Solvang Double Century 2009 Race Report

I know double century rides don’t fall into the normal purview of ApexRacing but I do know a lot of you were interested in how the eventturned out this year. Here it goes.

The event is timed start-to-finish including all stops and off thebike time. It rolls 193 miles over about 5-6k feet of climbing and thepromoters provide 5 rest stops throughout where we can refill ourbottles and get food. This year, the ride started and ended at theBuellton Marriott.
We started at 7:30 from Buellton with Alex, Kenneth Philbrick, and JimFisher (last two are friends from Oregon). After riding with thenon-timed start the previous two editions, Alex joined us for a fasttrip this year. It is a mass start of about 60 riders but the kind ofgroup riding that follows is pretty incoherent. The average groupbike handling skills on the ride are somewhere just above Cascade BikeClub and below Cat 5. It was great having Alex in the mix as anexperienced racer to smooth things out. A few tandems are mixed inthere and a whole bunch of people just hoping to suck wheel the wholeday also ride. The rest stops have the effect of breaking up thegroups into smaller chunks based on how fast you can get through them.
There is lots of great riding and scenery but I’ll stick to thehighlights with only a minor indulgence at the end. Leaving the secondrest stop (mile 87) we found ourselves with a slight gap to a coupleof other fast riders we had previously been riding with. We didn’tthink much of it and entered San Luis Obispo where we encountered thecurse of the stoplight. We hit every red light through town both ways.It was a little ridiculous. This amounted to anything from 3-5 minutesof time. It’s hard to say. Anyway, the guys off the front disappeared.In the meantime, the four of us did some nice riding. Everyone didtheir share of work with Big Ring pulling through strong, Fish makingus cry on the climbs and Philbrick hammering it anytime he was closeto the front.

At mile 110, Alex decided he’d better ease up so he could enjoy therest of his day. We were sorry to lose another engine, but Fish got tofront and took a monster pull. Alex spent the rest of the ridefreelancing from group to group and finished in 9hrs 20 minutes - asmoking time. He was also trading pulls with a tandem for a couple ofhours.

Rolling into the fourth rest stop, we caught sight of the leadersagain (three guys) just pulling out of the stop. This translates to afew minutes. The three of us restocked quickly and hit the roadlooking forward to massive tailwinds. The winds didn’t blow quite sohard this year but we still got a decent cruise in the upper 20s to30mph on the roads from Guadalupe to Santa Maria. Somewhere after thisstretch, we all got really tired. It was becoming increasingly toughto generate the power we needed to on the flats. For those of you atcamp, remember back to our Monday ride. This stretch was on Hwy 1 toHwy 135 to San Antonio Rd to Los Alamos. We didn’t have the punishingcross winds like we did for that ride but the tail winds weren’treally happening either. Good thing it was flat. On Hwy 1, bothKenneth and I offered to take a last strong pull or two for the threeof us so that the strongest guys could take off in pursuit of sologlory. That would have been fine except that we all wanted to by theguy offering up the last pull to launch the others. Hmm. Sounds likea tired bunch.

It seemed to take ages to get to the small hamlet of Los Alamos andthe last rest stop. We were all looking forward to a cold Coke to takeus over the top of Drum Canyon and back into Buellton. Coming intotown, we had our heads up the road scanning for the rest stop. Notonly did we see the stop, but we also saw the three leaders justslipping their bottles into their cages getting ready to roll.Kenneth immediately stood up on his pedals and jammed a few times onthe cranks. Instinctively, I followed. We looked at each other andhe said “It’s the only way.” Yeah. It was. There goes the Coke andthe refill of cold water I was looking forward to. Jim made a smartmove and made a quick stop.

