Sanpete Road Race 2009

I started off by riding up to the ride with Higgins and Brent which is much more entertaining than driving it alone. We got a little frustrated with how slow the packet pick up line was moving. They finally just started handing out the numbers to everyone which was super nice. I was a little worried because I was still carrying 4 extra pounds from my vacation and had been sick during the week and I could still feel some junk in my lungs and was coughing every once in a while.

The race got off to a bang, literally! They shot off a canon, which sent the heart rate of John Ward up by 40 beats per minute. The pace was fast from the start. At about mile 9 or 10 we started climbing a little and Dwayne decided it would be nice to split the peloton, so he hit the climb hard. We lost John, Higgins, and Travis and about 20 other cat. 5's as they were spit out the back. I slipped to the back of the remaining peloton and was on the verge of becoming a casualty myself. I even saw Adam slide back a lot which surprised me.

The remaining peloton regrouped and we started trying to implement our team tactics. On a few occasions we grouped up front and tried to let Adam go. The peloton kept chasing him down. Liam, Brent, and I also tried but the peloton wouldn't let us go. It felt great to go to the front as a team and then block for another team mate and draft off of the chasers. Mentally I felt like we belonged at the front. I didn't feel like a small fish in a big pond anymore, I felt like a team of sharks in a small pond. At mile 40 we caught the cat. 4's who had started 5 minutes ahead of us. That really felt great.

We hit the water stop with the cat. 4 group and it was kind of a mess. I knew it was going to be a mess so I sprinted up the road to be get my water bottle first. I then slowed down to wait for my group. Alot of cat 4's came flying by with one cat 5 in their group. We regrouped with all the cat 4's in front of us now and the cat 5's behind. We knew that 1 cat 5 was in the cat 4 group and he rode the rest of the way with them and won the cat 5's.

Shortly after the water stop when we were regrouping I heard the sound of a flat tire and looked over and it was Liam. He was bummed. He only needed a couple of points to take over 1 place in the cat. 5 points standing. The thought crossed my mind that if he had the same pedals I could just trade bikes with him. It never crossed my mind until after the race when he brought up that we could have traded wheels with him. Sorry Liam!

Shortly after some other guy went off the front and the leaders in the peloton said to let him go alone. Another guy chased him down and that put two guys out front. After they got a small lead, another guy tried to bridge the gap and Brent got on his wheel along with two other guys which made a chase group of 4 or 5. They chased for a couple of miles and finally absorbed them. They now had 5 or 6 guys working together and had a good lead on the peloton of about 200 yards or so. They lead for about 5 miles. They had a reasonable chance of going all the way because of the mix in the break away many of the fast guys in the peloton weren't going to chase them down. Unfortunately they hit a bad section of road which made it impossible to rotate and they were caught by the peloton.

At about mile 60 I was hanging out at the back of the peloton and feeling pretty tired. I tried to stand up at one point and I felt a twinge of a cramp go through my leg. I quickly sat back down. I knew that I was in trouble at that point. Every time I tried to pedal hard I could feel twinges of cramps. With 3 miles to go at mile 64 we went up a little grade and I couldn't put enough pressure on the pedals to stay with the peloton and was dropped. I was easily with in reach of them if I could put any real pressure on the pedals. For the next two miles I dangled off the back by 50 to 100 yards with the fear that I was going to have an all out cramp attack.

Then I could see the peloton slow down because the cat. 4 peloton was only 30 seconds in front of them. I rejoined the peloton with 1k to go and then the sprint started. I knew that if I stood up that I would immediately cramp, so I just paced myself in easy with Dwayne, who wasn't even trying at this point.

We finished 67 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes. That is 24.35 miles an hour. Wow! We beat the cat. 4's best time by about 5 minutes and the peloton slowed up for them on a few occasions.

Liam came across about 10 minutes later, which is amazing considering he had to fix a flat and probably didn't have many riders to draft off of. John, Higgins, and Travis came in about 10 minutes behind Liam. They averaged about 22 miles an hour which is also very good.

Racing rule 1: Don't do anymore work than you need to.

Thanx to Zazoosh at the Tour de Park City we can enhance our education of this rule by reviewing some action shots.

