Chico Stage Race Report- 55+ 1/2/3/4
Tough field with a WC and multiple Nats guy, along with several of the Nats TT podium. Several out of staters.
First race since September. To paraphrase Allen Iverson: “man, it’s February. We’re talking about February. Not Nationals in May. We’re talking about FEBRUARY”
Friday: Stage 1- Thunderhill Raceway Circuit. Auto racing track with a couple of short but hard climbs. Thing about race tracks like this is if they get wet, they turn really slick because of all the rubber and oil. Back in the day I broke my back in a 100+ MPH crash during a Moto GP race when it started raining. And the last time I raced in the rain I ended up with 4 more broken vertebrae.
Dry all day. We lined up and the sky opened up. Soaked. I was, to understate, cautious.
Hadn’t ridden the course before. “Slight climb” was more like “steep kicker” and there was another one minute and change 6% climb that wore down folks as the race went on. The “let’s all ride 400-500w” type.
Did I mention the blind decreasing radius left that I almost went mud surfing in at the exit? I nailed this on the last lap, but the first time through it was ugly.
Threw in a couple of attacks but the legs weren’t showing a lot of love so I surfed at the front and played for the finish. Had it perfectly set up, third wheel coming out of the final corner. Just went too early. Pedaled squares for the group time. Some guys got bonuses and a bit of separation. Sitting pretty in 30[SUP]th[/SUP] or something. Few guys got dropped, two of the big hitters had mechanicals.
Saturday: Paskenta Road Race: 45 mile thing with 4 miles of rolling gravel at mile 11, preceded by 2 miles of potholes. Hit the gravel first and threw in a big charge. Hammered it out till WC goes flying past. Dropped a big effort and pull that back then NC goes. Oh what fun. Figure its time someone else did the work so we traded off and exited the gravel with 10 guys several dusty miles later. My two teammates are gone.
I’m hurting and nearly come off on the climb right after the gravel but hang.
Around 5-6 guys manage to catch our front group.
Much attacking ensued. I start getting those “man, it’s February” type cramps. Two guys got away and WC, who had flatted in the circuit race and was 9 minutes down did the lion’s share of keeping the guys close. Me and another guy contributed, which meant on the finishing climb I went backwards. Finished 13[SUP]th[/SUP] with a group. A really hard 1:45 on the bike.
Apparently there was daylight between my front wheel and the next guys rear wheel so I get docked 4 seconds. Really?
I just didn’t have the energy to make them look at the video, results weren’t posted for two hours and I was napping at that point back at the hotel.
Sunday Crit: Figured I’d gamble on the TT. Weaved through a crash early on. Found the biggest guy I could and rode 27 MPH on 200 watts to 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. Didn’t even sprint. I giggled. Half the field went OTB and got lapped/neutralized.
Sunday TT: Went to put on my skin suit and saw it still had a number glued on from Track Nats in July. I put the BMC together and rode it Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time. So with a new bike, on 3 hours of TT bike time in 7 months, and 400 TSS of racing in my legs/lumber away I went.
Finished 22:52. Officially 22:57. Unless they screwed up everybody’s time by 5s I dropped from 5[SUP]th[/SUP] to 7[SUP]th[/SUP] with that time "loss", which is where I ended up officially on GC as well. Couple years prior I had ridden 51:47 on 28 more watts, no one went under 22:07 so with actual legs, who knows. Few less brain farts on my and the officials part and I would have been 4[SUP]th[/SUP] or 3[SUP]rd[/SUP], but I can’t be too unhappy, rode with the front guys and the gaps were tiny when you yanked out the time bonuses. Man, it’s FEBRUARY.
3 months to Nats.
Last edited by Racer Ex; 03-01-16 at 08:23 PM.