Going fast & having fun

Written by: Carl Parker

We had about 17 total in the race.  The 805 Race Team had John Echeveste, Robert Krohn, and myself representing.  Robert was saying his fitness is not where he wanted it.  Even still, it is  such a big boost for John and me that Robert chose to pin a number on and we were glad he was there.  John wasn’t feeling great leading up to the race.  Still, the three of us agreed that John and I would cover the moves from SRCT which was the other team with multiple racers and a very strong team that has animated past races.  The weather was dreary and rather cold with rain threatening.

The race rolls neutral down the 0.3 finishing hill onto the first of five laps of a 14 mile loop with undulating terrain along with one 4min power climb.  The attacks started right away and John was covering the first move by SRCT.  About four miles in and right before the first attempt on the climb, I covered the next move and we had five together at the top of climb driving successfully away from the main field at least for a bit.  We covered the next 5 miles in just over 3min with the help of a slight downhill and really strong tailwind.  But with that tailwind along with the poor road quality, we could not keep enough cohesiveness despite everyone trying to work together and stay away. The main field caught us right before we turned into the headwind heading back southward.  

There were some counters when finally two riders got away without an 805 or SRCT racer.  What was left of the mainfield, about 10 racers, started pacelining and kept the lead to 45sec and visible in the straighter sections of road.  That held for about a lap when SRCT’s strongest racer, Rudy, broke away solo.  I chased but did not make it to him right away noticing I had a few competitors joining my chase.  One did bridge to me and we held about a 10sec gap to Rudy until it was clear that the main group was coming back to us.  I thought it would then be all of us against Rudy and he might then just burn matches in no man’s land.  That was the situation leading into the third lap when another SRCT teammate broke away and John covered but just could not hang on.  The SRCT teammates now together with two further up the road and I am thinking that it is now a race for fifth as no other competitor will work with John and me left in the main field.  It was now our break to chase down.  

But they did work with us and although the group was less cohesive and strong.  John was thinking that first lap was so strong that everyone was really starting to suffer.  The weather also turned colder, dipping into the mid-40s, and it started to rain.  I could feel my legs getting particularly cold since I did not have any leg or knee warmers like the other racers.  Also, I could feel my legs wanting to cramp from the cold.  Never experienced that sensation from the cold.  Still we had our work cut out to desperately try to catch the four racers up the road and continue to push the pace of the main group.  This next time we hit the climb, I was thinking I could possibly bury myself to bridge the 45sec to the group of four.  I could see them and was not sure if it was four or two groups of two.  Any chance I might have would come to me if it were four together because SRCT would never let me join them to the front.  After some miscommunication thinking it was two groups of two, when in fact it was a group of four, it was too late.  That climb is not long enough to hesitate and I hesitated.  Back again to thinking it was a race for fifth.    

We finished out the third lap and then John attacked and got away solo.  That gave me a free ride for over half a lap and allowed me to really gauge where the other racers were.  It seemed there was a lot of suffering but still really strong racers in the group of what was now eight racers.  John was caught eventually but it did give me a bit of a recovery which was a huge help for me later in the race.

We were halfway through the fourth lap on the ripping slight downhill, tailwind section when we noticed two racers floating out ahead of us.  We pushed forward and caught them to find out it was two from the front group with one of them being a SRCT racer, Matt, coming back to us.  I have raced against Matt in the past and he is very strong.  So although it was refreshing to know that third was again a viable option, we still had strong racers, including Matt, to contend with in the main field.  Right after finishing the fourth lap with one to go.  The other SRCT racer with a larger TT type build broke away solo with no one joining him.  I thought that was weird of us since it seemed like a legit threat but I also thought he may not stay away and I did not want to burn what matches I had left in case Matt, his teammate, was saving himself and would counter my counterattack.  So we pushed through the last climb with me leading it out starting to feel less of the cold and starting to feel my legs coming back to life a bit.  John flatted and he was suddenly out of the race.  We were down to about seven of us.  Some working, some wanting to work, some just hanging.  

We kept the solo racer in no man’s land mostly in sight and coming down the last time on the backstretch and I rotated to the front and got a little gap without much effort.  I pushed a little harder and noticed the gap stretch out a bit.  Then harder and noticed no one was chasing.  That was the moment as simple as that.  I went full gas with what I had left.  I was six miles from the finish and I had to first bridge to the solo racer.  I did so in about 2-3 miles and after getting a quick breather on his wheel, I pushed to the front and encouraged him that we had third if we worked together.  He gave one or two pulls but was really struggling then told me he is toast.  So with about 3 miles to go (I thought it was only 2 miles at the time), I pushed on solo with the main group within sight but the gap seemed to be about 20 sec.  They disappeared on some of the turns but I just kept the legs pushing as hard as I could will them.  I threw one bottle that was still full knowing I had that 0.3 mile climb to the finish to go and that would be where they would catch me or I would ride away to secure third place and the last podium spot.  Right before that last turn, I could see one solo rider trying to bridge and another glance behind me appeared to show him gaining.  What was once a 20 sec lead seemed only like a 10-15sec advantage at that point.

I hit that last right hand turn with the spectators cheering and a few cheered my name.  I would take any motivation at that point as my legs were on fire.  I stood to mash the pedals and get as much momentum as I could without looking up at anyone or anything as I rolled into the steepest section of the finishing climb.  I maintained over 350W for that 1min40s on that climb which everything I had left because that solo racer was Matt from SRCT and he was still gaining, maybe only 5sec or less away now.  The steep section gives way to a slight downhill flattish section, Matt was only 15 meters from me at that point, but that flattish section let me find my legs a bit as I wound up my ‘sprint’ to the line and that proved to be just enough as Matt never quite made it to my wheel.  So very close.  I was so relieved to roll across the line in third.  And it turned out that for the victory Ronnie pipped Rudy of SRCT at the line.  It sounded like they had quite a race up front.  

Although we always race for victory, the third place was very encouraging for me personally.  My first road race since I crashed out of Pescadero RR seven months prior and even more importantly, my first road race back with teammates in 21 months and John was a great teammate who really made this a great team result.  What a great way for the 805 Race Team to start the 2025 season.