The
weather was cold and nasty, but that does not matter.
My teammate (Chris B) and I showed up around 6:20am
to register and get warmed up. Registration started
at 6:30 from what the flyer said, but they said they
would not be ready until 7AM. We already knew our
start time (8:20), so we decided to drive the course
to see what it was like. One of our teammates had
won the Cat 4 race last year and said it was a fairly
fast course with one hill. We get out on the course,
driving in my van, and notice the first few miles
are uphill (~4%). We go along the course noting the
turns and the rollers/hill that we will be racing
on. Discuss who is going to pull when, where in the
road to ride and how fast to take the few turns there
are. We notice that the 1km sign is at the top of
a hill and the finish is at the bottom. We get back
to registration and get our race numbers. Pull out
the trainers and wheels and start putting air in the
tires and getting the right cassttes on the right
wheels. I ran my deep Cane Creek Aros Ti wheels and
my teammate borrowed my disc and a friends tri-spoke
front wheel. Since I am weaker on the climbs, I stuck
with the lighter wheels and let him have the extra
aero advantage (albiet small). We get our stuff all
organized (which we should have done before leaving
for the race) and hop on our trainers. We each had
about 10 minutes on the trainer to warm up and pin
numbers on each other. Not even close to the 60 minutes
I wanted to have to warm up. There was about a 2.3km
ride to the start line from where we park (registration),
so we left about 10 minutes before our start time
(8:20) to get there at the right time. The road was
mainly uphill with a steep section right before the
start of the race, so it was not a 4 minute ride like
you would expect. We showed up three minutes before
our start time, so we had a few minutes to make sure
we were in the right gear, who was pulling first,
water bottles open Our race numbers coincided with
our start time (race #820, start time 8:20). We get
up and have a minute to go before starting and the
ref gives some course description and instructions.
Then we head to the start line. We head off, my bike
took a couple revolutions to get onto the big ring,
but it made it (need to adjust that) and we were pushing
good up the first hill (really just a long roller).
We work well together and I feel pretty good plus
within the first 4km we made up ~40 seconds on the
team that started ahead of us. We get to the beginning
of the descent and I pull through and push good on
the way down, not windy at all, but quick (70+kph).
We go right at the first and only signal and start
riding along. Along the side of the course it is just
a bunch of endless rollers. About 7 miles into the
race, I am not feeling good, so I let my teammate
know he needs to slow up the pace a bit. he did great,
he pulled all along the backside of the course. We
come to the last section of the course with three
small hills. He pulls up them with me struggling to
hang on to his wheel and then I pull down the hill
(the easy part). On the first hill I thought it was
the last, so we get up near the top and I drop a few
gears and push hard. Only realize that we are not
done yet. I suffer through a small flat section and
then up the next hill climbing in my smallest gear
(34/21). Onto the final hill we start up and and notice
the team in front of us and another team in front
of them. I go good up the hill giving it as much as
I can knowing the end is coming. About 80% of the
way up my calf starts to get tight, so I push a bit
harder to get it all over with. We get about 20m from
the top and I tell my teammate to pick up the pace,
I am ready to finish. He starts going down his cassette,
but it was not fast enough for me, so I start to move
past him and notice the 1km sign. I push hard down
the hill, around 75% of the way down both my calves
completely cramp up. I know we are almost done and
figured screaming would keep my mine off the pain.
Just as I am about to cross the finish, I see my teammate
pulling up next to me. Since the time stops when the
second rider crosses the line, this was good. I know
I am finished and just get on the brakes so I can
get off my bike. I stop and lay my bike down and curl
up in a ball trying to figure out how to get rid of
the pain. A few folks come by to see if I am okay
and give me a blanket and start rubbing my calves.
I feel better after that and sit up and relax for
a bit. I throw up twice and just sat and chatted for
a few minutes with the folks helping me. A nice guy
and lady helped me up and let me borrow a wind vest
for the ride back to registration (4km ride with one
climb to get back). It was darn cold on the ride back
and I was very happy to have it. I get back to my
van and talk to my teammate a bit, thinking we did
okay, even though it was hilly. We get changed and
pack up some stuff and go over to look at the results.
It shows us as going 50:21.1 and in 9th in our category.
We were very disappointed and figured we just did
not have the fitness we needed for something so hilly
and others were better prepared.
After
looking at the results online and thinking how close
we were to the team in front of us. Thinking about
how everything was on the course and were everyone
ended up, we came to the conclusion that they got
us mixed up with team 827. My teammates clock for
the course was in the 47:xx range from what he remembers
seeing. Kind of upset a bit that we do not know exactly
what happened and where we ended up. We were shooting
for top 3, but at least if they did mix us up, we
were only 1.1 SECONDS out of 3rd.