Unable to hold on to the winning move.
Place: 9th out of 49 starters
Teammates: None
Duration: 2:57:16
Distance: 69.226 miles
Elev. Gain: 1750 ft
HR: 191 bpm max, 144 bpm avg
Speed: 39.6 mph max, 23.4 mph avg
My last road race of the season. I won this race in the M35 4 category last year, so I was looking for a repeat. Same course, same distance, same power climb finish.
San Ardo is all about timing the attack on the hill. You can’t go too early or risk not having anything left for the turn and the last 200m false flat sprint. My plan was too cover any promising breaks with the right riders and then to attack after the feedzone on the finish.
The Metromint team had 3 riders most likely working for the winner of last week’s Dunnigan race, Joseph Ison. SJBC had 6 racers, and by my assessment, they were working for Chad Rosser and looking to setup the final climb. Third Pillar had 3 or 4 riders and was playing the same plan for their chosen rider.
We pushed off into overcast, misty, cold weather. The pace was slow for my liking most of the time, but as a solo rider I had to take what the group dictated for the most part. Many breaks were attempted; a few solo or two rider attacks were given some rope, but quickly reeled back in. A break just wasn’t going to happen today unless it had SJBC and Third Pillar in it.
That was how it went for 2.75 laps.
We were on lap 3, about 3 miles from the finish. Everyone was getting jumpy and ready for the coming finish.
I was sitting about 12th wheel or so, when suddenly the 3 riders in front of me collided and went down hard. I could do nothing but keep going straight. Miraculously, when the riders bounced off the pavement, one went left and one went right, leaving me a gap to pedal through. I heard screams and the sound of cracking carbon… the stuff of nightmares.
I was with about 10 riders that made it through the carnage immediately. Half of us started to paceline and continue the race, while the others just sat on the back. Those of us working didn’t feel like dragging the other 5 up to the finish, so we sat up and kept a decent pace. I looked back and saw 20 or so riders killing themselves to close down the gap. In hindsight, I should have attacked with whatever riders wanted to go with me, but I was playing for a last minute power attack at the feed zone. I feared that if I went this early I’d die. I guess I wasn’t willing to risk losing, so I didn’t win. But, attacking after a crash isn’t exactly a pro move either.
Two riders attacked before the town and Metromint sent a guy to the front to pull them back. I sucked onto his wheel. As we reached the bridge, we caught the two attackers and I almost launched as a lull set into the group. Too early, though. I waited. A Great Basin rider came forward and I took his wheel. I was biding my time waiting to pounce no sooner than the end of the feed zone, but the race dictated otherwise. SJBC sent a hard attack on the right with a single rider leading out Chad. They jumped way harder than the power acceleration I was expecting to come. Joseph from Metromint jumped on Chad’s wheel and I did my best to hold on. I came out of my saddle in a full sprint – as did about 6 other riders. It was on.
Coming up on the freeway underpass and SJBC was still 1-2 hitting it hard with Metromint being pulled along. I was still in 4th, but starting to fade. At this point I was starting to see that I wasn’t going to win, but I kept it going as hard as I could. It’s hard to keep up a shattering effort when you realize you aren’t going to win… but, you never know what will happen in a race. Bears could come out of the woods and attack the riders ahead of you… then, then you’d be smokin’ all the way to the finish! Anyway… A CSC rider blew by me on my left and I rallied to hold his wheel. I could feel pressure from riders to my right.
We made the turn and I came left and pushed out as hard of a sprint as I could, but was caught by 2 other riders. I finished 9th. Not bad, but definitely not first. Oh well. My HR was at 191 and I still don’t really remember any sharp details from the last 400m, I was cooked. SJBC went too early as Joseph was able to check the attack, and then pop Chad for the win. Chad dropped to 5th, but got his final upgrade point and now is a 2. Congrats!
Here’s a video of the last mile or so of my race. Go to 2:15 to watch the attack: http://contour.com/stories/san-ardo-8202011
Looking at my data, I did the climb 3mph faster than my winning attack of last year. Good to know that the me of now would have kicked my ass last year. Or something like that. And, I really need some teammates. Riding alone I waste much more energy having to cover promising attacks.
Master’s National TT Championships is next for me.
