I didn’t feel so good when I woke up this morning. My throat had the feeling it gets right before I get a sore throat. With the last couple of weeks of high-volume training, I think I’m right on the edge between over-training and over-reaching. Not much I can do, but without fever or other major symptoms, I still raced today. But before our afternoon race, Heather and I drove out to check out the time trial course and it looks like a good one. It’s a slight downhill with some rollers on the way out, then you turn around and come back about a half-mile short of the start. This is good since it eliminates a pretty good hill at the end. If the wind tomorrow is like it is today, it will be the perfect scenario, headwind out, tailwind back!

Since the road race finish is about 7 miles from the start at the Baker City High School, we decided to drive to the finish and leave our car out there in the middle of nowhere. The road race can be brutal and the frontage road has deep cracks every twenty feet We both remember how miserable it was in past years when we had to ride that 7-mile bumpy stretch after the road race. So we got on our bikes and road that bumpy road to the high school. It wasn’t too bad when you’re fresh and it was the perfect warm-up before our races.

I started my race before Heather so I was the keeper of the key. The temp was in the 80’s when we started and it was another clear, blue sky day. The pace was pretty good going out the first flat 10-15 miles, but I knew we had a headwind so I didn’t think any major breaks would get off right at the beginning. The first set of rollers weren’t’ too bad, but the road had just been scratch graveled, which made the bike dart rocks around the peloton. I only got hit with a rock once on my shin, but it was pretty small. Whenever riding those types of roads I always keep my lips closed as I remember a riding partner back in New York getting a tooth knocked out when a ricocheting rock hit it!

There wasn’t a thick layer of gravel but it was just enough to make your bike a bit skittish. At this point there was a two-person break up the road, but still within sight. As we finally got to the canyon where the climb eventually started, I realized I needed to move up towards the front. But with the narrow road and the yellow-line rule, I wasn’t making much progress. There wasn’t a real defining moment where the climb truly started so it was hard to know when to get up to the front for a non-climber like me. Then it finally got a bit steeper and the scenery looked familiar — I remembered that it was where I got dropped a couple years ago. I tried to stay with the main group and thought I was doing OK when there was a crash in the middle of the pack. I assume someone dropped a chain when shifting into their small ring. Fortunately, I was far enough back that I had enough time to move all the way to the left side of the road and pass without losing too much momentum. At this point, I didn’t remember how much more climbing we had but I thought with so many people caught in the crash, we’d surely have enough chasers to catch the main bunch.

Well, the climb kept going, and going, and going. There were some strong Boise riders in the same predicament so at least I was in good company. As I kept riding we start building up a group as we caught people, or as stronger riders caught us from behind. We all tried to work together as the climb eased up towards the top. We went through the feed zone and I grabbed two bottles, realizing it was a long way to the finish, then we started descending.

After a bit of descending, we had about 10-12 riders working in a fairly organized chase group. Looking up the road we could see the main pack with a couple other smaller groups, chasing behind. But the main field wasn’t too far up the road, and looking at some of the riders I was with, I thought we surely had enough horsepower to catch back on. While we did rotate well through the flat section, when we started to hit the rollers, it was obvious some people weren’t as strong as the others and things started to get broken up. At one point another Boise rider and I, dropped the guys we were with on a descent! In hindsight, I realized it was probably due to our wheels. I had Heather’s deep-section Lews and the other guy had Spinergies. We both got in our tucks and just drifted away from them without even pedaling! Then I waited for some reinforcements to catch from behind and we got another small group together.

Thinking we only had a few miles to go I chucked one bottle and then another Boise rider dropped one so I gave him my second bottle. Later I regretted that decision as I had forgotten how long it was to the finish. Depending on whether we were going up or down, the group I was with would change composition. But by the finishing stretch, it was about 5-6 guys. We just rotated all the way through the line, not worrying who got what place for our little pack as it didn’t matter. We were racing for like 40th place.

I immediately got the car and drove to the hotel to drop off my bike, shower, then turn around to catch Heather’s finish. I drove in a couple miles to watch Heather on the hills before the finish and broke out the camera. Heather went by with a group of about four riders then I got in the car and followed her as she finished. She won here little “sprint” but there were two women up the road (I thought I only saw one when I was waiting). So Heather ended up 3rd today. She was pretty dehydrated so she was glad I had the cooler with ice-cold water ready for her. They didn’t have results posted yet when we went back to the high school to pick up our water bottles so I’m not sure what my exact placing was.