Pedalling Squares

Leesville Gap RR

Desription
The course is listed as 60 - but it's really closer to 65 miles. The road conditions range from excellent to horrific: in addition to very uneven, badly patched roads with lots of potholes, there are also sections of washboard gravel surface. There are some smooth parts as well. There is a ~1500 foot climb early on, and then two much smaller hills later in the race (one of those is the feed zone). The finish is flat and straight. There wasn't much wind, but it was hot - in the 80-90's. The field size was about 40.

How it went down:
I had a good ride at Pescadero and so I had high hopes for this race. I tried to drive the course beforehand to check out the climb and the shitty road - but I couldn't find it. So, I didn't really know what to expect aside from various people's descriptions.

My plan was to make the first climb very hard if someone else wasn't doing it already. Hopefully I could get into a small break. If that happened I was willing to take my chances in a small bunch sprint.

Not too many of the people in our field had ridden the race before. One dude (let's call him Magellan) got nominated to lead the neutral start since he claimed he had raced it before (there weren't many or any corner marshalls for this race). Well, 500 meters into the race Magellan took a wrong turn. So after we fixed that, we were on our way, cruising daintily along. We eventually got to a long straight road and were riding along at ~15 miles per hour. The 4's even passed us!!! I think some guys in our group thought that we were neutral - nope, just riding slow.

We came to a major highway crossing just as we caught the 4's. We agreed they would wait and let us go up the road and then they would follow. We crossed the road onto the crappy stuff. For those who don't know the Leesville race, the pavement rivals Copperopolis or Morgan Territory - badly patched, and lots of potholes. There were also some short sections of gravel road. We still had a ways to go before the climb really started, but it was a slight uphill most of the way. I stayed at or near the front. I took a few hard pulls and looked back to see how we were doing - still mostly together.

So then Magellan gets a wild hair and says "I'm going to have to neutralize this guys . . . all of the 3's pull over and stop riding". (I guess he saw the 4's closing in on us again.)

He was leading and I was on his wheel at the time and as I pass him and slow up some, he says "Hey Sharp's [that's me!] stop your f***in' your bike!"

Most people told him to go screw himself and we basically all kept riding. Who does this guy think he is?

After a few fun, exciting gravel sections, we came to the base of the climb - 1500 feet of badly-paved, uphill, switchback joy. Mmmmm, I could already taste the bile. But we were going slow, so I attacked like a doberman at the base. I didn't really open up a gap, but I had it nice and strung out. No one pulled through until about halfway up. I looked down several times at my heart rate and it was well into the 180's. I saw 186 at one point, which, as far as I know, is my max. Tasty.

Then another guy takes over riding a monster gear (remember him for later). There were around 8-10 of us now. He got a little gap but never stretched it out to much - maybe 10 meters. I was tired, but still felt pretty good, considering my maximal effort. As we came over the top, there were 7 of us left.

The descent was frightening. It wasn't technical, but it was pretty fast, and really rough. The descent alternated between wide open (but still rough) pavement, to dappled shade, where the potholes were really difficult to see, to long gravelly sections. We were doing ~30+ mph for most of it. For the gravel you could choose the washboard, which was like a jackhammer at descending speed, or the smoother gravel, which occasionally got a little deep in sections and made bike handling a little, uhhh, exciting. (Vaughn/Morgan, the trips down Curry Canyon really helped here!) I survived it.

When we finished the main descent - I sat up and took a look around. We had 7 guys, and 2 teams were represented with 2 guys. I tried hard, but we couldn't get the group motivated. They did not want to work. I had some words with one of them. He played dumb. So we putted around after trying to get some things going - and let a few more join up with us. I think we had 10-12 now. And, get this, the 4's caught and passed us again! Unbelievable. At this point one team (CRC) had 3 guys in our break

We get to the first of the smaller climbs and finally a CRC guy has the gall to complain about how slow we're going and he moves to the front. The monster gear climber dude (from the first climb) quickly takes over and opens up a gap on us. Again, it was nothing huge, but I moved up to second position to ride tempo to keep him in sight. The climb was pretty short, but I punched it over the top. When we got to the bottom we had 6 guys who were motivated to stay away.

