Nevertheless, the Tour of Holy Hill has historically been a race that is well suited to my strengths (long with some power climbs). It is always easier to show up at a race that you know you’ve done well at. In the past, I have hung with the front field as long as I could. Eventually, due to the characteristically hot conditions and 160k length, the field would shatter and resemble more of a point-to-point mountain bike race rather than a road race with groves of racers dispersed throughout the course. My strategy had always been to “just keep riding” and picking off guys. For two years in a row I was lucky enough to finish in the money.
This year, the field at Holy Hill was quite big containing about 180 riders. There was also quite a pool of talent represented, my only hope was that some of these guys have to be tiring out after 10 days of racing and perhaps my two-day rest has aided in fresh legs.
The race was running late and at the line the official announced that it would be shortened by about 20miles. At the time, I wasn’t sure if this was to my advantage or not.
As the race rolled out a few early attacks went off stringing out the field and setting the pace high. Again, I tried to segment the race. Luke Cavender was working feed for me and I kept telling myself just get to Luke with the lead group. The laps started ticking away and I continued to hold position in the main field. On lap five, at the base of the steepest climb, a crash occurred right in front of me causing me to have to ride off the road. I watched the field ride away in panic as I skateboarded my bike back onto the course and started the climb from a dead stop. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline was coursing. I could not let a bit of misfortune knock me out of this race after making it this far. So I put my head down, grabbed onto the drops, and proceeded with the biggest effort I could muster up. Another rider caught up in the crash looked at me at the base of the climb and commented, “This is going to hurt!” He was exactly right, but that was the last time I saw that guy. After about 5 minutes of turning myself inside out I was able to make contact with the lead field. Exhausted and frustrated I conceded to not worry about position and sit in for the next lap and focus on nothing but recovery.
Here’s the reality of this race, if you are not on Rock Racing, Kelly Benefits, Columbia, or Virgin Blue you cannot make any moves in the race. The heads of state will shut you down faster than you can say “allez”. I accepted that my roll was to sit closest to the front without stirring the pot too much. Eventually, we came down to our last lap. I was sitting in about the same position I had stayed in the majority of the race. However, as I glanced over my shoulder there were only about 10 riders behind me. I hadn’t realized it yet, but we had shed over half of the field and I was still in the front field. A break of 5 had formed earlier that looked to be the winning move. As we rolled into the last corner I tried to move up as much as I could. I rolled through the line with the field tired but extremely gratified that for the first time, I finished with the lead group at Holy Hill.
Being the mileage obsessed junkie that I am, I convinced a few other people to roll around for another 20 miles after the race to cool down and get a hundo in. Unfortunately, I flatted on a tubular and by the time we got back to the start the promoters had already left and I was unable to see my finishing place. Nonetheless, I considered the day a success.
1 comment:
You finished 68th according to the Interweb. Way to go buddy!
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