When I got to the course on Saturday morning, I instantly recognized it as the place where St. Michael's College histed a cross country meet back when I was a freshman at Clarkson. This was good, because all I remember about that course was the hills. Sure enough, it delivered.
I tried to work the tubular glue off my front rim to no avail, so I was forced to run a clincher (mud2) in the front, and my Challenge Grifo in the rear. I was pretty bummed about this, since I was really happy with how the Grifos rolled...but not so happy with how the front rim made the bike shudder and squeal with any brake application. In any case, the course was dry enough that I could run a reasonable pressure without much fear of pinch flatting.
After call-ups, I was put in the third row...not terrible given how wide the opening stretch was, and the climb directly after. I could most likely slide up during the first climb.
My clip-in was pretty flawless and I weaved through a couple fumbling riders to get within the top 15 going into the "hole-shot" (because it wasn't really a hole-shot). I had to fight a bit for the good line, which was a 3" gravel hardpack in the middle of an otherwise soft grassy hillside...there was a good amount of bumping and grunting but I ended up in the path, which means I won. The next task was the navigate through the field on the uphill.
This would have been a lot harder if Colin Jaskiewicz hadn't crashed through a right hand turn at the top of the hill. Luckily I was far enough behind to navigate through the cursing mass of riders and pull in behind the train that was about to leave the station.
Four riders used this opportunity to get a gap on the field- led by Colin Reuter, who had great legs, despite his misgivings about this being a roadie/climber friendly course. I tried to make the catch before the downhill section, but I remained dangling off the pace. If I could limit my losses in the turning/downhill sections, I could probably bridge on the power intensive sections. Ok, no problem...right?
I spent the next lap clawing back 20-30m until I finally made contact. That was a pretty difficult catch. As I joined the front group, Colin called for some help at the front, since the other riders were wheelsucking pretty intensely. I explained that I just caught on and needed a quick rest. That lasted for about 10 seconds before I shot to the front on a difficult grind to the top of the course. Foolishly they let me by before the downhill! Ha!
Once at the front, I was pretty energized and somewhat nervous about being the one to set the pace. As we came into the downhill, there was a right turn which dumped us over a rock and into 180 left hand. I handled the first turn decent enough, but continued to pedal over the rock, causing my rear wheel to jump/flare out and making me look rather foolish. That didn't go unnoticed, since it came up in the post-race breakdown. For all my technical improvements, I still have some strides to make.
But here's a sweet picture that Colin sent, via some other photographer...
I led the group around for most of the next lap before swinging wide in a turn before the barriers and letting the others by (aka Colin took the lead again). I tagged onto the back as we came through the start finish. Richard Fries made sure to comment that I was apparently "barely hanging on" the train. For the most part we were safe from any big chases behind, but there were a couple of riders looking to make the bridge.
The next lap or so was relatively uneventful, except for the constant pace surges which were beginning to take their toll on me. Our first group got strung out a bit, with Colin and Tosca ahead. However, I was still in relative contact, and would plan on making efforts on sections where I could close the gaps back down...at least until the barriers came. I knew I had to make this one clean and hopefully close some more distance. As we came around the gentle left turn in, I threw my leg over, un-clipped, and proceeded to trip+slam my front wheel into the first barrier. This caused me to splay out between the barriers in a probably comical fashion, and the bike to follow suit. Luckily I hadn't hit the second barrier and my recovery was pretty quick. However, my confidence was fairly shaken.
Back on the bike, Colin and the eventual winner were well out of sight, and third place was probably 100m ahead. I looked back and didn't see anyone else. OK...safe for now.
Over the next lap I could feel my legs failing all too quickly. Normally you can last the final lap...except that each trip around was taking close to 10 minutes since the course was so damn long! As I came to the top of the hill I began to see a rider in pursuit behind...and Jeremy Dunn was behind him. In other words, I coulnd't cruise in, content with my fourth place. However, even though I felt like I was putting out some respectable power, the chase was closing in. I held off the fourth place rider until just before the barriers, where he took advantage of my failing body and hesitancy. However, Jeremy was just behind him. I had to last at least another 300m to the line.
And I did. As we came through the bushes I glanced back to see 5th place was safe, so I didn't need to kill my legs for a sprint. That's a good thing.
So yeah, fifth place in my first killer B's race, and my first race of 2008. Given that my legs aren't anywhere near ready to race yet, this has got to be a good sign.
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