Steamboat Springs Wrap Up

Last weekend we (Beth and I) went out to Steamboat Springs to do the last official race of the season.
Steamboat is really pretty, and I've never been, so I was pretty excited to go. It's too bad that my legs were not also excited to race as I pretty much stunk it up in the first two stages of the this race. I finished 11th or 12th in both the opening time trial and the first circuit race. I just chalk it up to bad legs in the first circuit race. Maybe too much track racing this past month? There are no hills on the track you know! I got dropped on the first lap climb of that circuit race and was in no man's land. I made up a little ground by catching a few people along the way, but it just ended up being a bad day for me on the bike. Beth did really great though, she finished 4th and hung on to the lead group of climbers. She was sitting 4th overall after the stage.

I was kind of upset about the circuit race and really didn't know what to expect from myself after 2 bad days on the bike. I joked to Beth the night before about going from the gun in the road race, and her response was an emphatic "No!" We hoped the race would stay together and not be too aggressive because we heard it was a pretty hard course, and as we've said before, we're not a team of climbers.

We started the 3rd stage road race with a neutral roll out on a dirt road for about a mile and then hit the open high way. Then I, in typical fashion, got bored about 1 mile in to the race because I was doing about 90 watts and no one wanted to pull, so I went to the front to to a pull and get the ball rolling, and lo-and-behold, I was off the front. Turns out Beth pulled up when I went to the front and opened up a gap for me. 2 Bike Law women followed with me and when I saw we had a bit of a gap, I just started riding. That was how this epic adventure all got started.

I pull up my SRM file as evidence of the race that unfolded because I am sure as I retell this story that my breakaway will get longer and longer as the years pass. So it was me, Alisabeth, and Sue off the front from mile 1 of the race. We worked very well together. I knew it was an ill-fated move, but I still wanted to gain as much time as possible before we got caught so we could help our teammates in the race. Unfortunately, Alisabeth flatted around mile 15 when we crossed a rail road track. Then it was just me and Sue for another several miles. We still had a pretty big gap because I couldn't see the pack behind us, but our break had more bad luck when Sue dropped her chain around mile 20. I had the choice to go alone or wait for her. I chose to go alone. And so I went...

I went alone to the turn around in the race which was about mile 25. I thought I couldn't be more than a minute or two in front of the pack by then, but when I spotted the pack after the turn I had already been past the turn around for more than 2 minutes. By my powers of dedcution, that meant I had to have about a 5-minute lead on the pack. Holy Crap! I had almost 25 miles to go to the finish, but a pretty big lead. This is the point when I started to have a glimmer of hope of taking this race to the finish. So I grit my teeth and did my best impersonation of Jacky Durand.

Of course, it didn't play out the way I had hoped it would, in epic fashion to start a break on mile one and hold it to the finish. It still was a great adventure. As I ticked the miles away I still couldn't see the pack behind me. When I got to 15 miles to go and still couldn't see the pack, I thought I still had a chance. I did a lot of math in my head that day... I could lose 1 minute every 10 km and still win, but of course, the last 5 miles were mostly uphill. So I was not certain at all that I could hold it. Then with about 10 miles to go the skies opened up and it started to pour down rain and hail. This was turning in to an epic day. I thought and hoped the rain would slow the chasing pack down, but it didn't.

Unfortuatately for me, the moto official started giving me time splits in those last few miles. At 10 miles to go I had 2.5 minutes. I thought... I couldn't lose 2.5 minutes in 10 miles in my worst time trial, right? Oh, but wait, I forgot to factor in the 30 miles preceeding of bascially time trialing. By the time I hit the base of the climb the moto official rides up and tells me I had 1:10 over the chasing pack... I thought to myself, "Crap, I need at least 2 minutes to hold this lead." I kept going as best I could, but was like one of those tour guys who has been in the break all day and getting chased by Lance just weaving my way up the climb. I got within sight of the summit of the penultimate climb when I heard the whir of Susannah's wheels behind me. My epic adventure was over 3 miles from the finish of the race.

It was the best of times and the worst of times. I have always been the rider who isn't afraid to attack, and although my attacks are often ill-timed and ill-advised, I always go with the hope it will work. This time I was in the lead of the race for 45 miles, it's just too bad that the race was 48 miles.

I got popped as soon as the pack caught me and strolled in well after the leaders finished because the last mile was all uphill and I was cooked. The good news of this epic adventure was that it did actually help my teammate Beth who didn't have to do a lick of work all day until the final climb. She did great and finished 3rd on the day and made the final selection up the last climb. The next day was the crit and if she did well she could move up on the overall.

In the crit, I made several attempts to get off the front, but to no avail. We did take both cash primes, and I was able to help Beth with a good the leadout on the final lap. She eneded up taking the win and bumped herself up to 3rd overall with the time bonus, so that at least was some gratification for the weekend.

All in all, I had a good time at Steamboat and we went to the hot springs after the race. I wished I had raced better in the early stages, but we can't always get what we want. I will still count that break-away in the road race in Steamboat as one of my favorite moments of 2009, eventhough it didn't work out in the end. I'll keep trying though, you all know me by now.