Koppenberg 2006
April 2, 2006
I got back from Sedona on Saturday and that afternoon I did four laps on the Koppenberg course to warm up the legs and check out the course. Conditions were great and I felt my skinny tires would do fine. Afterwards I had a relapse of my cold and was very weak and congested. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and felt very run down. After nearly falling asleep in front of the TV, I ended up going to bed at 7 p.m.
I felt a bit better the next morning, but I was still very congested and weak. I thought about just skipping the race, thinking it was futile, but I didn’t want to let my teammates down. I had committed to this race and didn’t want to be a no show. Certainly I was worried about finishing way off the back and being dropped immediately, knowing it would hurt my reputation and standing on the team, but results are what count and I’d have to earn any respect with results later in the year.
The
weather was clear and sunny, but brutally windy. This hard race was just going
to be that much tougher. Sign in was the usual mess at most bike races and a
real pet peeve of mine, having done so many running races that to handle this
seemingly trivial process so much easier. Thankfully, they called the 35+/4’s
to a different line or half the field would have missed the start. I drove over
to the team meeting place on the south side of Target and met up with Chris Busacca,
Kris Thompson, Gene Palumbo, Joe Clark, Matt Vawter, Dave Kutcipal and Rich
Zirk. Wow – eight Rocky Mounts in the 35+/4 race! We had four or more in the
Cat. 4 race as well. Kris had designated himself as the team workhorse and he
was still in for dirty job of leading the field to the base of the Koppenberg
hill. Kris is a super strong rider and I still assumed he was sandbagging a bit
on his fitness. I didn’t see how this guy wouldn’t be a threat in this race.
The strongest riders on our team were figured to be Matt, Dave, and Chris, with
me as a wildcard, based on my 3rd place last year. Unfortunately,
Chris was sick as well and would just have to see how much it was going to
limit us.
While most everyone rode their trainers (I need to get one of these…), I took a lap on the course. As I rode up highway 170 towards the start, my wife and kids pulled up along side me. Sheri yells out the window, “Do you want a ride?” I say no and she then asks, “Are you racing?” thinking that maybe I decided I was too weak to ride. I say yes and she then says, “It’s 9:21,” knowing that my race was supposed to start at 9:25. I just said, “I think they are starting late.” I didn’t want to panic and just rode the rest of the way to the start at a relaxed pace. Sure enough, when I turned the corner onto 76th, the field was already staged. I had stripped off my jacket and threw it into the car window, so I was ready to go. I still had about five minutes before the start, though.
I looked immediately for my main man, Kris Thompson. I found him in the third row and quickly had the teammates in front of me clear the way so that he could take his spot in the front row. This race goes about a quarter of a mile on pavement and then hits a half mile dirt hill, into the wind. Positioning is usually key by the time you hit the dirt, but the road was in good condition and riders could ride four abreast without any troubles, at least until the Koppenberg Hill. There only two or three lines existed.
The gun went off and I had my usual trouble getting into the
dang pedals, I fell back to the middle of the pack. That wouldn’t do, of
course, so I sprinted around the left side all the way to the front and grabbed
Kris’ wheel, who was indeed leading the pack. Kris did an expert job leading
all the way to the base of the hill. The pace was hard and a few of the
A short ways up the hill, a wide butt in an orange and white kit, cut across the hill from the middle line to my left line and pushed me off the road. This was disaster. I didn’t crash, but I stopped and there is no way to start again on this 18% hill. All Kris’ hard work was wasted (at least for me) in an instant. I jumped off and ran the bike, suffering madly. Riders were streaming by me, including lots of Rocky Mounts, each of them urging me on, “Come on, Bill! Come on, Bill!” What a strange, wonderful experiences to have such supportive teammates. I’d find out later that a rider crashed in front of Chris and he also had to run the hill. I jumped back on the bike at the top, but I was off the back of the lead group and the crosswinds were tremendous here. I once again couldn’t get clipped in and whenever I tried I lost more ground. I didn’t get clipped in until we hit the pavement a couple minutes down the road, but I was back on to the tail end of the lead group, but I was suffering mightily with the effort.
We hit highway 170 and the half mile leading
east when the leaders turned the screws again. Gaps opened up everywhere I
struggled to leap around them and maintain contact. I was off the back again at
the top of the hill, where my family was wildly cheering on anyone in a Rocky
Mounts kit. I was in deep trouble, but pushed and pushed and caught the group
on the downhill section before the turn towards the start. With one lap down, I
was still in the lead group.
The finish to this race is not at the start, but just beyond the Koppenberg Hill. Our race would do 3.5 laps, so four times up the big hill. Rocky Mounts in the lead group were Gene, Matt, Chris, Dave, and myself. Five of the eight still left. Matt was at the front doing most of the damage, setting a brutal pace that had everyone else just trying to hang on. He wasn’t getting much help either.
Each time up the hill was a complete suffer-fest with the mad scramble to close any gaps as we rolled over the top and onto the dirt. I was gapped again and used Dave, Gene and Chris to help get back up to the group. The second time up the 170 hill, Chris had some trouble and apparently got gapped. I worked my way up to the front and got on Matt’s wheel, so Rocky Mounts now held the first two positions. We made the turn to finish the first lap and Matt moved over for me to take the lead, but I was shot and couldn’t help out. A Cat. 4 rider that we had previously passed shot on by and Matt jumped on his wheel. Another race next to me said, “He’s a Cat. 4 – not in our group.” True, enough, but Matt was in our group and now he had a gap on the field and a wheel to draft. Technically, you aren’t supposed to work with a rider in a different race, but it happens all the time. A leader doing it is definitely questionable, but with such a hard race and the brutal wind, we were mixing heavily with the Cat. 4 riders, who went off five minutes before us, from the first lap onwards.
