Emmett-Roubaix was today and it’s the last race of the Spring Series. I had been feeling fatigued ever since the Tour of Walla Walla and basically rested the whole week. I was able to get decent wattage for my pre-race ride yesterday, but my perceived exertion was through the roof. Then today during my warm-up, I didn’t feel any better, so not a good sign!
The race started out neutral through town, then we picked it up once we crossed the highway. I was at the front just doing tempo to get a little bit more warm-up in. Everyone waited until the climb up El Paso to really get things going, but despite feeling bad at the start of that effort, I did manage to crest the top at the front of the pack.
As we headed out for our “loops” I noticed that my rear quick release skewer was pointed backwards. This was odd in that I always position it so that it’s between the seat- and chain-stays. I ran through scenarios of what could have happened? Maybe someone messed with it when I was at the restroom?! No, maybe I was too rushed when I switched wheels (after warming up on my PowerTap)? Then I noticed that my rear shifting was a little off, and concluded that the skewer was probably loose!
At that very moment, one of the Bob’s Bicycle riders had flat. Since we were all together, most of the pack slowed down a little and then someone requested a “pee break”. I thought, perfect, I’ll be able to stop and fix my problem with no side effects. Well, that wasn’t meant to be as one of my teammates went to the front and picked up the pace. While some may think this was a tacky move, the Bob’s rider with the mechanical wasn’t in contention for GC. Plus, Bob’s always has the largest squad at every race so why not take advantage of the situation…that’s what they do! No one waited for me when I had my two mishaps at Birds of Prey and Chicken Dinner!
Anyway, I wasn’t able to stop so I had to ride a full lap with a loose skewer. I was careful not to stand up or do anything to unweight the rear wheel. Finally, on the last big roller on Dobie, I decided to stop and fix it. I thought doing so at the top of the hill would be best. I quickly stopped and started tightening my rear skewer. It took me a while because it was really loose! When I finally got it tight, I jumped on and bombed down the hill. I sprinted to get up to speed then got into an aero tuck. By the right-hand turn onto El Paso I was a good 500 meters behind the pack. I put it in time-trial mode and was slowly making progress. Halfway down that stretch it seemed like the pack was picking up speed and I was barely making progress. But I really dug deep and hammered the last bit so I could catch them before the turn…and I did.
Whew! What an effort! It felt like a 10-minute VO2 interval! I was wasted when I caught and just hung on for the rest of the race. It got shattered coming back over El Paso, and it was especially frenetic due to all the other fields we had to overtake. I chased hard on the downhill then Kelsey took a really great pull and got me and a few others back up to the front group. Things settled down for the short section before the gravel. I was second wheel going into the gravel and for some reason I thought riding in the drops was more “stable”. It wasn’t!
It’s been a while since I’ve ridden gravel and I was all over the place and was doubting my decision to use my tubulars versus putting on the 25mm clinchers I have. Then I got on the brake hoods and realized it was much easier on the hoods! It was still sketchy and the pace was fast the whole time. It was just every rider for themselves and I was pegged. I did manage to find some hard-pack lines and held my position. When we came out of the gravel, there was a front group of around 6-8 riders, then Ted, me and a few others were chasing. Ted put in some monster pulls and brought us back to the front group.
Since the weather got warm all of the sudden, I could feel some cramps coming on and I didn’t want to seize up before the hill so I mostly sat in. I did try going with one attack but after I pulled through, I looked back and the pack was right on us. Oh well. When we hit the bottom of Old Freezeout I put it in TT mode and pushed up it at a steady efffort. I can never go with the surges on a climb. I rode steady up to the finish and got 12th place. Hugo had a great race and got 6th.
Here are the full results on Spondoro:
http://www.spondoro.com/results/Roubaix/2007/results.pdf