5th Place – Fawn Grove Roubaix – Cat 3/4

Fawn Grove Roubaix

I finished 5th.

To finish I fifth I drove forward blindly, much of the race alone, without help, chasing with all my might to catch the leader. Between the leader and the (somewhat) organized chase group I puttered and sputtered along, my energy slowly draining as the race drew to its conclusion. To say I was alone is not in actuality true. I had one companion who kept me company. I fed him and dragged him along but he hadn’t the strength to contribute. After the deal was struck that he would get a free ride in exchange for giving up his ambitions for finishing ahead of me I didn’t mind, I enjoyed the company.

I spent mile after mile battling the wind and my chase slowly dissolved and with several short (LONG) miles until the finish line I was caught.

Fawn Grove Roubaix. The day started with a vehicular re-con lap around the course which revealed much about the day were to experience. Within one turn I knew that this combination of roads would suit my style (or more correctly everyone else’s lack of). There was dirt and gravel and lots of it. The gravel was not just a dusting of hard pack but a loose carnivorous wheel consuming path of destruction.

Having previewed course I predicted the start sequence would be selective and the most alert and savy racers would take advantage. No friendly rollout to get our little legs warmed up I predicted. In fact when the quarter mile neutral roll out started I sprinted off the blocks like I was in a criterium. My prohpecy was self fulfilling as I pushed my way to the front and made the first gravel hairpin corner second wheel. I attacked up the dirt rise and the field in typical field reaction strung out. The first flat tire casualties emerged and riders dropped like dead flies all around me. The speed was fast. With short paved sections merely connecting the dirt roads the smarter racers knew that a forward position would ensure a cleaner line when the road collapsed beneath their wheels. Selections were created immediately.

On the second gravel section I maintained my position in the top ten. My off road riding calibration wasn’t quite up to speed and I found my self displaying a high level of caution. Neil Bezdek (my SUPER domestique) flatted out and I felt a twinge of pain in my heart. I quickly refocused in time for a long sweeping completely disasterous left hand of a corner. A rider in front of me high sided his bike and fell onto his top tube. He swerved back and forth across the road trying to keep from stuffing it into the ground. Finally he did stuff it and I executed an evasive maneauver around his fallen body.

Amidst this excitement I had been dropped. The lead group was 50 yards ahead of me and at full bore. The dirt pitched upwards and I powered my way holding the gap steady. I should have panicked.

The race proceeded to fly through the country side. The pace continued frantically ahead of me. There was an amazing amount of energy and animation in the field. We nailed it up the first of the two monster climbs and I clawed my way back to the group. Past the summit the roads became sweeping, rolling, and very fast. There was maybe eight of us. Two riders attacked and moved ahead. They were green and red and obviously knew the roads. Out of the eight I had two teammates. I was strong and focused.

The next major terrain feature was a beyond category gravel descent. A long stretch of gravel pitched downwards and dead ended into a switch back curve. The surface was deep, loose and groove-less. Keith Snyder took a crazy wide line fighting for traction and I followed. We both lost time. I sprinted back up into the group and carried my momentum down the next paved descent catching the two leaders just in time to see them attack off the front again. We began the next steep climb.

The race changed dramatically as we crested the hard paved climb. I can not recall the actual formation sequence but the same two guys were off the front and five of us were chasing. Dan Chabanov was there. When I’m in deep pain, in a break, in a hard road race, I can always look over and find Chabanov. I organized the troops and we began a rotating pace line. The gap to the two leaders didn’t budge. I yelled at everyone. The gap grew bigger. I yelled more. The gap came down. Guys starting skipping pulls and soft pedaling. The pace was hard and the gap was yo-yoing. I began taking longer harder pulls. We dropped one guy. Chabanov and I gapped the other two and closed within 40 yards of the two leaders. Chabanov lost steam and we became one chase group again.

There were four of us together as we crossed the start finish line and I had commenced pulling everyone around. On the first dirt climb I increased the pace from an 8 to a 9 and a 1/2 and rode off the front of our group. I came so heartbreakingly close to catching the break by myself (within (perhaps 20 yards of their slipstream.). I couldn’t maintain pace and the leaders slipped away this time for good. After about a mile Ryan Burke bridged up to me on a descent and we began our long slog together. Heading into the first difficult gravel descent Burke used his superior descending skills to blow past the sharp left hand corner. I acted in a sportsman like manner and yelled at him until he was back on course. Christopher Consorto from the chase group used Burke’s delay to hitch a ride back up to me and we were three briefly. Consorto soon got dropped again and I became agitated as Burke would no longer pull through.

