I spent the early part of the week tearing up the mountain bike trails and thought maybe I had overdone it a bit. My legs were still pretty tired on Thursday, so I opted for a full rest day and a slower than usual pre-race ride on Friday. Saturday brought the circuit race in Dalton, GA. Shannon's brother Jake and his wife, Brooke, were in town for the weekend. We offered to take them along for the day trip to Dalton, but they had plans of touring Nashville, so we set out alone late in the morning.
The field across the street was full of turkeys when we left for Dalton.
The weather was beautiful for early March and perfect for racing. The temp was in the upper-60s with tons of warm sunshine keeping us toasty. The course was an interesting one. It was 1.2-miles long, which is why it was a circuit race. It seemed more like a criterium, but a crit. has to be 1 mile or less. That meant the rules were a tad different. You are not allowed to have a wheel pit in a circuit race and they did not have a wheel truck. So you were done for the day if you flatted. The course was partially closed to traffic, which meant that we only had one lane to ourselves on most of the course, which made it kind of narrow.
The course featured a flat start over to the first turn, which was a 60-degree right turn onto a downhill. The hill got steeper as you descended which really helped rocket up the speeds. The second half of the course was all climbing back to the start. You went up three separate times with false flats in between. The first roller was big enough to make you work, but you had so much speed off the downhill that you could clear it with ease. The second roller was small and led to the second turn on the course, a 90-degree right. It was time to work hard coming out of the turn because the road got steep for about 150 meters, then gradually leveled off. The hill topped out about 200 meters from the finish line. Those last 200 meters were slightly downhill, but the sprint would be tricky. The crest of the hill blocks view of the finish line, making it hard to judge your sprint distance. In the early races, this was an obvious problem, with most riders jumping way too soon and then running out of steam long before reaching the line.
Dalton Circuit Race course
Cat. 5 group comes down the hill on their first lap
The climb split up the Cat. 5 field in a hurry
Cat. 4 group on the front stretch
Leading break of 4 that stayed away during the Cat. 3 race
I was very confident coming into the race, but once I got there I was nervous about the course. I usually lack the power to stay with the group on steep climbs like this one. My hope was that it wasn't too long of a climb and that we did happen to have a tailwind up the climb and back to the finish. The goal was to hang with the pack for the full 60 minutes. I picked out a good landmark for starting my sprint, just in case I was there at the end.
We got underway with a gentle start. The first few times up the hill were fast, but not ridiculous. The descent was a little crazy. It, like the finish stretch, was just a lane wide. For the first time of being in a big group this year, it was a little hair-raising to do it at 40 mph. We were so tightly crammed together that you couldn't see the road ahead of you, only the backs of other people.
Pro/1/2 race underway
Then the attacks started. Phil Gaimon of Kenda-Geargrinder jumped away solo and built up a nice gap. Then came the accelerations to get a chase group going. It took a few laps before 8 riders finally got clear. I stayed in the middle of the group, just playing it safe up the hill. I was hurting and having to work really hard up the climb, but I wasn't getting gapped or losing spots like in the past. I was able to hold my position. I could even go around people and close gaps on the more gradual sections. I definitely had more power in my legs than last year.
Gaimon off the front solo
The pace slowed after the 35-minute mark. It was clear that Gaimon and the chasers were gone. Gaimon had won the morning time trial, so we all knew he probably wouldn't be brought back. We were now racing for 10th. The interesting twist to this being a circuit race, is that we would have to do the full distance, even if we were to get lapped. Most of the teams had riders in the chase group and they wanted us to get lapped by Gaimon and the chase so they could put their riders in position to win the race. That brought our speeds down for a few laps.
Gaimon
The pack tops the second roller and heads toward the steeper part of the climb
Gaimon climbs Manly Street. He was definitely manly today with his performance.
The group comes out of turn 2 and onto the steep climb
Gaimon would catch us with about 10 minutes to go. He went straight to the front and kept the pace high. Nobody helped him as the chase group was still 57 seconds back. There were some small attacks around Gaimon after a few laps that upped the pace for some of the fastest laps all day. We were rolling 42 mph down the hill and easily rolling up the first two rollers at over 35 mph, then sprinting 22-23 mph up the steep hill. We dropped several guys during theses couple of laps, and kept the chase group from gaining.
