I happened to be in Pennsylvania with my wife and
son for my son’s regional soccer tournament, and I noticed
several races in the same area during the same time period. Once the
soccer schedule solidified, I noticed that the Brownstown road race was
within riding distance from the hotel, and it didn’t conflict with any
game times, so I signed up. I took a look at the course description
“rolling with a finish at the top of a climb” – I am a crit guy, not
really a road racer, and definitely not a climber, but I thought, this
is Lancaster county – they don’t actually have climbs.
The
race began as expected. Attacks started on lap #1. I ended up being
in every other break because the teams were very organized and would
continually send riders up the road when a break was about 200 meters
from being caught. Fortunately no-one seemed exceptionally strong, so
by lap 3 I became a little more relaxed and started spending more time
in the field. On lap 4 on a long flat before the biggest climb (to the
start/finish) I went to the front and decided to turn the screws to
shake out the strong people. I put in an 85%-90% effort up the climb,
through the start/finish area, and for about a mile more. I noticed
people really suffering on the climb, and the field split – this gave me
good confidence for the finish. I didn’t realize it until afterward,
but my friend told me that riders were also popping off the back as they
went by. From this point on, stayed in the top 10 and only went with
large groups.
On the final lap, we had 2 riders off the front. Not ideal, but not a disaster. I decided to roll the dice, and hope for things to come back together. I rolled to the front several times and took my turn in pursuit, but by the last mile I could see that we would be sprinting for 3rd. So as soon as we moved onto the long straightaway before the finishing climb, I rolled to the front in preparation to surge with any last minute attacks. We hit the base of the climb and I took the far left side next to the gutter because riders had been avoiding that section (the pitch was slightly steeper). That allowed me to pace with the surges and stay with the leaders until we crested. As soon as we crested, several riders began their sprint, just as I expected. I waited a bit longer and started mine. I was able to rip through the few people ahead of me pretty quickly and I was closing in on the last two people at the front drag racing to the line. They were relatively close to the left side of the road, and the right most rider had his head turned toward the rider on the left, so I decided to swing right and try to blow by them before they knew what was happening. I was successful and ended up winning the field sprint by a little more than a wheel for 3rd place overall…
I
didn’t pre-ride or scout the course, but I did catch a ride the day
before. I ended up being on the bike for a little over 3 hours in 103
degree heat – and I did hit a 1200 foot climb! I focused on
re-hydrating immediately after the training ride, hoping that it the
heat and duration of the training ride wouldn’t impact my race
performance the next day. That evening, I mentioned the race to one of
the other soccer parents, who was also a cyclist, and he decided to come
along to check it out.
Race
start was around 10:00 a.m. so we rolled out of the hotel at 8:30 – it
was supposed to take about ½ hour to get to the course, but I wanted to
leave enough time to pick up my number, get familiar with the finish
area, and hopefully watch some finishes before my race. The ride to the
race on the rolling Pennsylvania roads was nice, but I could notice the
temperature starting to increase very quickly. I could tell it would
be hot, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t reach temperatures like the
day before. We arrived at the start/finish, I picked up my number, and
watched a couple of finishes. The finishing “climb” was not that big,
and it was followed by a long, straight, slightly uphill stretch to the
finish. After seeing this – it actually looked like a good finish for
me.
The
plan: I saw several large teams, it was hot out, so I knew that there
would be many attacks, but I also knew that I had to choose my efforts
wisely. Since I didn’t know any of the racers, my plan was different
than it may have been otherwise:
1. Go with all attacks for the first two laps, just in case there were any Fabian Cancelleras in the field.
2. After that, pick and choose who I would go with. Any less than two off the front would be ignored.
3. If
it came down to a large group sprint, crest the hill in the top 10, and
hold on the sprint because people would likely sprint too early. A
late kick and shorter sprint should be the best option.
The
race began as expected. Attacks started on lap #1. I ended up being
in every other break because the teams were very organized and would
continually send riders up the road when a break was about 200 meters
from being caught. Fortunately no-one seemed exceptionally strong, so
by lap 3 I became a little more relaxed and started spending more time
in the field. On lap 4 on a long flat before the biggest climb (to the
start/finish) I went to the front and decided to turn the screws to
shake out the strong people. I put in an 85%-90% effort up the climb,
through the start/finish area, and for about a mile more. I noticed
people really suffering on the climb, and the field split – this gave me
good confidence for the finish. I didn’t realize it until afterward,
but my friend told me that riders were also popping off the back as they
went by. From this point on, stayed in the top 10 and only went with
large groups. On the final lap, we had 2 riders off the front. Not ideal, but not a disaster. I decided to roll the dice, and hope for things to come back together. I rolled to the front several times and took my turn in pursuit, but by the last mile I could see that we would be sprinting for 3rd. So as soon as we moved onto the long straightaway before the finishing climb, I rolled to the front in preparation to surge with any last minute attacks. We hit the base of the climb and I took the far left side next to the gutter because riders had been avoiding that section (the pitch was slightly steeper). That allowed me to pace with the surges and stay with the leaders until we crested. As soon as we crested, several riders began their sprint, just as I expected. I waited a bit longer and started mine. I was able to rip through the few people ahead of me pretty quickly and I was closing in on the last two people at the front drag racing to the line. They were relatively close to the left side of the road, and the right most rider had his head turned toward the rider on the left, so I decided to swing right and try to blow by them before they knew what was happening. I was successful and ended up winning the field sprint by a little more than a wheel for 3rd place overall…
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