It turns out we caught two of the guys off guard so for a littlewhile, Kenneth, myself, and Adam (a strong rider recently graduatedwith a master’s from UCSD) were rolling at the front. On the flanksof the climb I started to get him talking trying to slow him down. Itdidn’t really work. Kenneth drifted back as the climb kicked thefirst time. I stayed with the UCSD guy for a bit until he started togain ground on a few of the steep pitches. From that side, DrumCanyon is around a 3-mile, 800 foot climb averaging 6-7%. The gradegoes up at points to 10% or more. I had miniscule amounts of glycogenleft and could only do so much. I also had less than an inch of fluidin each of my bottles for the climb. It was now 80F and sunny. I wasmissing my Coke and rationing what little water was left to keep mymouth wet. Surprisingly, I also felt like I was riding in low zone 3.My heart rate monitor agreed. Adam crested the climb perhaps 20seconds or so in front of me. Looking back, I couldn’t see Kenneth oranyone else.

Now I had the descent to tackle. This is not an ordinary descent. Ifit were paved, it would be labeled as technical but as it mostly aseries of pavement patches, I’d describe it as teeth-shattering andbone-jarring. I knew I had to descend fast. Racing against yournumber one limiter is always an experience. Doing it exhausted andout of gas adds another level. While I didn’t gain any time, I lostat most a handful of seconds by the time we got off the descent. Alimited success.
It was now time for the canyon run out to the highway and the turntowards Buellton. I had noticed Adam was a bigger guy than me bymaybe 10 lbs. He also had 404 clincher wheels and some aerobars. I’dhave my work cut out for me to catch him on the 1-2% downhill run outto the highway. I kept looking over my shoulder hoping to see Kennethand Jim so we could motor in together and catch this guy. My plan,should I catch him alone, was to just sit on his wheel, make him dothe work, and allow Kenneth and Jim to come up to us. On one of myover-the-shoulder glances, I saw a guy in redish kit (not a friendly).About this time, I realized I’d probably have to finish on my own. Isaw Adam up the road gaining a little more time despite my efforts.

Reaching Hwy 246, the fan base showed up. This consisted of Jim’swife Heather and teammate Pete who had joined us for the week ofriding. Someone took a picture of me here. I’m very curious to seethe contorted look on my face. I asked for a time check to Kennethwhich I got a little later. It was upwards of 1 minute 45 seconds.It would definitely be a solo finish now. For the turn onto thehighway I was hoping for no traffic so I could roll the stop sign. Istill had to slow down some and the reacceleration that I coaxed outof my legs was accompanied by a painful yell. I think I discoveredwhat happens when you use lactic acid to contract your leg muscles(btw I know the physiology on this is all wrong).

There was one more little rise to get over and then a nice descentfollowed by about 5 miles of roll out into town. For the last fewmiles, I had nothing left. No more glycogen. No more water. I had alittle gel but no way or time to digest it. So, I focused on what Idid have (tip of the hat to indoor winter training sessions). Pedalstroke – even it out. Position – reach forward, get the back flat andrelax the hands. Tighten the core and pull the shoulders back.Breath. It worked so well that I succeeded in getting a little morepower and then seeing amorphous black blobs in my vision. I hadn’tremembered that as part of the scenery. Breath. Blink the eyes. Keeppedaling. Ok. That’s better.

In the end, I couldn’t close the gap but did hold off the other guysbehind. The organizers time to the minute, but the separation betweenme and first place was about 30 seconds. My time was 8hrs 50 minutesfor the ride which was 14 minutes faster than last year. Kenneth andJim came in together 2 minutes after me. In total, we had about 12-13minutes off the bike including all the stoplights. It definitelywould have been nice to have hit a few green ones. That could havebeen all the difference. Or it could have been the 400 miles ofriding in the previous week. Without it though, it wouldn’t betraining camp. Back for more next year.
http://www.planetultra.com/solvang/Results/2009results.htm

