April 22 & 23 - Wente Vineyards Road Race and Criterium, Livermore
Race info, Road Race results and Criterium results

Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Graeme Macalister   

Race photos: RonaldMariano.com, Kevin King, VSRT Photos, Chris Patterson and Glenn James Photography

Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Graeme Macalister

When the lights go out

After a great ride at Copperopolis and continued form at the Park laps (Tuesdays in Golden Gate Park) I should have been confident for this race. Yet by Wednesday, on a recovery ride, I realized I had pushed it too hard on Tuesday, and it was confirmed by a sluggish performance on the Thursday edition of the Park laps. I hoped my body would bounce back by Saturday, but it clearly had not. Still, since this was my last race as a Cat 5 and I enjoyed the previous year's edition, I lined up at the start, musing that maybe the old diesel engine would kick in on the second lap.

I am now an expert at hanging out at the back of the pack, and Wente confirmed this - only I was a little surprised how quick the pace was, right from the start. As many will tell you, riding at the back is not a good strategy, but it works for me, especially when nerves are still running high in the pack, at the start of the race. I knew there would be a natural selection on the first time up the climb; as long as I could keep an eye on the leaders, I figured I would pick my way through the early casualties, without becoming one myself. Roughly twelve riders seemed to fall back when the initial steep gradient kicked in, but the rest of us remained, 'gruppo compacto'. I was a little concerned that the finish line had been moved to the top of the big climb (last year it was on the big hump on the same road as the Start area). I was banking on using my sprint to power up the hump, now I was just going to have to hang on for dear life. The high pace continued on the overpass; I was too far back to gauge if this was due to team work, or if there was a collective will to rip each others legs off. As we hit the rollers it seemed the latter - the pace began to yo-yo (like in the corner, after the descent at the Ronde van Brisbeen). I found myself next to a rider I recognized from the Bariani RR, we chatted, and it was clear that neither of us were having a good day. The descent was fast and technical, which I enjoyed, and we were still a large group for lap two.

As we passed the Start area, we shortly came upon the Elite 5 and blew by them like a freight train; no doubt neutralized, they soft- pedaled as if in anticipation of the impending climb. Going past the Moto-Cross park on the right, the pack began to get nervous, some jostling and accelerations ensued, all caused by the fear of the climb. Second time up was similar to the first, I am sure there were a few more casualties of the quicksand-like gradient, but I was too concerned with my own plight to notice. Near the top of the climb the gradient eases up and I found it easier to exert damage control; as I merged with the pack I could tell my recovery was below par and I wondered if I would get through another lap. After the descent, it was our turn to be neutralized by the motorbike referee as the Elite 5 breakaway riders flew by US like a freight train.

Second time past the start area, I look down at my cyclo-computer to check how many miles to go, to calculate how many times I would have to suffer the big climb. Okay,so here is where I make my mistake- I see 41 miles and think, "Okay that means we are only going up the climb one more time -so this is it!" (I knew the race was a total of 48 miles - what I did not know, was that I was looking at my max speed instead of distance covered!). So as we hit the climb for the third time, I decided to give it my all and hope the easier gradient, near the finish line, would give me enough respite to maintain a reasonable placing. The pack exploded, the stronger riders in a group of ten were 20m ahead - this seemed to confirm this was a battle for the finish line and as I began to go cross-eyed, I was resigning myself to a top 20 finish. Of course, to my dismay, the sound of a ringing bell confirmed that I was an idiot and there was one more lap to go!

However, as I (mentally) punched myself in the head for my mistake, it turned out to be a good move: I would never have pushed myself so hard if I had known there was one lap to go and now I found myself tagging on to the Heads of State as we crossed the overpass. A few more got back on, but now the pack had been cut in half and I realized I would have been left behind without my violent effort. Now I was in real difficulty and my right thigh was beginning to cramp. A couple of times I found myself falling off the back, but I fought back on in anticipation of the descent. My cramps were getting worse, so I drank as much as I could and stretched as best as I could before we passed the start area for the last time.

The same accelerations were now taking place, riders that had tried to stay dormant began to hustle for position as we passed the Moto-Cross park. Everybody knew how narrow the road was at the foot of the climb, as we hit it, the mad scramble took place for the last time. Yo-yo'ing back and forth, I dug deep to pass four or five riders before the line to get 16th place and realized that you should never give up - even when the lights go out.

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