Here we see Adam dragging the whole Cat 5 group:


Here's Rogers dragging his own group back to the front of Cat 5:


Here's Dean...dragging a Cat 3 group along...


Ok...did anyone listen to this rule so well explained by Coach Nate at Hakenya?

Ah, here's the star pupil - Good job Mason! Let the others suffer!


You know I kid. I almost wish I took part in this suffer fest with you. Maybe next year. Nice job to all of you, you look good out there. Here are a few more nice shots:

Adam
Rogers
Brent
Higgins
Mason
Dean

Heroes rule the day at the Tour de Park City

The Tour de Park City is quickly becoming a premier distance road race in Utah. It has a few advantages over Legendary races like Lotoja. For one, it is a circular course so the need for your own sag support, hotel room, and traveling is diminished. The rest stops were awesome this year. They were well placed and efficient this year. The course also has a lot more climbing than Lotoja which makes it better(and more painful) for splitting up the peloton.

I signed up in the Cat. 5's. I felt really intimidated because they combined the Cat. 5's with the 4's. It was by far the biggest group I have ever ridden with. There must have been 100 in the combined group. It was nice to see other BCC members in the group. I saw Mason, Higgins, Freddie, Adam, and Brent.

Our group started off at a fast pace. I positioned myself at the back and I could see on occasion that Adam and Brent were near the front. With the lingering painful memory of last years Tour on my mind I made a concerted effort to drink and eat plenty to postpone the "Bonk" as long as possible. With all the fluid intake I needed to pee badly, but at the same time I didn't want to lose the peloton. Right at the point that I couldn't take it anymore the whole peloton stopped in unison and took a nature break just like the Tour de France. Then at the first water stop no one attacked this year. Everyone slowed down, got their water, and regrouped with out too many problems. The pace was faster than last year and going up Chalk Creek we started to shed some riders from our group. There were a few times when my heart rate got a little high on some of the steeper sections of that canyon. The 50 mile water stop also went pretty well with no real attacks and lots of riders taking nature breaks. The story changed once we arrived at the 5 mile dirt road section. The attacks started and the peloton split. It was dangerous lots of flat tires and a few wrecks. By the time we hit the paved road again, I could see the peloton up the road with 20 to 30 riders left in it. Behind was the remants spread out all over the road. We slowly started gathering a few riders together over the next few miles to mount a formidable chase group. We chased for about 15 miles at a furious pace. I was worried that I had used up too much energy too early in such a long race. We reeled them in by mile 75. Then about mile 80 the pace slowed down. The peloton had roughly 40 left in it at this point. I could see Brent, Adam and Freddie up front still. At about mile 85 Adam went up front to push the pace a little but no one from the peloton got on his wheel. He just kept on riding away from the peloton. It wasn't planned, but he kept going. Finally the attacks started. One guy in particular wanted to bridge the gap up to Adam, but he didn't want to do it alone. Brent bravely employed the blocking strategy to protect Adam. He would get on the guys wheel but refuse to pull, so the guy would just give up. The guy made many attempts with all of them being foiled by Brent. When Brent wasn't foiling the attacks he was getting on the front of the peloton and then slowing the pace down. He was the ultimate teammate. Of course that used up alot of his energy and about mile 100 he drifted to the back of the peloton where I said hi to him for the first time in 4 hours 40 minutes. We finished the first 100 miles with 4850 ft of climbing in 4 hours 40 minutes. That was a lot faster than the previous year. Brent and I reached the water stop at mile 106, at the foot of the Uintah mountains together only 5 seconds behind the peloton. We grabbed our musettes and started to eat and drink. We made our way up to the peloton, buy it was short lived. The grade started to kick up and the peloton started riding off. Riders were being spit out the back all over the mountain side. It is about a 20 mile stretch of climbing between the water stops. I was riding alone and suffering but realized I was feeling a lot better than last year. Adam later said that the survivors in the peloton didn't catch him until near the top of Bald Mountain. What a Stud! I made it to the top and got some water. I started descending alone and was hoping a group would come along that I could ride with, but no such luck. about 10 miles down I decided to stop for a nature break, and when i turned around a group went flying by. I was disappointed that I missed that opportunity. I continued down alone until about two miles from kamas where a group of 3 caught me and I finally got to draft even if it was only a couple of miles. The climbs between Kamas and Park City are painful and hot. Just when you think you are done climbing and start to fly down hill you are presented with another climb. I was in survival mode for most of the last 25 miles, which was better than last year where I spent the better part of 75 miles in survival mode. I finished in a great time for me. I was about 55 minutes faster than last year. Adam and Freddie were already finished. Adam placed 3rd in the Cat 5's with a time of 8:33(roughly). I got 13th with a time of 9:00. Brent came in 14th with a time of 9:03. I didn't get the times of the other BCC members.

