Travis' report: Guys I don't think I've been so cold on any of my winter rides! It was just a cold wet day. The race was a cool route and they had more support cars than any other race I can think of but it was just cold & wet. And cold. We were all eating road salt & brine shrimp from the causeway so I don't think there was any chance of cramping up.We were supposed to go around the loop 3 times and then out to the ranch & back to the finish. My first time around the loop one of the volunteers told us to turn right too the ranch so I thought that was part of the loop. by the time I made it around the loop and to the ranch the second time I had about 48 miles so I was screwed. I ended up riding alone most of the way for a total of 61 miles. I got home, warmed up, and took a nap for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe next year will be better. :)
Higgins & Liam did much better. Liam got a late start but got a chance to race with the Cat3's for a while. Higgins kept up pretty well on the loops before heading out to the ranch. I'll let them give the rest of their report.
Here's Higgins kicking some butt in the rain: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/203010471
Here's me on my solo tour of the island: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/203010597
Liam's Report: The Antelope Island race was one of the most miserable sports related event that I have ever participated in. You missed nothing if you didn't go. I thought the route was interesting and deceptively hard, but it was organized poorly. The sand and salt in the road was really nasty, there were an unusually high number of flats during the race. The lap system around the island caused a great amount of confusion. I think the weather conditions were actually on the brink of being dangerous to the well-being of the riders, if it had been much colder I could have been in a lot of trouble.
Stephen's report: Cold, wet and miserable, and that was the good part. Liam later suggested that a kick in the nuts would have been a fair trade, but at least that wouldn't have lasted 2 hours. :-) The warmup ride across the causeway was too slow to warm up properly, I should have just ridden off the front and at least stayed warm, lesson learned. As it was I was soaked and shivering within 3 minutes, and I just got colder until we reached the island. It was hard to shift and brake because my hands were so cold, and my rims were so wet. The downhill curves by the beach were treacherous and scary. The race organization was terrible, with someone erroneously telling Liam he couldn't race the causeway to catch his pack, when I did exactly the same thing 10 seconds later (but I was out of touch with Liam by then). Plus someone telling Travis to turn too early.
However, we likely could have avoided the race confusion by getting there early enough to sit (and soak and freeze) in the pack before the start, assuming they gave instructions on the route. We arrived about 30 minutes before the start, but with the long walk to registration and gearing up in the rain, that wasn't enough time. We left the new IHC hospital at 7:00 and got to the race at 7:50 for a start time of 8:25, we really should have started 1/2 hour earlier. Again, lesson learned. As for the race itself, I managed almost 2 of the 3 loops before I was dropped by the lead pack on the rollers. A couple guys caught me after that, one of whom faded after another 20 miles, and the other I rode with (see photo) and beat me up the final hill. I'd love to see the results but they don't have Cat 5 posted on the UCA site.
