First race of the year was this past weekend, "Blythewood - Roubaix" Road Race in South Carolina. Before I even get into my pathetic excuses (and there are many) as to my poor results I need to get something off my chest. First pet peeve to all promoters, would you please stop naming races with Roubaix in the title!? If you aren't promoting a race in France that ends or starts in the sleepy little industrial town of Roubaix in the north of France, you should not be using that as a point of reference - EVER! There have been other similar poor naming issues in the past (Tour de Trump, Tour de Georgia, Ronde Von Manor, Ronde Von Evergreen) but this Roubaix thing has really gotten to me this year. I know its the new thing, especially due to the success of Tour of Battenkill, to have road races in the spring, to mimic the big boy races on dirt roads and rough surfaces...and I applaud their efforts to make some races different, allowing those with different skills to potentially take advantage of them. But if you notice, the Tour of Battenkill doesn't have Roubaix in the title, nor thank goodness any French prepositions. So someone please stop the glut of races headed to Roubaix this year; Fawn Grove - Roubaix, Boone - Roubaix, Rouge - Roubaix, Hillsboro - Roubaix, Boulder - Roubaix. I do have to give it to the Georgia Race..."Perry-Roubaix", that was just screaming to have a race named that and for a promoter to find dirt roads suitable around Perry, GA to race on.
On to the race report. My teammate, who I'll call "skinny climbing guy" (since he would probably be offended by the name Kate Moss) and I, headed out at a relatively sane mid morning departure time as our race wouldn't start 'til nearly 1:30 with a 2.5 hour drive to Blythewood, SC. Upon arrival we noticed a surprisingly low turnout for the afternoon races which would include the P/1/2, Cat 3 and Cat 4 races (though that Cat 4 field was fairly large comparatively). Having arrived nearly an hour before the start, I ridiculously commented on how I wish all races were like this with plenty of time to relax before the start, have a thorough warm up before hand as well as preride of at least parts of the course. Jinxed myself I did, plum out hexed my damned self. After getting registered and upon setting up my bike, I proceeded to pullout my kit and select what would be appropriate as the skies were threatening with dark clouds, very light intermittent rain and increasing wind gusts with the temperature dropping several degrees since we had arrived. Not that I forgot my shoes, helmet or jersey...nope, shorts was the error today. Chamois cream - check! Shorts - nada! It seems I had left them on the dryer the night before, allowing them to dry there overnight after handwashing them for that squeaking clean pro look just before a road race that includes dirt roads in the rain. Panic...that was the emotion...panic...especially after dropping $30 for the race fee and what would end up being greater than 5 hours in the car in travel time. "SCG" immediately set off looking for someone wit a spare set of shorts...and I did the same in the opposite direction with no luck. "SCG" eventually found the kind souls at MOB Racing who actually had a pair of plain gray bibs in my size. To those guys I am grateful...plus they have a great team and are some of the best competitors you'll ever find...being mean with their legs, but friendly in all other communications.
Nearly 20 minutes later, "SCG" and I hit the mandatory "Lil Jonnies" for some fluid emptying and then headed out onto the road for a brief warmup on a road that paralleled the race route. It was during this we knew staying in the group would be freakin' essential with estimated 15 mph steady winds and gusts above 25 felt. Being that I had delayed us somewhat, we headed to the start area after a 15 minute or so warmup with some high cadence and and some big ring digs, arriving just 3-4 minutes prior to our assigned start. We were told we needed to stay in the area as the start was imminent, with imminent evidently meaning "as soon as the officials had eaten lunch and taken a short break". Twenty-five minutes later, I excused myself from the paddock holding area to relieve myself behind one of the many pickup trucks scattered near the start area, two of which had dogs tied to the bumpers (I love racing in the south for the peculiarities I never would have expected until moving here several years ago). Five minutes later we rolled out, following the Pro/1/2 field by about 4 minutes. Yep...thirty minutes of standing around effectively making any warmup I may have had worthless...that's OK, we'll roll with 'dat. The course was a right handed 10k(ish) circuit with three short hills of varying gradients. The first hill was the longest, but probably no more than 6-7 percent near the top...for the most part, except for one lap, the group just rolled up this one. The second hill was the shortest, probably no more than 200 meters with a little kick up in the middle...just enough to make you hurt and for someone to put in a little dig everytime. The third hill was my nemesis, shallow at the bottom, kicking up at the top to about 13-15% or so, requiring nearly an all out effort for 30+ seconds with the requisite attacks that came every time up the damn slope. That third hill also had one other feature which made it the hill of selection throughout the race. At the very top, a 90 degree right hand turn put the group in a nearly flat 3k straightway all the way back to the start finish area directly into that stiff spring wind. It was here on the 4th lap that I caught myself gassed. Despite my every effort to regain the group that had dwindled from an initial 25 at the race start down to the 14-15 just 20 meters in front of me, I watched the lead bunch slowly accelerate away. "SCG" had found himself in the same predicament as I on nearly the same part of the course and as he passed me I let him know that I was coooked. I caught up to him at the Start/Finish area in time for he and I to make the quick desicion to pack it in as the wind on the course had already decided our fates as "Also Rans" at best, which we quickly converted to DNF to gain a head start for home. Most disappointing part of the weekend: poor use of power, worthless glycogen use and the ELIMINATED the dirt road portions of the course because they were of poor condition...huh?!??! Is the race supposed to emulate Paris Roubaix or not?
Post analysis of my power files for that hour showed some very interesting things. 1.) I had over 6 minutes of power above 500 watts (I cooked my self by responding overzealously to surges instead of waiting for the need to do that) 2.) Climbing the 3rd hill the second lap had probably cooked my legs beyond immediate recovery and written the ending to my race long before I knew it when I hit a peak power of over 1000 watts and held 600 watts for over 30 seconds during the surge/attack. 3.) My power on those climb was for me was impressive, poorly used, but impressive midrace considering these were attacks...not sprints and that i really haven't been working on any type of power application like this in training. A little more weight loss will make a world of difference on those short punchy, steeper climbs. 4.) Despite my DNF, I had shown some great fitness with average power of over 88% of FTP during the race despite riding in the pack and a NP of 103%. That fitness was also exemplified by my perceived exertion during the longer flattish parts of the race being fairly tolerable, even enjoyable (feeling like mid-tempo) during the race as I watched the evolution of the race and began seeing the traits of the stronger riders making their presence felt.
Regardless of the many excuses I have made, I raced the same race on the same course as everyone else there today, and I got dropped, gassed, skewered, toasted, stunned, snapped and beaten by those in better shape on this day for this particular course. Though I am still pretty miffed that Blythewood - Roubaix drew not a bit of similarity to the illustrious classic after they removed the dirt roads due to rain, I'll be back next year and hope that the promoters recognize that if you are going to compare yourselves to "The Hell Of The North" by using a portion of the name, you need to keep the crappy roads in the race, ESPECIALLY when they get worse due to the recent weather.
See ya at the races...this week, Out Like A Lion RR!
Da Bug
Weight has been coming down...I expect another 5kg in the next 6 weeks and the power has continue to climb, up almost 25% since December. Bring it!!
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