Chalk Creek Drag Race

First of all, congrats to Peter who won his division. He is the official state champion in the 55+ Category. Ryan also did well in the Cat 5's. Travis and Matt also represented the team in that division.

In the Masters 35+B division, it was a drag race. The peloton finished over 9 minutes faster than the Cat. 5's from 2008, and my personal time was almost 13 minutes faster than last years. I started off by trying to just hang on the back as long as I could. Last year I was spanked and left for dead on the 3rd hard hill and expected to only hang on a little longer this year. I secretly hoped the 35B division would be slightly easier than the Cat. 5's were. I was wrong, they actually beat the best cat. 5 2009 time by about 3 minutes. I could see Adam and Eric smartly hanging on the front and actually chasing down a few attacks. Brent seemed to be positioning himself in the middle. Part way up the canyon on a difficult hill the pace kicked up and my heart rate monitor started mocking me as I began slide off the back. I dug in deep and managed to hang on. Brent later said that we had split the peloton at that point and lost half of it. I hadn't noticed in all the pain. I was excited to still be in the lead group and tried to recover. At that point Adam and Eric were still up front, with Brent and I hanging on the back. I remembered from last year that at the turn around point the road kicked up and the pack attacked. So I decided to see if I could slide up to the front. About that time I hear a big snapping noise and a tirade of four letter words. It was Eric. His chain had decided to snap and save him some pain. The peloton started braking and swerving to miss him and I got pushed to the back again. At the turn around point there was a massive slow down whiched caused me to come to a complete stop at the back. Unfortunately the riders at the front attacked and I was left trying to re-snap in my shoes and get moving again. I could see Brent about 1/2 block ahead of me and the peloton about 1/2 block ahead of him. He must have had to stop also on the turn around. I put it in my highest gear and shifted my heart into 95% mode. I wasn't making up any ground and I was beginning to think my lungs were going to burst out of my chest. after about a mile two guys caught me and I hopped in their draft to catch my breath. We worked together to catch Brent, who I believe was holding up a little to wait for us. Then Brent and I worked like dogs for 10 more miles to reel in the peloton. I have never been more proud of my meager cycling skills than I was in that moment. I threw my hands up in the air as if I had just won a stage in the Tour de France. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to recuperate a little. As I started to feel good again, It dawned on me that I had probably used up way to much energy to really be effective up the final climb in a sprint, but I felt I needed to do something. So with 2 miles to go I moved up to the front. I said hi to Adam and attacked off the front. I created a gap and tried to settle into a rhythm. I only lasted about 30 seconds and the peloton reeled me in. I was starting to be absorbed by the peloton when I remembered that they were probably tired too, and with the image of Andy Shleck in my mind I just attacked again. I was quickly brought back to reality when my heart rate monitor texted, "You are NOT Andy!!!". At that point we were making the final turn and Adam had moved into first place and we only had to climb about 1/3 of a mile to the finish. I was ceremoniously dropped to the back. Brent said he downed a gel with about 8 miles to go that helped him finish strong in the sprint. Adam ended up drifting back some. I think he was trying to use the race to lose weight and probably didn't have the requisite carbs in his system. Even though I didn't place well, I felt successful with a faster time than last year, an awesome chase with Brent to catch the peloton, and two attacks at the end. And that is on top of losing 8 pounds or so last week. The 8 pounds that I had gained the month before. Do I dare to do the Tour de Park City next week. It was so painful last year that I don't know yet.

