I’ve done this race a couple of times over the past couple
of years. Each year it’s typically my
first road race of the season. I’ve had
good results and not so good results but I am almost always in the top 20. This year was obviously not my first road
race and I was hopeful I could influence how the race turned out. My team had a number of good riders signed up
for the race and with that strength I felt like we would be able to accomplish
something. Nigel had won the race last
year and I felt like he could likely out sprint most of the field, Michael is a
great climber and Matt and myself I would describe as all-rounders.
Driving into Deer Trail was like returning to the scene of a
nightmare I had had a few weeks prior.
Nothing has changed in that town.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice little town but all I do is drive out
there to suffer. Our early morning start
had a cool morning breeze and temperature in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. There was a last minute change to the course that
morning because of a bridge issue which confused things but ultimately the race
is just two straight roads with rolling hills. The only technical obstacles are multiple 180
degree turn arounds, which can play havoc on a larger group. The field size was on the small size, only
about 40 guys.
Heading out of town for the start of the race things were pretty
mellow. The motorcycle judges did a
fantastic job keeping a couple of loose dogs out of the group. I have to admit they expertly put their
motorcycles between us and the dogs keeping things safe. I know they don’t hear this enough but
thanks, I’m glad you were there! Not too
long after the dogs were behind us, a couple of riders were starting to get the
itch and wanted to jump out. We were
going into the wind and they didn’t get anywhere but they were determined and I
was happy to sit on their wheel. If they
were strong enough to go I’d go with them so the rest of my team could sit
on. But nothing really happened. This went on as we hit the first turn around
and started heading back. As we turned
left onto the main out and back route the wind became a cross wind.
I drifted back to find a good draft but soon found myself
behind a few strong riders that were making their way forward. So I stayed with them. When they got to the front, the real pressure
on the field started and by the time we reached the second 180, four of them
had a clear gap and the riders behind were totally unorganized and
shattered. The group of four was made up
of my teammate Matt and 3 other riders, all from different teams. I would have to argue that Matt was our
strongest rider, so when I saw him go with 3 others, I wanted to give him the
chance.
Nigel, Michael and I were in the shattered remains in the
group and fortunately we were close enough we could all start working together
to ensure we all made it into the first case group. We were successful and all of us knew we didn’t
want this group to pull Matt back. So we
started blocking at the front. I tried
to keep it in good taste, I wasn’t just getting in the way. People could pull through but when they did
Nigel and I would sit on their wheel until they tired and made it more
difficult for other riders to come around.
If no one came around, I’d set a false tempo. Michael tried to make a bridging move up to
Matt but ended up getting caught in no man’s land and never made it.
Towards the end of the race my legs were getting pretty
tired from chasing everything down. Someone made a hard effort up one of the last
steep hills and shot me right out the back.
Nigel and Michael stayed in the group.
I chased with a few other dropped racers but my influence on the race
was over.
In the end, Matt was dropped from the group but we had given
him enough time to hold onto 4th.
Nigel, our sprinter for the day, took the group for 5th. Michael was 15th and I out
sprinted my chase companion for 19th. In the end I felt pretty good about the race,
the team had dictated how the race would unfold. We showed our team strength and got two guys
in the top 5 and four of us in the top 20.
This race is proof that riding with teammates can be incredibly beneficial
even in lower category races.
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