Me in the group as we sprint the climb
Gaimon was able to sit in the field the last few laps with little worry. He would take the win from the middle of the group, celebrating as he crossed the line while we got to hear the bell ring again for the start of our final lap. I stayed near the front the last 15 minutes of the race and found myself in a good position starting the final lap. I was on the wheel of Hincapie's Steve Carpenter coming off turn 1. I was second wheel waiting for the climb. The pace up the climb had slowed in recent laps as the riders fatigued, while I seemed to be feeling better. I was now confident that I could take this sprint. My only fear was that Carpenter would sit up at the bottom of the hill and we would get swarmed by the riders behind who would be carrying a lot of momentum in our draft.
Gaimon on the front with a few laps to go
Carpenter sprinted over the first roller, but it wasn't enough speed to hold back the charge. The surge came up the left on the second roller and I got pinned in on the narrow road. I just couldn't get out from behind him fast enough. I found myself just a few riders from the back of the line coming off turn 2 and starting the hill. I hesitated a bit in the corner and got gapped, losing a few spots before the top of the climb. I was at the back of the group with 400 meters to go. I put my head down and started hammering in the saddle, picking off a few riders, but found myself blocked in when I reached my sprint point. I didn't get a hole until 100 meters to go. I blasted through it and picked off about 5 riders before the line. I may have been able to get more, but I was blocked again. I took 6th in the group sprint which gave me 15th overall.
Video: Clips of a few of the races including the Cat. 5 and Pro/1/2 finishes
It was a good way to start the season. I was never really in any danger of getting gapped or dropped. I think I am already about as fast as I ended last season. But I am mad at myself for messing up the finish. I definitely had the strongest sprint left, but put myself in a position where I couldn't use it properly. I still have a lot of work to do on placing myself in a good position at the finish of road races. We ended the race after 1 hour and 1 minute, racing for 26.5 miles with a 25.6 mph average speed.
I had a cool profile from my Garmin 305 for this race. The elevation and heart rate graphs are almost identical for the 22 laps of racing.
Red line is heart rate, green line is elevation. I was working hard up the hill and recovering on the way down. Textbook profile.
We didn't stay in town for Sunday's road race, but apparently I raced. I'm listed on the road race results despite not even signing up for it. I guess my transmitter found it's way across the finish line somehow.
Sunday was instead spent on the trail. I wanted to run a few fast laps and see how my legs were the day after a race. Turns out they were fairly good. I didn't beat my fastest time, but I got close twice on a trail that was a little slick from rain. Shannon went with me and hiked the trail, taking some pics as she went. She has been riding the trail lately too. She's a natural on the mountain bike and has little trouble with the obstacles that come with mountain biking. I try to tell her she's doing great, but she thinks I just say that because she's my wife.
Snoop!
On a fast lap
A narrow strip of trail along the creek. One of Shannon's favorite sections (not!).
Monday started a rough week for me. I started feeling bad at work and ended up leaving early with some sort of stomach bug that tore me up! I toughed it out at work for several hours to try to make it through the day without having to leave and mess up my patients. I even slept through lunch, hoping it would help my stomach ache go away. When that didn't work, I figured it must be a virus of some sort, so I arranged for a fill-in (thanks Craig!) and went home before I spread it to anyone. I got home just in time to throw up in the yard. The rest of Monday was spent emptying all contents of my gastrointestinal system. I didn't eat for three days and simply felt horrible. I lost 8 lbs in 48 hours.
The end of the week has been all about trying to rehydrate and get some nutrients into my body. I went for a ride yesterday with some difficulty. I'm still weak and get tired very quickly with activity. We did some much needed yard work this morning and it seriously kicked my butt. It's really frustrating, but I know I have to be patient after a few days of sickness. I've only gained 4 lbs back. I was hoping to get in a ride today, but I had to take a rest break after the yard work. Then thunderstorms rolled through the rest of the afternoon and took away any chance of an outside ride. We have had a lot of rain this week, so I wouldn't have been able to ride even if I had felt like it.
This has been our view as of late. I think our driveway is becoming a lake.
Needless to say, we did not go race in Union City, GA today as planned. This was a forced off weekend. I'll get back to racing next weekend at Chickasaw. If all goes well over the next few days, I should be back to 100% strength by next weekend. I am really pumped about mountain bike racing again. The recent trail rides at home have really rekindled my fire for racing on the dirt.
