Today's stage was another new course, this one required when a major rain storm in August sent a bridge on rt 2 to the bottom of the river. Reports are that it will take up to two years before the bridge is replaced. I'm glad that it didn't take them two years to replace the circuit race. When I heard that the new course was going to race DOWN Baby Gap, I was very concerned. It wasn't the high speed decent that raised my alarm, it was the fact that you could only scream down the course if you made it up.
I've been pretty conservative this year, sitting in the pack, waiting for my chance. For some reason though, just out of neutral today, I took off. Part of my plan was to initiate a break, part of it was to warm-up. Immediately I had a 20 second gap, but I was all alone. About a half mile into the breakaway, the first hill of the day came and by the top of it, I was back in the fold. Warm-up complete. The race turned left and entered what would be two 29 mile circuits. This road was very broken up and in a pack of 80 guys, picking the proper line would be critical. As this thought was running through my mind, the right side of the pack hit the deck. 15-20 racers in all went down, two of them bumping my right side as I maneuvered around the carnage. We flew through the feedzone, a glance at my speedometer showed 27mph. Not exactly a proper speed to grab a stationary bottle for refreshment. Perhaps next lap I need to take it slower.
The pack stayed together as we started the 15 mile climb to the top of Baby Gap. I figured that sitting 20 riders back would be a good position, allowing me to drift back and remain in contact when it came to the steeper pitches. Next thing I know, the sign on the side of the road said 2k to go. "Hey, I'm holding well." I look over to Theeman and ask if he was feeling good and wanted to go for the KOM. He does, so I maneuver us to the front, and 700 meters attack the field. 600 meters from the line, I hear something over my shoulder so I turn back, Mark has been gapped. I sit up and let him get my wheel and try again. This time 400 meters from the line I hear the noise again and Mark has lost my wheel. Not where I want to be. 400 meters from the line, 200 meters from the front two riders and only 100 meters in front of the pack. Before I know it, the pack is swarming me and I am struggling to stay in touch. I do, then over the top my legs come back. When you are feeling good, the only thing to do is go to the front. I pull the group down Baby Gap, speeds topping 50mph. While the speeds are high, being in front allows me a clear view of the turns and not a knucklehead to worry about. Down the hill, and to the line, the pace yo-yoed from fast to a crawl. Seems no one wanted to do any work, nor did they really want to race. The intermediate sprint came and went without much attention. My only thought was that I hoped the climb on the second lap felt as good as the first. Through the feedzone I prepared to grab a bottle from ML, lined her up and just as I was going to reach for it, two guys in front of my hit their brakes and scrubbed all their speed. Like the scene from Top Gun where Maverick hits the brakes and Jester passes him, I went past these two guys and missed my feed. Good thing it wasn't hot, because I had half a bottle for the next 20 miles.
The climb felt good, I again went to the front on the downhill, but when we made it to the right onto rt 17, I realized that my legs were tired. In the final 3k to the line, the pace hadn't picked up, but I managed to move to a perfect position on the yellow line. 2k I was still holding my place, 1k people were getting nervous, but no one was picking up the pace. I'm second wheel from the front, just on the line, but the front is shoulder to shoulder with racers. 500 meters from the line the yellow line rule is removed, providing us the entire road, but no one is moving. 300 meters the road starts to rise, the right side of the pack accelerates, but the left side is just not moving. 200 meters I jump for the line, but it's way to late. I cross the line 20th in the pack finish, which is 5 seconds behind the winner. Overall this moves my GC to 20th.
Tomorrow is the critical road race stage.
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