Going fast & having fun

Written by: Carl Parker

Cantua Creek Road Race 35+ 1/2/3.  Three out-and-back laps of 23 miles each with a 2 mile gently rolling uphill finish for each lap and the final.  There were three of us from the 805 Race Team, John Echeveste, Robert Krohn, and me.  There were only five other racers so eight in total.  Cyclesports had two, Kyle and Bjorn.  Kyle is current state champion in 35-39 so we knew to watch for him. 

The start was uneventful as we rolled down into the flat valley floor.  There were a couple initial small attacks.  John countered one of them and found himself alone up the road.  The group rode modest pace after that which gave him a gap over a minute at the first turnaround.  John stayed away for the next lap and a half which is 90min of solo riding.  The group would chase hard then ease, chase hard then ease.  Slow enough at one point that I was able to drift off the back for a nature break off the bike and then chase back onto the group without much trouble.  Although Cyclesport Kyle did realize that I was off the back as I started chasing back on, and went to the front to drive the pace harder.  That’s fair. 

Mike from Thirsty Bear asked me if I would be interested in a three man break with him and a Cyclesport racer when we caught John which seemed inevitable at that point.  I said ‘ sure’ and so that was on my mind.  I let Robert know and he made an indication like he would go instead of me which also worked for me as long as 805 had someone in the next break. 

With less than 1.5 laps left, we caught John who latched onto the group.  Then there were more attacks.  Nothing too hard.  Again during one of the counters, Robert got off the front solo and they let him go.  Robert was solo for nearly a half lap when we caught him right at the top of the climb and turnaround.  Thirsty Bear Mike made a big move over Cyclesport leading the climb and I covered his move which got us away from the group.  We pressed until the turnaround and then after the 180 turn into the downhill, the Cyclesport two racers bridged to us on the downhill.  That caused the field to fracture and we only had four racers now together in the lead group.  Kyle and Bjorn from Cyclesport and Mike and me.  Very bad position for 805.  Kyle and Bjorn took turns attacking once we got to the valley floor.  I covered most with little help from Mike.  I couldn’t tell if Mike was blown or whether he was playing it smart.  I just knew we could not afford to have a solo Cyclesport get up the road which would give his teammate a free ride as Mike and I would need to bring him back or face losing.  I didn’t mind covering because I was feeling pretty good and fresh as the race was not too hard up to this point.  The attacks started to settle down and we hit the small overpass rise with the race going a bit neutral at the front.  I just got stung by a bee in the arm but I barely felt it as I was so focused on the race.  The bees were coming out in full force at that point for the almond blossoms as the weather was warming quickly from a rather cool morning.  

With now over 15 miles left to race, I was wondering if Cyclesport would continue to attack until Mike and I were dropped.  But instead, they asked to paceline.  Although I would have rather we slow rolled  to allow John and/or Robert to come back, I thought it might better than risk the race by frustrating them to the point that they begin attacking again and expose me, the last 805 racer in the front group.  So I played along and smartly, conservatively as I could rode in the four-man paceline.  It was rather brisk and served to warm up my legs but after about 10 minutes of that, Kyle attacked.  So I covered and then refused to go through.  We hit the final turnaround and my refusal to pull through started getting comments from the Cyclesport guys.  I told them that I would work if they don’t attack me.  Then started cracking jokes to Mike that the Cyclesport guys “promised” to not attack us if we worked together.  I kept yelling ‘you promised!’  That seemed to lighten the mood a bit but my pulls were still zone 2, 250-275W, so with plenty of freshness still in the legs to counter if I got attacked.  Which didn’t happen. 

We rode over I-5 on the small bump overpass with now only about 5 miles to go in the race.  We were barely riding as it was a headwind and no one wanted to be the one in front pushing into it.  It got especially slow on the climb.  Cyclesport was the one that both Mike and I were working hard to keep in the front even though we were riding around 200W or so it felt.  Two of the dropped racers bridged back to our four but in my mind they must have expended a good deal of energy and would likely not be a factor in the finale.  We crawled up the final climb into that stiff headwind.  I hate these finishes.  I can’t expose my climbing strengths with a such a strong headwind neutralizing those strengths and just gassing me for nothing at the end.  So I told myself that I am confident in my sprint and let it fly when it was time.  With about 500 meters to go, further than I expected, Kyle launched his attack.  I was first to jump, almost immediately.  I was aiming to get on his wheel to get some sort of draft to come around him right before the finish.  That was my only chance.  I just could not close down the three or so bike lengths that he opened on me.  The dark tunnel started closing in on my vision when I noticed Mike and Bjorn jump off of my wheel and pass me before the finish which resulted in a fourth for me.  I still had my second best power output for one minute at 544W and third best for 30sec at 717W so that made feel better that I was giving it my all at that point. 

I go back to what I could have done.  Instead of jumping on Kyle’s wheel, should I have waited for a reaction from someone else first to jump on their wheel?  That would almost certainly give the victory to Kyle and I was going for the win, not going for second.  The headwind made that finish so tricky for me.  Or should I have started attacking VERY hard at the base of the climbing and then use the small downhills to recover then go again and again?  That might have opened very painful gaps in the field to further exploit.  But my frame is smaller than Kyle’s.  He is a much larger racer and less impacted by the wind to me.  By getting fourth, it makes me think about other options.  Maybe I just need to be a much better sprinter.

John and Robert were both awesome teammates.  They did a great job forcing the other racers to burn matches chasing them and that set me up very well.  I wish I could have delivered the win but still appreciate them greatly for their huge effort in the race.

Same nutrition plan as always for these roughly three-hour road races.  Two 750ml bottles, each with two scoops of Neversecond.  Then, five C30 gels from Neversecond were taken every half hour, starting at 20 minutes.  Works very well for me.  Although it was so cold for this race to start, I was able to throw up a bottle right before the beginning of the last lap, which meant I was down about 20-30g of carbs, but I just couldn’t force it down.  Taking this much glucose/fructose pays big for the next day’s race, Pine Flat Road Race.  I may be able to go into a carb deficient for the race I am currently racing, but there is a huge chance I will pay the next day, so I make sure to keep feeding the machine as much as my gut will allow.