<< April 26, 2010 >>
wente RR recap
ah, wente road race!
- late start: CHECK
- short drive: CHECK
- great weather: CHECK
- decent climbing: CHECK
even with all these going for it, i wasn't really expecting anything different from every weekend in the last month, namely getting dropped on the first lap. one thing was different: i pre-rode the course last weekend, and the more technical of the descents was followed immediately by another climb, so i could probably catch back up if i fell behind on the descent.
the course is a 15-mile loop with a 300-foot climb (max grade ~12%) leading to the finish. the race starts at the bottom so we did the climb four times. after the top there is a bit more climbing before the descent, then another climb and descent then a flat section with a small hill, and you're back to the start.
not much happened the first two laps, but the third time up the hill people were starting to drop off. i kept my pace up, and moved up in the pack. at the top of the hill, there was a small group (10-15 riders) starting to pull away, and i tried to bridge up. fortunately, there's a bit more climbing after we go over the highway, and i was able to bridge up before the descent. i got gapped a bit on the descent, but caught up again on the next climb, and hung on during the final descent.
the moto said we had about a 40 second gap on the chase group, but we didn't really get an organized paceline going. that was fine by me since i was trying to recover from the bridging and get ready for the final climb. as we approached the climb, the chatting in the pack quieted down, and the pace picked up a bit. i was getting nervous wondering how it would go.
i moved up a bit going into the start of the climb, and then tried to go as hard as i could. i think i went too hard initially, and a few people went by, but in the final bit i just went as hard as i could, HR holding steady at 183, then maxing out at 185 at the end, which is equal to the highest (legit) reading i've seen.
the pack was totally splintered at this point, and we had caught other groups, so i had no idea where my place was in the field. i wasn't optimistic, but figured top-10 or -15. i was so relieved to have simply finished with the main group after these last few weeks of suffering that i had to fight back tears on the way down to the car. embarrassing but true.
much to my surprise, i ended up fifth! totally unexpected and totally awesome. five seconds faster and i could have gotten third; wish i'd known.
no racing this weekend and then berkeley hills next weekend; hoping to scout that out sunday morning.