The feed zone followed shortly thereafter and the same thing happened. Only this time monster gear dude opened up a pretty good gap and kept right on going. I wanted a little somethin'-somethin' to drink as it was quite literally "hotting up" out there. So I got some neutral water to drink and take a quick shower with. Once again, I was at the front riding tempo over the top. The remaining 5 of us decided to just chill and let the guy fry out there - he had made a total bonehead move (remember this for later) and we all knew it. The 5 of us worked pretty well together and eventually caught him - probably after 3-4 miles.

I should mention here that my cyclocomputer was completely worthless at this point. I think the rough pavement just knocked it completely out of whack. So I really didn't know how far we had gone.

Even after we caught him, the 6 of us continued to work well together. My HR was at a comfortable 160 or below and I was taking my pulls without difficulty. Then we turned onto another nasty evil, rough road and the group just stopped working. We slowed up some, there was lots of "C'mon, guys", but we just weren't working together that well. I wasn't sure how far to the finish so I thought maybe the guys were resting up for the sprint or something. We weren't really in danger of being caught and if we were it would probably only be by a few guys anyway. So this was frustrating. I felt great, but wasn't sure what to do.

In hindsight, we were going slow enough that I should have attacked the group. I felt fine, I think I would have had the legs for a 5-10 mile effort which was what I thought we had left. Someone probably would have joined me so it would have been doable. But, that's not the way it went down.

We turned onto what would eventually be the finishing stretch and were still fiddle-farting around. I kept trying to get the paceline going, but it just wan't happening. I was so naive not to understand what was really going on. So after much complaining and whining, the 1K sign appears out of nowhere. I took a moment to get mentally ready for the finale. I liked my chances in the sprint against this group.

Monster gear dude drops back for a few seconds so I'm now pulling the group. I pull way left to the yellow line and slow down - I do not want to lead it out. Monster gear dude accelerates hard, but not enough to really open up a gap. I'm all over him like white on rice. It's pretty clear now, that with an effort like this, monster gear dude won't win. He'll never recover in time. It wasn't a very smart move, but it was working beautifully for me as the sole recipient of his juicy, succulent wheel. I keep waiting and waiting for the swarming to start, but it never happened. I look back - it's just the two of us. A brief moment of slow-motion clarity told me that the group wasn't working because they were too tired! How could I be so stupid?!?!? After smacking my head like "I shoulda had a V8", I bounce back to reality. This guy is just hammering along at 30+ and I'm licking my chops like a fox in a hen house. I probably went way too early, at 500 meters, but then monster gear boy was wasted, so it really didn't matter.

I went as hard as I could, looked back once or twice to make sure I had it, and considered my victory salute options. I really like the Paolo Bettini arms-askew-like-a-cheerleader salute that he did at Milan San Remo. I also like the Iban Mayo pump-the-shotgun-shoot-the-fist kind of gesticulation at the Dauphine Libere. In the end, I just rode across the line with both hands on the bars. Since no one at the finish really knew me anyway, it wouldn't have been that cool.

Yeeeehawwwww!

Average HR: 160 bpm

Pescadero RR

Description: 28 mile loop, with one 600 foot vertical, 2 mile climb (Haskins Hill) and two shorter climbs on Stage road. We did 2 laps, and part of another lap, finishing at the top of the longer climb for about 75 miles total.

How it went down
My plan was to chill for the first lap, and do something (get into a break, or attack on my own) on the second lap. If we're still together after 2 laps, just try to see what happens on the final climb. The last time I did this race it didn't finish at the top of Haskins but at the bottom about 10 miles down the road. I had a pretty gnarly crash on the descent that year so I was hoping to do better this time around.