Mr. Burke and I began diplomatic negotiations just in time as I was about to attempt an attack to get rid of him. He offered to help sit on my wheel if I promised to beat him at the line for 2nd. Seemed like an okay deal to me and I carried through at my constant hard pace no longer expecting any help. To his credit Burke was actually riding stronger than he gave himself credit for. He would pull through on the descents although that didn’t mean much. As soon as the road flattened out or pitched upwards I had to drive our duo into and through the wind. Time is not linear in bike races. The time spent into the wind ‘solo’ with Burke on my wheel seemed to last a hundred miles. It was strange. Here we were in a race but nobody was in front of me and no one behind me. I went hard. As hard as I could. I left nothing out on the road.

On the fast paved descent I noticed a green jersey on the side of the road with a flat. I guessed that this was one of the two leaders. Later in the lap this was confirmed as I could see (into the future) around a bend to the front. There was one guy still powering way behind our Subaru pace vehicle. Behind was empty road. I was obviously being chased but where were they and how many of them I didn’t know. I continued burying myself into the wind. The pain was immense. I was calm.

The strange thing about my performance in this race was that I never hit the wall. I never felt like I was about to run out of gas. I simply slowed down incrementally. I felt the same throughout but my legs lost their upper wattage limits and I ever so slowly fell back into the hands of the chase group.

The first time that I realized I perhaps wasn’t going to cruise to a second place finish was up the steep dirt climb on the last lap. As I summated I could see halfway down the climb. The group existed and to my discouragement appeared to be organized. Burke faltered a bit more and I fed him some HEED from my bottle. I was prepared with plenty of fluid and sugar. He wasn’t. Giving him the needed hydration strengthened our pre determined finishing order pact.

The gravel sections proceeded and by now I was completely comfortable plowing my LOOK 595 through the rock gardens. I was power sliding around the dirt chicanes no longer scared to crash or destroy my carbon wheels.

Past the steep dirt climb I glanced behind and the chase group was once again out of sight. I forgot about them and plowed ahead. Summitting the final paved climb I took another glance back and there they were about 400 yards back looming dangerously. I pushed ahead. Several miles later a tall and yellow rider named Jason Hayes announced that he would now be in the race for second place. He was lean and mean and very casually informed us that he had flatted early and had been chasing us all day. Ok Hayes I thought, if your so strong start working to keep the rest of these wolves at bay. Mr. Hayes did work but had strange tactics. He would pull through fast, pedal his heart out and then sit up. I would emerge completely cross eyed, almost run into the back of him, and then pull through. Not very efficient.

Burke; my new shadow, was still hanging on. For someone who couldn’t help he sure could keep up fine.

We were now less than three miles from the finish. Hayes was no longer pulling strongly, I was cooked and sure enough the rest of the chase group caught up. Consorto somehow once again showed his face. I was tired of dropping this kid only to see him again. I yelled at him to work again but he complained about his solo bridge and proceeded to suck wheel. I should have taken his lead but had too much pride. I traded hard pulls with Hayes. The other two guys to make it up there did nothing. Looking back I should have yelled at them too. I hadn’t seen them all day but they looked comfortable riding our wheels.

Past the 1k to go sign the road tilted upwards. I was dead. I launched an attack. My attacked faltered and was immediately countered. I was dropped by Hayes, and the two wheel suckers Joe Hallman and Manuel Caliz. In the last 200 meters they simply rode away from me. Burke good on his word rolled into the finish behind me. Consorto was once again dropped.

5th was a bitter pill to swallow after working so hard to be on the podium. My performance was strong and I can say in all certainty that I put in my share of work in this race. I can’t say much about the winner Ryan Shebelsky because I only saw him as a red target up the road for the first lap and a half. He was obviously far and away the strongest rider in the field and had the bike handling skills to match. As soon as I’m done writing this race report I’m going to check and see if he’s registered for Battenkill.