Capitol Reef Classic - On the Shelf

I arrived in Torrey, Utah on Thursday afternoon after a nearly five hour drive through the back country of southern Utah.  Torrey sits at nearly 7,000' of elevation, approximately 4,000' higher than where I live.  Although not severe, I can definitely feel the difference in the base altitudes and my heart rate is slightly higher just because there is less oxygen available in my blood stream.  We're high there just sitting still.

I stayed at the Red Sands Hotel in Torrey, Utah.  Unlike the Boulder View Inn where I spent one miserable night last year before changing motels, I was greeted warmly and enthusiastically and found that many other cyclists, including riding friends from Las Vegas, were also staying there.  The place was new, clean, quiet, reasonably priced, and welcomed cyclists and their bicycles.  It was such a refreshing change from the Boulder View, where I was greeted with suspicion and ultimately hostility because I was a cyclist there for the race, and was told I could hit the road if I didn't like their policies (no bikes in the room, no matter how spotless the machine was).  The owners of the Boulder View were the rudest most uptight people I'd ever come across in all my years of travel with my bike(s).

The first stage was an individual time trial on a mostly flat to rolling course.  My start time was at 9:45:30 a.m. and the temperature was in the 60s with nary a breath of wind.  Although my time was 49 seconds faster than my time last year over the same course and similar weather conditions, I was only good enough for 8th this year (4th last year).  This speaks to the higher level of competition and the tightness of the times speaks to the greater depth than last year.  My team mates, Lorin Ronnow and Charles Palmer were first and second, respectively.  Given that my chances of moving up in this field were slim, we decided that I would work to protect their lead in the coming two road stages.  I would chase attacks, ride tempo, and attack as necessary.  If any of these moves resulted in a break and it benefited me, great.  Otherwise keeping certain other riders from gaining any advantage over Lorin and Charles was my goal.

Stage Two was a short but hilly 17 mile road race with a moderate climb and several sharp rollers before the finish.  There was an attack by Steve Bernede from Southern California (the same Bernede who crossed the yellow line with impunity at the Poor College Kid's Road Race back in January.  He was DQ'd for this) early in the stage, and Bill Pinkard from Las Vegas attempted to go with him.  I went to the front and picked up the pace and we caught them not much more than a mile or so into their escape.  When we hit the hill, I rode to the front and ultimately off the front, where I was left to dangle until nearly the top.  I heard Lorin yell, "Go, go" and I could see the remains of the field surging and so I stood up and jumped on as we all went over the top.  At this point we moved away from a strong head wind up the climb to a gusty cross wind.  Bernede tried another escape and we let him dangle out there for awhile before reeling him back in.  At this point we'd lost three riders from the group and we came to both a stalemate and a near stand still.  The pace slowed considerably, as no one wanted to pull into all that wind.  We were approaching a short down hill before an up slope that would bring us to the finishing straight.  Lorin suggested I attack to stretch things out a bit.  I did.  And when they were about to catch me, I went again.  Although this took the starch out of me, it had the desired effect of getting Lorin and Charles into position to take first and second again.  Again, I took 8th a few seconds adrift of the others.

Stage Three was a 51 mile road race with only a minor amount of climbing, but with several sharp rollers.  We headed out on the reverse direction of yesterday's stage, climbing the descents from the day before until we reached Torrey and turned west into a strong head wind.  The FFKR/SportsBaseOnline team (mine) and Bountiful Mazda (who had our chief rival for a podium position) agreed to rotate and ride tempo at least until the feed zone nearly 32 miles into the race.  A strong Colorado rider, Ed Chamberlin, who had no team mates with him, also was in on the rotation.  Steve Bernede and Bill Pinkard steadfastly refused to do any work whatsoever.  They merely sat on the back of the six of us who were taking our turn at the front and took full advantage of the wind break we provided them.  A signal was made that I was to make an attack up the road at a location I knew of from riding the race last year.  Interestingly enough, it was the same location I was given my chance to attempt to break away alone last year by the very team I was now riding for.  When we made the left onto the road I gave it everything I had and we (the six of us) kept up the pressure for quite awhile.  Unfortunately, the two barnacles managed to pull themselves back up to us and hang on.  What we hadn't really thought out was how to finally break the two of them off for good.  What I should have done then is gotten between them and the rest and soft pedaled until the danger of getting dropped outweighed their reluctance to pull into the wind.  It's a tactic I've used before, but requires that I seriously could become a sacrificial lamb to accomplish it.  As it turned out, they resisted all other attempts to dislodge them at all of our expense.  Coming into a lengthy uphill grade that preceded a short downhill rush to the finish I attacked again. This brought Bernede and Pinkard to the front, where they counter attacked, as both were feeling fresh and perky after sitting on for the previous fifty miles.  I was no longer of any use, as I was pretty well toast by then.  Lorin manged to take first, but Bernede and Pinkard took second and third respectively, with Jerald Hunsaker (Bountiful Mazda) taking third, and Charles Palmer taking fourth.  The GC classifications remained unchanged, however, and we kept first and second, and I was once again 8th.  After the race there was much discussion of the tactics Bernede and Pinkard used.  I actually like Bill and think he's a great guy and see him fairly often on training rides here in Las Vegas, and so I was disappointed he chose to go this way.  I expected it from Bernede, though.  In any case, they were not held in very high regard in Utah.

Overall, it was at once my worst performance of the year, and yet my TT improved from 23.8 mph to 25.7 mph and that has to count for something.  I'm not sure what.  Do I need to invest in a TT bike (I used my Cervelo Team Soloist with clip on TT bars again) and fancy helmet?  It seems that in these non-mountain stage races the TT usually ends up determining the overall finishing places.  I am at a definite disadvantage in that regard.  On a more positive note, the USAC points for Mt. Whitney Stage Race were corrected and posted, and I'm now number two in the nation in my five and ten year age group and closing in on first.  I have two more mountain stage races yet to do, and one of them, although hugely difficult, has an enormous number of points attached to it, the Everest Challenge.  I've decided to go with it this year.  I'm not getting younger, and the race isn't getting any easier, so I'd better do it now (or die trying).

My next race is a single day event, a road race in the Colorado mountains.  It's the UCI qualifier for the Master's World Championships in Liege. It's nearly 67 miles long with over 6100' of climbing.  I'm going because it will also give me a chance to visit my daughter, who I haven't seen in awhile.  I'm doing this in lieu of the Arizona State Road Championships, which are being held on the same day.  I regret missing that race because it not only is on the same Hillside course as last year (where I won the 60+ and took second overall in the combined fields), but the race length has been lengthened to a whopping 64 miles with even more climbing (now there's a state road championship!).