LMC Home Race 09

I woke up early Friday morning on April 3rd knowing that I had a big weekend ahead of me. It was the weekend of our home race which consisted of a team time trial and individual time trail on Saturday and a road race on Sunday. On Friday morning, I boarded a school van not to go to a bike race but a track meet. My plan was to go with my team and run a 5k at Duke University at 9:30 Friday night, get dropped off Saturday afternoon directly from the meet to the ITT start, and race the road race Sunday morning. As I anticipated, it was one of the hardest weekends of my life.

I narrowly beat my best 5k time so it went pretty well, but anyone who has raced a 5k will tell you its one of the tougher races in track. Short by cycling standards but extremely intense the whole race and a good time definitely demands an all out effort. I could feel it in my legs when I got up Saturday which worried me a little because the time trial course was brutal; 6+ miles straight uphill. After watching my teammates run Saturday morning and driving three and a half hours, my track coach dropped me off at the bottom of the hill just in time to warm up.

The time trial was hard.

It was long and steep. Here is Big Nate coming around a switchback. We have a Nate vs. Nate rivalry. He has been a better road racer then me so far, but I proved to be a slightly better climber on Saturday.

Here we are trying to recuperate at the top. Eager to prove my climbing skills, I totally killed myself going up the hill. It was one of the most painful moments I have ever had on a bike. By the top, my lungs were bursting, my legs were burning, and I literally felt like I was about to cry.

Me and Kathryn totally maxed out at the top. I raced the B category which I won by two and a half minutes. My time placed me ninth overall out of the A group, and six of the eight people that beat me were on my team.

Early next morning it was time to race again. Our home race coarse was a 6-7 mile circuit with about two miles of steep climbing and descending per lap. I knew I was in for another brutal day, but I didn’t realize just how brutal it was going to be.

My race face.

The men’s A field started first and raced nine laps. Our boys did well and took several top ten spots.

Doyle.

Lobster got second just behind this guy after a nine lap battle.

Our race started shortly after. I was told before the race that I was the favorite aside from a lone Georgia Tech rider who was pretty strong. He made is presence felt early by riding a good tempo up the climb on the first lap and splitting up the field. No one wanted to work, however, and the field more or less come back together. I went over the top right behind him, but I knew that the race would be split apart again on the next climb and their was no point in trying to maintain our gap on the flats.

Coming through together on the first lap. It was the last time the race came through as a pack.

I rode a hard pace the second time up the climb, and the pack disintegrated. At the top I looked behind me and only three were left (yes one of them was Carla).

A couple laps later, one of my breakaway companions dropped. With three to go, I began really motoring up the hill in an attempt to weaken the Georgia Tech rider. He stayed right on me, but Carla finally dropped.

There are a few times in racing when you are given the pleasure (and agony) of a true man to man battle. This was one of those days. The whole race, the two of us were dictating the pace and destroying our competition. After four laps, I did my best to destroy him. I launched attack after attack on the hill but was reeled in every time. I gapped  him once on the flat but he once again proved to be too tough and fit and caught back up. Every time up the hill was a battle with me usually on the offensive. I could tell by his breathing and riding motion that he was hurting bad, but so was I and he proved tough enough to handle my attacks. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get away. By the last lap, we were both going all out up the hill side by side but neither of us could gain any ground. After carreening down the fast descent for the last time, we both sat up and waited for one of us to make a move. I attacked early out of a corner only to have my calf cramp up and be quickly reeled in. After almost two hours and twenty minutes of all out war, it was going to come down to a sprint.

He went early, and from a tactical standpoint I should have won since he basically led me out. I just didn’t have enough power left in my legs to get around him. After a long, hard race, I lost by less than a bike length in the final few hundred meters, and the rider from Georgia Tech took a well deserved victory.

WALLED OUT

It was a super hard coarse and everyone was maxed out afterward. Here are some post race shots

In the end, I survived three of the hardest all out races of my life in three days and picked up some pretty good results. Getting outsprinted at the end of the road race was frustrating, but thats how racing goes, and all in all it was a great race and a great weekend. I ended my weekend totally walled out but I am rarely satisfied if I finish my week in any other state. Big thanks to Bo for letting me race his bike.