July 1 - Leesville Gap Road Race
Race info

Results

Elite 3 Report by Daniel J. Carruthers

A little about our author:

31 years old and recently competed in the World Deaf Cycling Championships representing New Zealand.

Has been racing on the road now for 14 months and has been following a program prescribed by his coach for just over a year. He is extending his stay here in the States to take advantage of the summer racing programme to prepare himself to be competitive back in New Zealand. His principal sponsor is Hansanton Hearing Systems, a German hearing aid company that provides digital high quality hearing systems.

His co-sponsors include: Pearl Izumi (cycle clothing), Leppin Sport (a energy supplement company) and Smith Optics (for eyewear).

The report:

Colusa County, CA

60 miles

time: 3hrs 06 mins

average speed: approx 31km/h

This road race was the roughest road race I have ever raced! It was more suitable for mountain bikes with all the potholes and uneven surface alternating between gravel, dirt and what was left of sealed road. I went into several massive potholes as had no choice as had riders on either side of me but came through OK.

The race started at 8.15am and from the very start it was rough and potholey. This lasted for about 10 mins before we got onto some nice smooth tarmac, the pace was very slow only 28-30km/h with no one really sustaining attacks. There were a few half hearted attacks but none got away. I made a miscalculation of attacking too early. I was told that there would be a hill climb of 3-4km after 11km, so when my computer read 11km, I attacked and no one came with me... the peloton was rolling along at a steady pace. I quickly put 30-40 seconds on them. I kept the tempo up and seemed to be keeping the distance. But the hill was nowhere to be seen. I went over a cross road and on to an extremely rough road, pot holes everywhere and gravel. One guy jumped across to me but then gave up quickly and after 2-3 minutes the peloton caught up with me and it was just rolling stuff, no hills! My plan behind the attack was to get a head start on the hill... when they caught up, 3 guys took off so I sprinted after them... wearing myself out in the process.

The road was like a MTB trail.... seriously, only that we were on road bikes and it was hard on the arms and body!!! The hill finally came up and I was mid pack at the time... not at the front as I had planned and found myself slowly drifting back... but I was still able to keep up a good rhythym. I got dropped but there was still quite a few guys behind me and when I got over the top.. it turned out to be a 6-7km hill climb (not the 3km I thought it was) I caught up with other riders and others caught up with me and we formed a chase pack of about 15 riders... by the time we left the rough stuff. We were rolling around quite nicely but was not consistent. As the race went on, riders popped off the back and when we reached the second major hill climb I took the front of the group and kept at 80rpm up the hill. It was about a 5 minute hill climb but when got to the top only 4 other guys were with me and it was a steep downhill on the other side reaching speeds of 83km/h. The five of us did some good work together and we caught up with more single riders here and there, increasing the size of the chase pack to around 10. The 10 of us all had consistent turns at the front but with about 10-15km to go, the pace slackened quite a bit and no one wanted to do any work. I just kept spinning.

With about 6-8kms to go, attacks came thick and fast... and I was able to cover them all. I found myself out the front taking quite a long pull and no one would come around me unless I slowed considerably. Once I took a 2 minute pull and then someone attacked, thinking they could get away. I sprinted and got their wheels. Then another attack came from behind and it was like this for the last 5km. The 1km sign came up and everyone surged forward.. I was last in the paceline at this time but worked my way up into 5th position in the pace line and then I saw the 200m sign come up. I clicked down several gears (to the 12 I think) and jumped out of my saddle and sprinted to the line, easily winning that bunch sprint for 25th place. I was pleased that I finished on such a strong note and was able to out-power the rest in my group. I feasted on the fresh watermelon that was made available that tasted so good after riding in very hot weather for 60 miles in just over 3 hours on atrocious roads. I drank 4 bottles of fluids during the race (2 bottles I got from the neutral feed zone, which was good as I lost one of my bottles while going through the rough stuff).

Got the Vacaville Criterium Championships tomorrow, so I am at home recovering with my feet up watching the highlights from the Tour de France. Criterium riding is more to my liking given that I have good acceleration and sprinting skills.

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