Callville Bay Stage Race

The third running of the Callville Bay Stage Race is coming this week.  For the first time, there is no 60+ category and I will be riding in the 55+ field, which is combined with the 45+ field and scored separately.  Make no mistake, though, the 45+ field will set the pace, and it will be blistering. There are 20 riders signed up in the 55+ category now; at least three of them have won or podiumed not only on the National level, but on the World level as well; and 52 in the 45+ field for a total of 72 riders hitting the line.  The first day is a hill climb time trial, which will probably determine the race unless there is a break away during the road race.  The road stage is a little over 57 miles long with well over 4000' of climbing.  It is not strictly speaking a climber's course, though.  It consists of endless rollers; many fairly long and steep, but not any long steady climbs.  Instead one will be constantly sprinting up these lung and leg busting hills in the big ring, hoping that no gaps open up to leave you stranded when the leaders hit the downhill.  Over and over.  The really bad news about the course is that there are two very tight turn arounds at the top of uphill grades.  If you were to lose contact, even briefly, the leaders will already be heading back down hill at top speed.  The worst piece of bad news is at the end of all this, there is a series of four sharp rollers, and then a fast down grade to a sharp left hand turn with only a few hundred yards to the finish.  Last year they did this to the women (we went the other direction, so had a right hand turn  on an uphill grade before the finish), and there was a bad crash where at least one woman had to be air lifted out to the hospital.  Grr.  The race will be a race of attrition no matter what else happens, but with a field this strong there is still a strong possibility that there may be as many as thirty riders left at the front contesting the sprint.  We'll see how well that turns out.  There are no time bonuses for placing in the road race, which will help somewhat.

Sunday's race is a 40 minute criterium that goes off at the ungodly hour of 7:00 a.m. 

I rode the road course on Sunday in chilly and on and off wet conditions.  I did it solo in a pretty good time, and put on 67 miles total for the day.  The TT course is also the first 3.3 miles of the road course, and I did the first part of the TT at a good clip, but well under full bore, and the 2nd part (the steep part) at about 90-95% of what I will do during the TT itself.  With my heavy wheels, two full water bottles, and loaded down with winter riding clothes, I still beat my time from 2009, so that's a good indication. 

My team (I'll actually be with a team in the same category this time for the first time) will consist of local third place World TT rider Vic Miera, and World Stage Race champion, Dirk Cowley.  I'll be the weak link in this trio!  At least I can climb and will need every bit of that to keep me in contact this Saturday.  It will be epic, as they say down at the Rapha headquarters.