had gotten caught behind the slow climbers again and was not able to catch back on.
At the start of the 5th lap, two strong riders picked up the pace slightly on the first set of climbs. I was temped to go with them but I thought I might not last for the entire lap so I stayed with the pack figuring we would catch them on the downhill section. We could also see the soloing rider ahead. As the group started the decent section, we slowed down. It did not seem like blocking because everyone was doing it, even teams without anyone in the break. This allowed the three lead riders to get away and we did not get organized until about 4 miles to go. On the last stretch, several mini sprints were started and I stayed in the top 5 so I could jump on any major break away. However, since there were several strong riders in the group everything was brought back. We also never saw the first three riders so we were racing for 4th. With about 150 meters to go we started to sprint. I held up slightly to let a couple of Team Exidous riders go
by so I could use their pull. I was going pretty hard and just mistimed my finish. With 5 more meters I could have gotten 6th. But it was an exciting finish with about 1 meter separating places 6-10.
All in all not too bad, but I did learn one thing. Go on vacation after the racing season!