Wheels of Thunder

May 15, 2004

This race made me wish for a Cat. 5 division… The pace was so hard for so long that I was just happy not to get dropped and I very nearly did get dropped.

The race was 14 laps of a 1.5-mile course on top of South Table Mountain in Golden. This is a police test course and is never open to the public. The course rolls a bit and has some interesting S curves. There was $10 primes up for grabs every other lap and then $100 split between the top five finishers. Rocky Mounts had four racers in the field, which totaled about 85 riders: Eric Coppock, Jonathon, Patrick (??) and myself. Of course, we had grand plans of leading out the sprint each lap. None of that transpired.

Eric and I started dead last, as usual, but moved up quickly. I took the front on the backstretch of the second lap and led the field into the final corner before the 400-meter sprint to the prime. Eric took off for the tape and I blew up. Eric went hard and it looked good for him, but he got second. The riders would sit up a bit after the sprint and the pack would come back together. I was thankful for this, or I would have been dropped early.

I led for about half a lap on the third lap but would always get swarmed by going up the hill to the finish. I had visions of attacking, but I could barely hang on. Occasionally, I’d work my way up to the front and work hard, but I’d pay the price. After one of the primes, I got dropped off the back. I worked hard, knowing I had to catch the group or it would be over for me. Lapped riders were pulled from the race and we dropped more than a few during the race. Thankfully there was a hill up ahead and the pack slowed and I grabbed onto the back.

I noticed that Jonathon and Patrick were riding up near the front a lot more than I was. Eric faded back in the pack after his first sprint, which took a lot out of him. Eric almost got dropped from the pack at one point as well. Jonathon went for a couple of the primes and took two second place finishes. I was never even close and just didn’t have the power or the recovery ability. I was severely outclassed in this race. There were so many riders that were so strong.

I got back to the front near the end of the race, though. I led the pack for at least a half a lap through the finish with three laps to go. I fell back, way back, as the pace cranked up on the final prime lap. Each time we were on a prime lap, the pace would steadily build, higher and higher until it was hard to just hang on. We flew through the last prime and I was way back. I knew I needed to move up. I wanted to be as close to the front as I could when we started the last lap. I didn’t get that far up in the pack and when we hit the bell lap, the pace was very, very hard. I worked hard and tried to stay out of trouble in the S curves. I pulled into the final straight and could see Eric up ahead going strong. I noticed Patrick up ahead on my right and worked hard to try and get up there. I ended up just catching and beating Patrick, finishing 30^th to Patrick’s 31^st. Eric got his legs back and finished 14th. Where was Jonathon, who had been riding the strongest of the bunch? I saw him after the race and he had cramped up in the final lap or so and DNFed. In fact, a lot of riders either got pulled or DNFed, since we started with over 80 riders and only 46 officially finished. I guess that makes me feel better about how hard I thought the pace was. Full results can be seen at: http://www.americancycling.org/results/2004/may/wot/results-page.htm.

This was a very humbling race. I suffered quite a bit and barely finished with the pack. The slowest I ever went was 19 mph. The fastest was 36 mph. The race was 20 miles and we took 45m30s to complete it, averaging 26.2 mph. The total ascent for the entire race was 400 feet. My heart rate average was 161 bpm and I maxed out at 173 bpm. I should be able to go at least 5 bpm higher than this, but didn’t. Maybe I was leg limited. My legs did get filled with lactic acid and I just didn’t have the punch. I think it will be years before I have seasoned racing legs.

Immediately after the race, I loaded my bike onto my truck, as I had to head home immediately to catch Derek’s second soccer game. As I’m backing out of my parking spot, I hear a pop and then a loud hiss. Sure enough, my back tire has blown while sitting on the roof of my truck. At the last race I did, at Carter Lake, my back tire flatted 400 meters after I finished the race. Strange stuff, but much better than during the race!

Oh, Derek scored two goals and had an assist in his first soccer game and got a goal in the second game, just as I arrived. His results were much better than mine and I wouldn’t have it any other way…