Two of the other riders responded and made the jump up to Matt and the Cat. 4 rider. I didn’t have it in me to make the jump and wouldn’t tow the field up to Matt even if I could. As it turns out, this was the winning break. I stayed with the chase group and just tried not to get dropped. Chris caught back on and so did Gene. I was surprised how strong Gene was. I didn’t know him at all, but the pre-race talk didn’t give me any indications of his strength, but he was up in front of Chris and I, working for us. At the time, I thought he was working for himself, as he set a strong pace and I could just barely manage to hang on.
The penultimate time up the hill, the chase group was cut down a bit and we lost Gene here. I’m not sure when we lost Dave, but I know he was with the group the second time up this hill. So we now had Matt in the lead breakaway with two other riders and Chris and I in the chase group.
The last time up the 170 hill, Chris was riding strong and setting the pace up half of this hill. I moved up near the front here and was second wheel down the hill. I went to front just before turn, for safety reasons and led the chase group around the corner. I Cat. 4 rider was up ahead and I caught him and tucked behind for a draft. Chris was right behind me. If it wasn’t for the Cat. 4 rider I’d have been working for the entire chase group, but, of course, mainly for Chris. At one point Chris put his hand on my hip and pushed me a bit. I thought he wanted me to take over the lead from the Cat. 4 guy and go harder, but before I responded he said, “I don’t want you to take the lead. Let someone else work.” He gave me the push only so that he wouldn’t go by me.
Chris had talked previously about attacking at the bridge a ways up the dirt road, but that wasn’t a good spot for me. If I was going to whittle the field down, it was going to be on the half-mile hill at the start of the dirt section. I attacked here and halfway up the hill the only person with me was Chris. We had a sizeable gap and it would be non-stop suffering from here to the finish.
Chris and I worked very well together, taking turns at the front and pushing the pace. We swarmed by other Cat. 4 riders and even by at least one rider in our category. I figured he must be one of the breakaway guys, but it was confusing. Chris led the way over the bridge and I was fading, but our gap was holding. Each time Chris would take the lead, he would urge me on, “Come on, Bill! Almost there. They group is coming for us.” Each time I finished a turn at the front, I thought I was done. Once I even gave Chris a big push, saying with the gesture, “Off with you, man, I’m done. Go get it.” But Chris refused to let me give up. He urged me on with a constant stream of encouragement. I had no extra breath for any talking and Chris probably could have finished higher up if he had saved his breath as well, but he didn’t. Working this hard with a teammate in the finish of a race was a unique experience for me and I loved it. If I wasn’t suffering with a teammate who was trying to help me and in turn I was trying to help him for as long as I could, I would have sat up. I didn’t only because of Chris.
We caught and passed a rider in our category, but a minute later he attacked us hard and gapped us. He blew up, though, and we passed him back at the base of the final hill. Chris was leading me now, just like last year when he took second. I know Chris can sprint hard and has a tremendous one-minute effort. I knew he was gone and I just tried to hold off as many of the chasers as possible. But at the top of the hill, Chris was blowing, as was the rider to his left. I was redlining it, but knew I had 20-30 seconds left. I shifted into the big ring and stood up. Chris let me by on the right and I sprinted for all I was worth, passing the other rider and holding any chasers off.
When I finished, I didn’t know where I had placed. In the final stretch to the hill we passed teammate and Cat. 4 rider Eric Peltier and he later said that Chris and I were the 4th and 5th riders to pass him. Maybe two more caught us, so that should put Chris and me in the top ten for sure and maybe as high as 5th. Matt did all the work in the front, in the break, even berating his escapees to help out, but they couldn’t or wouldn’t. Justice prevailed in the end, though, and Matt took the victory! Hurray for Matt and hurray for Rocky Mounts! Matt was just a notch above everyone else today. He later said that it didn’t even seem that hard for me. He’s on fire right now. He’s already an established excellent climber and now he is a strongman as well. Can he sprint, too?
Here's some comments from David on his race:
I was not in the lead group after the hill as Bill stated in his report. I was one or two back from Bill on the initial climb and with the a bunch of people stopping in front of me and I was not paying attention I fell into the ditch still clipped into my pedals. I thought I had a chance getting back to the lead group but there was no way in hell.
From there I just sat in on groups that went by and ended up 12th. No bad for not working really hard and just sitting in. I felt good and coming into the last Koppenberg climb I was with a group of 9 +/- and only one guy beat me to the line.
That afternoon I rode down to the check-in and got our 35+/Cat. 4 team results:
1.Matt Vawter
4.
6. Chris Busacca
11. Gene Palumbo
13. Dave Kupital
36. Rich Zirk
39. Kris Thompson
54. Joe Clark
There were 58 finishers and probably 70 or more starters. It was a good opening team effort for us and one we can certainly build on. Chris and I were sick for this race and Dave has been feeling off lately, so we can perform even better. I think we had the biggest team in this race and definitely the strongest. We will be feared this year.
Figure 1: This is the profile for the race. I forgot to start my watch for the race, so no heartrate information. I recorded his log the day before. You can see the long hill leading into the Koppenberg Hill, which is the final, super steep section at the highest point on the course. The other smaller hill is the highway 170 hill.