There was an attack right from the gun with a bunch of guys getting up the road early. The first time up the climb seemed very relaxed. I was well positioned in the first part of the field and didn't drift back at all over the length of the climb. After the main climb there were a few rollers and then a really fun corkscrew descent. With the yellow line rule being strictly enforced on this open to traffic course everyone was crammed onto a narrow piece of tarmac.
As we came though the start line and towards the bottom of the climb marshals and spectators we're telling us that the break had about two minutes on us. This wasn't good news as the field was going to try and take out a bunch of this time on the climb.
I wasn't disappointed this time up the climb, the field upped the pace and now gaps were opening. I saw Drew ahead of me slowly drifting back through the field and I didn't have enough breath to say anything as I was maxed out just holding my position. As we came across the flatter section in the middle of the climb I was starting to lose places and Drew comeback past me as I popped off the back of the field. There was nothing I could do to close the gap and I watched as the field disappeared up the second half of the climb and onto the rollers. I took a deep breath and kept pushing as hard as I could.
I came up on a couple of other riders that had been dropped just after me and we started to work together to see if we could catch back on. Just after the descent another couple of strong guys came up behind me and I jumped on the back of this new group as we started the chase back.
Two of the riders were really strong on the flats and small rollers doing enormous pulls into the wind. Russell White with pulling like a train as well as Brian from the AV team. With about 8 miles from the bottom of the climb we managed to catch onto the back of the group. I tried to recovers best I could ready for the climb again but my legs were hurting bad from the chase.
Spencer rolled up along side me and said hi. He was telling me that the race had been strange up to that point. I agreed but probably not for the same reasons.
This time up the climb the pace was high again almost from the very start, gaps were opening and I tried my best to stay with the group. I stood up on the pedals and my legs were like lead. I was off the back and it wasn't looking good to get back on this time. I kept going as hard as I could and again started to catch other riders that had been dropped. I was passing guys who had beaten me at the Chico Stage Race and I was determined to keep going and either get back onto a group or finish solo.
I had 3 laps to go and 3 more times up the climb to suffer through before the finish. One big mistake I'd made was assuming that there was neutral feed, there was no neutral water at this event and I only had 2 bottles. It didn't impact the fact that I was dropped but it would impact how bad the rest of the race felt.
I rode the whole next lap by myself and just before the bottom of the climb I came up on another rider from the Pro/1/2 field. He told me his hamstring was hurting but would ride with me anyway. I kept pushing on and he hung behind me until the top of the descent. I hit the descent really hard and never saw him again after that. On the rollers I was caught by the Cat 3 field who were on their first lap.
I rolled the rest of the lap again by myself and passed some more dropped riders from my field including more string guys from the Top Sport race. I was still pushing as hard as I could and none of these guys wanted to carry on at that pace. Not that it was fast but they were more cooked than I was at this point.
As I came towards the bottom of the climb I could see the finishers from my race rolling back to the parking area. I was going to be finishing about 15 minutes back on the field. I kept going but was out of water, I got to the bottom of the climb and did my best to look strong as I crawled through the feed zone. Fortunately the feed zone had emptied out a little and not many people were taking notice of me. I got to the finish line and was a little worried that they'd all gone home. Fortunately they were still there and recorded my finish as 50th place.
I rolled back to the car and met Drew, turns out his 2 teammate hadn't finished. Looking at the results it seemed that 20 people dropped out but I'd managed to finish. Not my best day on the bike recently but still a finish.
The good news for the day was that Spencer finished in 2nd place with a drag race to the uphill finish. This was a BIG result for him and hopefully I'll still get to train with him more often.
I get the feeling that I'm fried at this point and need a bit of a break. The legs are like lead and have no snap. I shouldn't have been dropped the second time around so something is up.
Race day food.
Breakfast - Bananas on toast, banana, Crank Gel.
Race - 3 Crank Gels, tortilla, 2 bottles of Cytomax
Results:
Wente 2012 Results
Strava: Wente 2012
Location:Livermore, CA
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