Cyclonauts Road Race

After a disappointing outing the previous weekend, I had mixed feelings about a two race weekend, with Cyclonauts on Saturday and Housatonic Hills on Sunday. On one hand, I wanted to recover some semblance of pride after Balloon Fest, but on the other hand I didn't want to prove that my crappiness wasn't just an "off day."

Cyclonauts is a short race at only 56 miles, so a warm up was definitely required. For once, I think I did a decent job of this. Matt and I headed out on a stretch of road and put in a few good digs to get the legs ready. I should note that I had to stop at one point to take off my shoes since my feet were so hot and itchy. Still not sure what that was all about.

The race was pretty uneventful, save for a few attacks that were quickly covered. Oh, and I lost my water bottle within the first two miles. I've only ever lost two water bottles in races and they've both been at Cyclonauts.

Both Matt and Don were pretty active and got into a couple breaks, so I would attempt some pace slowing at the front. However, that usually didn't work, as small groups would almost instantly try to bridge up. Naturally I followed their wheels, and the field was together again. I made a couple efforts to get into small break groups, but the same thing happened, as no one was letting anything go away. Without any dominating teams with insanely strong riders like Fiordifrutta, this race wasn't a lost cause from the start.

A little under halfway through the race it began to rain pretty damn hard...like a classic Ithaca downpour. Between the rain from the sky and the spray off the tires, I had a really hard time seeing anything. When you're cruising around in excess of 30mph, good vision is important. I finally decided that the glasses were doing more harm than good and pocketed them for the remainder of the race.

Two prominent features of the cyclonauts course (aside from the fact that it seems more downhill than up) are the railroad crossings a few miles out from the finish. In dry conditions these are a pain to begin with. The tracks are heaved at spots and the pavement is pretty poor. In the rain...these things were deathtraps. The first crossing claimed 2 or 3 riders, and the second set took another 2, one of which was Matt. He apparently slid and wasn't hurt at all, but it put him off the back of a peloton moving at a rather quick pace. He gave chase, but that ultimately was the end of the race for him. He did finish the course, though. I imagine he would have had a very high finish if not a win had he stayed upright.

In any case, the hill through the lap/finish line caused some separations in the field. I was having a hard time with this hill for whatever reason, and several riders went up the road. I think their group was 4-5 guys strong. Before not too long, they were out of sight. I tried a similar thing in the 3/4 race last year, but the field never let us get far enough away. This time it seemed to work. Whether the field was lazy or being slowed by teammates of riders in the break, everyone seemed content that there were people up the road. Ok, so we're racing for 5th place or something like it...not bad I guess. After all, this isn't really my style of race, I figured.

Despite an apparent lack of concern, as we came to the final miles we began to see glimpses of the break. The SRAM car was the initial giveaway. People began to get interested once again. Attacks flew off the front, and the field countered their efforts as we got the race back up to a fast pace. This was like a perfectly timed catch in a professional race!

As we made the turn onto the final stretch (probably 2k from the finish), we began to reel in the break as they blew apart. Riders scattered everywhere on the initial pitch, and I began to weave my way to the front. This time I felt strong up the hill. I got to third wheel as we hit the small rest section prior to the final kicker to the finish. Since the speeds were pretty high on this section, everyone started to line up for the final sprint. I shifted up to the big chainring in anticipation of uncharacteristic finishing strength(!), haha. With a 27 in the rear, I figured that even if I could sprint the small ring, I could err and still not get too hurt by being overgeared.

As we hit the final pitch with probably 300m to go, I had the perfect position in third wheel. A CCB/VW guy had the front of the line and began to stand up and get some gap on the wheel I was following. He looked overgeared and was really chugging to turn it over. I stood up and came around to the right, passing both of them without killing myself too much. Before I knew it, I thought I was clear of everyone with maybe 150m left. For a second I thought, "I'm gonna win this damn thing!" Then, in my peripheral, I began to see a rider charging hard on the left, right near the yellow line. Unfortunately, I stupidly downshifted and found myself pushing too many gear inches- too many to respond and accelerate. Even if I hadn't messed up the shift, I think the other guy was definitely stronger over those last meters. I looked around and saw I had 2nd place locked up, so I coasted in, happy but mainly surprised with how well I did. Perhaps I'm not doomed to be permanent pro/1/2 pack fodder after all...there may be some hope yet!

Unfortunately the payout was reduced since there were "only" 45 starters...the planned payout was $90, but 2nd place only got me $30!!! That didn't even cover my entry fee of $35...oh well, I guess I don't do this for the money after all.


Confidence restored.

Oh, and did I mention the race was fast? Our average speed for 57.71 miles was 24.81 mph...and that included the small cool-down after the finish.