RMR tonight

Tonight was a decent turnout for BCC Racing at RMR. Brent, Liam, Jeremy and me (Eric) participated in the C flite while Stan made sure the cement wall on the drag strip stayed upright.

I have to say it was really nice to be in a pack with people from the same team as me. I don't mean to take anything away from my Category 4 team mates Steve M. and Dean C. but our race schedules don't seem to match up much so our Category 4 presence is usually quite slim. Having four of us in the pack together was cool.

Tonight's race course was slightly modified taking away what I believe to be the worst corner at the north west end of the course. This is usually a sharp left turn with a fence post that reaches out to get you, quickly followed by two massive sunken grids or manholes on the pavement to the right. Today's course used the northern most drag strip and took a wider turn...much better in my opinion.

I feel the team did well overall. It was Jeremy's very first criterium and he managed to stay in the pack for the majority of the race which is awesome, given the fact that pack riding in tight corners is quite intimidating. Most of us have to participate in a few criteriums to finally stick with the pack to the end. Brent did the best out of the group, finishing close to the bunch sprint. Liam and I flatted; I borrowed Stan's rear wheel and got back in, Liam changed his tube and got back in as well I believe.

What did the other participants think? What did it look like from Stan-I-will-never-race-a-crit's point of view?

Garden Creek Gap 2009

This race is located in Idaho, so I had to get up pretty early and drive a few hours. The course is a 25 mile loop that we had to do twice. Each lap starts with 18 miles of down hill or flats, which then turns into 7 miles of climbing back to the start/finish line. I signed up in the Masters 35+ B group, with two of my team mates. Everything started off great. I dropped back to the back of the peloton, since I am not really comfortable riding in the middle of 30-50 cyclists. I tried to relax and draft as much as possible. The speed was rather high for the first 18 miles, averaging around 26 miles an hour. It was nice to have a new heart rate monitor to see how the old ticker was holding up. We started climbing back to the start/finish line, when the fast guys started attacking and putting the pressure on. The peloton began to split apart. My heart rate monitor began touching the mid 170’s and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain this type of effort much longer. I managed to get on the back tire of one of my team mates, Eric. I just tried to hang on. There was a group of 4 riders who had broke away and created a 15 second gap on us. We were in the chase group with 5 of us still together. Looking back after reaching the top of the climb I could see we had dropped the peloton by about 30 seconds or so, which included our other team mate and my person hero from last year, Adam. After recovering and decending a little, we organized our chase group of 5 and reeled in the breakaway. I was suffering pretty bad, but ecstatic to be in a breakaway for the first time in my life. I guess being a few pounds lighter than last year has really helped. There were nine of us the breakaway, and they agreed to organize and work together to stay ahead of the chasing peloton. Looking back I couldn’t see them, but someone said they could. We started rotating and working together. After about 20 minutes of that I decided to just try and hang on the back. I was suffering and I didn’t see the urgency to fight off a peloton that wasn’t too close and who contained riders who we just dropped and most likely could drop again going up the 7 mile climb. At the 43 mile point we hit the climb again. It didn’t take long for our group to splinter. Unfortunately I was the first casualty off the back. I could see 2 or 3 guys off the front, with a group of 5 or 6 riders, which contained my team mate Eric, and then me. I was bonking quickly and my speed was dropping. Did I not eat enough? It was a hot day, was I dehydrated? What ever it was, I was slowing a lot. With about 3 miles to go, the first rider from the peloton caught me. I was happy to see that it was Adam. He was our teams most valuable rider last year and an inspiration for having lost 180 pounds at one point. He rode along side me for a little bit and said some encouraging words that I had trouble comprehending through the suffering I was feeling. After a few more seconds he continued up the climb. A few more guys from the peloton caught and passed me. I was in survival mode. I just wanted to finish or get a flat and have an excuse for quitting. I finished in 14th place, but I felt like a champion for the first 43 miles of the race. It was a great race and a lot of fun. Eric ended up in 7th place and Adam in 9th in our Category.

Peter from our club got 1st place in the 55+ Category. Congrats to him and congrats to all our other club members.

Antelope Island RR

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.