The first lap was pretty uneventful. It looked like Patrick was doing some chasing and Demian was helping out. We didn't really discuss the team tactics much, but I was definitely sitting in on the first lap. As we approached the feed zone, Patrick told me he was probably going to go backwards on Haskins after his efforts chasing. Demian came up to us and seemed to be doing a little better than Patrick. We passed through the feed zone, Patrick gave me what was left of his can of whoop-ass, we had a group hug, Patrick kissed me tenderly on the forehead and said goodbye. Then the climb started. I started further back than I like to, but didn't have too much trouble moving up. Not too much happened.

I was in the first third for the descent and a little nervous since the last time down this hill, I wiped out! No problems though, aside from one sketchy moment. But then that always happens. We pretty much cruised until the second time up Stage road. I stayed near the front and felt comfortable for both of the climbs. As we turned up Highway 84 again (which connects Stage to the Haskins climb and it slightly uphill the whole way) it was time to be attentive. Somewhere in here a little break escaped up the road. I didn't quite notice who all was in it - bummer.

So then Pat Caurant launches a fierce bridge attempt - just the move I was looking for. Giddy-up! I'm on that immediately. The two of us opened up a good little gap and started working it to catch the break. We could see them up the road - and it didn't look too impressive. It was clear they weren't working together. Anyway, after a few minutes of hard chasing, we caught them - a few miles before the feed zone. Pat and I continued to work, despite the fact that the other guys weren't taking their pulls. Oh well, eventually we got a paceline going and then turned up into the feedzone. I didn't need anything, and neither did Pat, so we just cruised through it. Then I look back, and there's no one with us!!!

"Shit, we dropped 'em!"

Pat says, "Screw it, we don't need 'em, let's go!"

There was still one stud up the road - Wayne Puckett. Wayne is a great time trialist so if we could catch him, we would have more than enough horsepower to stay away for 30 more miles. As the climb started, I'm thinking I'll be setting the tempo - Pat's a bigger guy, probably 15 lbs heavier than me. I was wrong. He was working me all the way up the climb. I took a few turns at the front, but he was definitely pushing me when he moved to the front. We could start to see Wayne in the distance, and we caught him near the top. We rode the descent carefully, but quickly and organized as soon as we hit the bottom.

At one point, Wayne pulls up and says "I'm going to take really a long pull, ok?" So we let him - what a horse! He did that again a few miles later! We got a time check of about 2 minutes as we approached the town of Pescadero. After negotiating a little traffic jam, and watching Pat almost get doored, we changed up the paceline as we approached the Stage climbs again. Pat unknowingly won the $10 sprint - we didn't really care about that anyway. Wayne said he didn't care so much about winning, he just wanted to stay away. He promised if we got him over the climbs he would "throw it down" on 84. I just hoped I could stay on his wheel!

Pat and I rode tempo over the climbs. We got another time check - we had extended our lead to nearly 2:30 after descending the second hill. Despite the fact that our lead seemed to be increasing - when we got onto 84, we ramped it up another notch. Geeez, we were movin'. I was taking my turns at the front, but I would have preferred to take it down a notch. At this point it was pretty obvious we'd stay away. We had plenty of horsepower, we were maintaining/extending our lead, and working well together - all was going well.

I started thinking about the climb. Wayne is not a great climber - he admitted that. He can't respond well to accelerations. I really didn't think I could beat Pat - he climbed so well the last time, I just didn't think there was much I could do, unless he was tired. But, as we turned up to the feed zone, it was all quickly decided. . .

I was pretty wiped from the effort on 84 and it was getting warm - in the 90's or high 80's. So I kept asking for neutral water as I rode up through the feed zone, but couldn't get any until near the end of the feed zone. I got some, and doused myself with it. I looked up, and Pat had a good gap up the road. Wayne was right there with me. I gave up my dreams of winning right then. I turned to Wayne and told him I was happy just to ride tempo and sprint it out near the top. He agreed. So we started the climb together.

It didn't take long though, for Wayne to slowly ride away from me. I made a few efforts to stay with him, but I was cooked. So I decided to be happy with third place. I looked over my shoulder - no one behind me. I maintained a good tempo and rode in for a solid third place finish.

What a great race. In addition to getting a podium finish, it was nice to be in a break with 2 other guys who worked so well together and who were so strong. Cool!

Average HR: 162 bpm