Deer Trail - 2009

This past Saturday morning I hooked up with a couple of teammates (Jeremy and Rick) and carpooled out East to Deer Trail, CO. A small town east of Denver that has been gracious enough to host a bunch of Lycra clad, carbon fiber loving, two wheeled, front range crazies. The site of the first 2009 road race (nearly the first mass start race as everything else has been canceled due to weather).

The weather, compared to last year, was calm and warm! (10-15 mph winds, starting temp ~38 F) We had an 8:30 am start, with 74 pre-registered riders. We arrived with plenty of time to get our numbers and gear ready. Organizers were passing out two numbers, one for your jacket and one for your jersey (as apposed to each side of your jersey like last year). Simplifying the clothing selection for the day. This year I went with the standard kit, knee warmers, arm warmers, a base layer, standard fingerless gloves and my good wind vest. It proved perfect.

My goals for this race, don't expect too much. Last year I finished 6th, I figured it was all down hill from there. I didn't know how my fitness would hold out, this would be the test. I wanted to get more comfortable in the pack, work on my positioning in the group and give pointers to my team to try and help as many of my teammates get to the end as quickly as possible.

The race rolled out of town at a leisurely pace. Another teammate rolled by me and asked if they always raced this slow. We were about a mile out, I told him to shut up and enjoy it, it was going to heat up soon enough! The course profile had almost not flat spots. Nothing but short rollers. The 43 mile race gained over 2000 ft in elevation. The pace picked up on the climbs setting the ground for a hard up the hills easy down the other side kind of race.

This race is basically laid out in the shape of the letter L. Out and back on the lower section then out and back on the upper and finally out and back on the lower section to the finish. A key to this race is good positioning on the 180 degree turn arounds. The first guys make it through easily and sprint up to speed, the tail of the group is still breaking to get around. Then they really have to chase. Life is better at the front.

A guy went of the front at the first turn around. My first though was, now way dude, see you in a little while. But his teammates didn't chase him down (that happens a lot), a couple of them were actually strong enough to stay at the front and block. Since this was a cat 4 race, none of the other teams knew how to organize. Therefore there was no organized chase, making the blockers job even easier. To my amazement, the dude stayed away and won by about 20 seconds.

As for me, I managed to stay in the lead group until nearly the last climb. I had to close a couple of gaps and my position could have been better at times. I see some areas I need to improve my fitness but I have time.

Finishing time: 2:01, Place 18th of 67 finishers, Normalized power: 286W, Max: 1148W, distance 43 miles, average speed 21.1 mph, max speed 40.2 mph