Monday, May 5, 2008

5-mile pass

Kdays_elbow



I raced in the Showdown at 5-Mile Pass on Saturday.  At 44 miles, it’s the longest race in the ICUP series.  It was a cool morning and I spent much of my warm up time trying to decide what to wear.  Arm warmers? Jacket or Vest? Knee warmers?  Finally I decided to go with only my jersey and arm warmers, knowing full well that I would be rolling them down shortly into the race. 



The race started out a little slower than most ICUP races.  All of us except David Welsh got the message that 44 miles is a long race.  He took off at our usual starting pace—the kind of pace that we use to spread out the group before we get into the narrow singletrack.  I looked around as I watched him pull away and was relieved to see that nobody was trying to cover his move.  After the race, Bart, the eventual winner, told me that Dave was panting when Bart caught and passed him.  Dave must not have been too blown, because he did finish second. 



I settled into a good rhythm in fifth place behind Kevin Day.  We rode the entire rest of the way together, never more than 10 seconds between us.  The picture above sums it up pretty well.  If you look really close, you can see the top of Kevin’s helmet directly behind me.  And his elbow is visible just to the right of my hips.   We worked together some, but he seemed to be willing to take longer pulls.  I was happy to let him do it. 



It’s kind of strange to ride with someone for 44 miles and hardly speak to him, but that’s what Kevin and I did.  There were a few words spoken.  I once told him “good work” as I came around him to take my turn pulling.  Another time he apologized to me for making could have been construed as a move from behind me on a steep hill.  I stepped it up for a second or two, but knew it was too early in the race to worry about little attacks like that.  Kevin said he was just trying to keep his momentum up the hill.  I would have done the exact same thing.  And once he stopped for a second to tighten the skewer on his front wheel (I think) and I asked if he was OK as I went by. 



That’s about all we said.  Oh, there was one more exchange we had at the bottom of Yellow Page Hill, which is the feature this race is most notorious for.  It’s the steepest, loosest, longest hill in any race I’ve done.  I make no exaggeration when I say that no human can climb it—at least not mid-race.  Instead, it’s like a mandatory hike we all had to take mid-way through each of our four laps, and it’s guaranteed to make both of your calf muscles cramp up. 



Here’s what we said at the bottom of Yellow Page Hill:

Me:  This sucks
Kevin: Oh my Gawd!

By the start of our fourth lap Kevin and I had worked out a routine.  He pulled in the same sections and I pulled in the same sections.  It was as if we weren’t racing at all.  I knew that there was no way he could get away from me before Yellow Page Hill, and that there was no way I could get away from him before the bottom of the long, twisty bobsled-like gully. 



The race began at the bottom of the gully.  I was in front and there were about four miles to go.  I would have loved to let him take a pull, but he wisely didn’t come around.  On one of the many short climbs I felt my right hamstring start to cramp up.  With visions of a complete breakdown streaming through my mind I shifted quickly into my granny gear and spun my way to the top. 



Apparently Kevin hadn’t noticed me in pain, because he didn’t attack me then.  He probably could have locked up fourth place with one small effort to put a ten second gap between us. 



The instant the pain in my right hamstring subsided the same thing happened to my left leg.  Back into the granny gear I went.  Kevin surely had to notice me this time, right?  But he still didn’t attack me.  Maybe he was being nice because I didn’t attack him when he stopped to fix his wheel.  Maybe he was in pain too. 



Finally with a mile to go he made his move, but I was able to sit on his wheel all the way to the last 30 yards.  He slipped a bit in some loose sand and I had to veer right to miss him, but he lost most of his momentum then.  Well, he lost more momentum than I did.  It set us up for a sprint finish and I was able to come around him a beat him by a bike length to finish fourth.  That makes two years in a row that I’ve passed someone in the final seconds of that race. 



2 comments:

  1. Nice work....I'm very impressed~

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  2. What??? No "the screaming in my legs comment??? Just so everyone else knows As Chad came up out of the ravine at the end of the race behind Kevin both Kevin's team (Kuhl) and Chad's team (Racers) happen to be grouped right there. Loud cheers went up from both teams cheering on thier respective riders. When I asked Chad if he heard the cheers he stated "Not really, the screaming coming from my legs was much louder" I laughed and asked if he said that so he could put in the blog....guess not...Nevertheless...great race!

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