Today was the inaugural edition of The Cycling Classic and it’s set to become a true classic as the name implies. The course consisted of five dump loops for a total of 91 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing. Fortunately, we started early enough so we’d be done before it got too hot. Even though I’ve been taking it easy and bailed on doing the Portland Twilight Criterium on Friday night, my resting HR was still elevated this morning and yesterday’s pre-race tune-up didn’t produce the power numbers that I usually see when I’m in good form. So going into today, my main goal was just to finish. The payout was 20-deep so I figured since I’m usually good at races of attrition—which this was sure to be—I had a chance of placing in the money.
The race started with five parade loops around historic Hyde Park. This was a good thing because I noticed that the cadence display on my FlightDeck was reading high. At first, I thought I had the computer set on the wrong cassette. But then shifted through all the gears and realized that it was off by one, which would have not let me get into the 27. So I adjusted the barrel adjuster and got it shifting right by the time we finished the fifth of our parade loops. Then the race was in full swing when we hit Hill Rd. The first time up the hills wasn’t too bad, but a rider made a solo break. Everyone seemed content to let him go, but then a second break of about five guys went up the road. I was doing OK on the hills, but I could tell we weren’t going that hard this time around.
After the first lap, I wanted to get a feed. They had the feed-zone on a flat section through Hidden Springs. I went to the front so I could get a feed without anyone getting in the way and due to the speed, I dropped the first bottle. Then I went for a bottle of water, and I dropped that one too. At this point, since I had a small gap, and was kind of ticked off at myself, I decided to push it. I rode in no man’s land for a while and then two riders caught me. We worked together on the hill and it was actually kind of nice to have that cushion in front of the main field so we didn’t have to go so hard on the “wall”. The wall is the steepest of the hills on the backside of the course and I was really glad I had my 27-tooth cog every time up it!
The third time on the Wall things were really hard and I had to dig pretty deep to hang on. I barely made it over the top with a select group of about 10 riders. We hit it pretty hard on Hill Rd as we were trying to make up time on the break. Then we hit the first set of hills at the beginning of the fourth lap and I just couldn’t hang on. I dropped off and put it in time trial mode. I could see another rider popped off about 500 meters ahead of me and I kept him in my sights the whole time. I kept looking back to see if anyone was coming up from behind, but since we hammered on Hill Rd, I had a pretty good cushion so I didn’t need to be to afraid of people catching me from the rear.
By the fifth and final lap I was feeling really tired. I could tell my power was dropping, especially on the hills. But I was sure to keep pushing the fluids and ate a bunch of gels. I got my last feed and then up The Wall the last time I caught the rider ahead of me, and another rider who got dropped later on from the front group. I didn’t know exactly how many people were up the road but I knew I had to be in the top twenty. I sat in a bit before the finish into Hyde Park and since I knew one of the riders I was with was a good sprinter, I just sat on his wheel. He cranked it up with 500 meters to go and it hurt pretty bad to hang on, but I managed to stay on his wheel. The with only 50 meters, I waiting for him to kick it and I guess he cramped up as he just couldn’t go anymore and I sprinted around him.
At first, I thought we were sprinting for like 15th place or so, but I was pleasantly surprised when I learned I got 10th! Not bad considering how I’ve been feeling lately. My teammates all had good results too a 15th, 19th, and 20th. Not bad for a bunch of guys who just wanted to finish today. I think there were 42 starters but only 25 people finished, proving that it was one tough day in the saddle. Now time for some serious rest!