-Ben

Indepdence Valley C/D 2009 Race Report

The Masters C/D race was 2 laps, 39+/-miles, with 58 riders starting. Frankly, the weather was totally crapo; rain, wind, sleet, snow, upper 30s/low 40s. Coming out of the neutral start, I knew that the first hill would be coming right up, so I worked my way up, as to not get caught behind the masses, should somebody decide to fire it up from the start, which is what happened; one rider broke off, the pack content not to chase, as we knew it would be a long, punishing haul for anybody flying solo off the front. According to a friend of mine who races for Second Ascent, the fist hill was the end of the game for many, himself included. Going into the flatter section after climb one, a couple riders took off. One rider got cooked and was absorbed by the field. The other ultimately bridged the guy off the front; the two were never caught. Impressive! Heading towards climb two, lap one, I jockeyed my way to the front, knowing that we would be hitting it hard again. The field was likely thinned here again, but I couldn’t tell as my focus was forward. It was at this point that I was able to get with a group of guys to establish an organized paceline. FINALLY! We were working hard and making ground on the two off the front, but alas, there were those who were more content sucking wheel and not pulling through with the consistency of the rest.

Heading into lap 2, I knew that if anything was going to happen, it would be on the climbs, so I maintained position near the front, trying to conserve energy, being smart. As we started climb one, that pace increased and I found myself making the selection as the field split in two. A friend of mine from the Rocket Ride got dropped here. I was bummed, as I knew that he and I would work together coming into the finish. Now the group was down to around 15. The pace slowed after the climb, as we were all trying to quickly recover from the match that we all just lit. It was groupo compacto all the way to climb two. As expected, the climb was intense, and several attacks came, with nobody dancing away. At this point, I could feel my body cramping, due to the cold and wet; (There was snow along the roadside!) my jaw was nearly inoperable, my legs and my torso were on two different planets and my legs were cramping. I did my best to pedal smoothly, and stretch my legs to avoid further seizure.

Coming into the last couple miles, a few unsuccessful attacks went. I hung in there and worked my way to the front, knowing that the intensity was going to get greater. Knowing that my legs were not likely going to be my friend in a sprint, I positioned myself in front toward the center line, as to control the speed to a level my body could take and to block any would be attackers. This lasted for a little while and I was able to reserve some juice, but the attack came. I jumped, but my legs started to seize as the pack came around. At this point, it felt like I was pedaling squares. Somehow, I was able to hang on and get back in the mix going into the final 200 meters. Surprisingly, I was able to move up a few notches in the sprint, netting 8th place. Only 27 riders finished.

Following the race, we had to roll back 2.5 miles to the starting point, where I was delighted to have a set of dry, warm clothes and some food. LUXURY!

~Travis

Mason Lake #3 Cat 3 Race Report

Well, I think there is some rule or divine intervention out there which always makes you race Mason Lake as your first race of the season. I tried to get around it this year but it kept coming back. Steve, Olivier, and I showed up to the course to find sunny skies and temperatures climbing into the low 50s. We got rock star parking but then found out the guy next to us had just broken his collarbone in the Cat 4 race (poor IJM guy). He was walking around the car with one shoulder obviously a few inches lower than the other. He was totally dazed. The best (and worst) part was one of his teammates who was way too excited at the opportunity to use the shoulder splint from his first-aid kit. Apparently, it was exciting that he got to use it (after having to read the instructions). I think the broken collarbone guy just wanted to the f- out of there and to the hospital. Being good and superstitious racers, the three of us all tried to ignore the goings-on next to us. Things got better when they left and Don showed up. On to the race. 5 laps in all. Some wind on the front stretch. We raced well and were in all the moves of any significance for the first 3.5 laps. In fact, Apex was one of the main aggressors in the race. It was great to finally get to stretch the legs for the first time this year. SteveO did excellent in his first race as a 3. He was off the front in a few groups a couple of times. It Olivier and I each had solo moves into the wind for while but no one came up to work with us. Cucina proceeded to chase down every break that they had a rider in. For the breaks without Cucina riders, I think they let those go. At 3.5 laps just before the fire station, First Rate setup a move from about 10 riders back in the field. I read it and followed them off the front. The one guy let go a massive acceleration. It was huge. I was ready and jumped but never got to his wheel. I was just a little too tired at this point. As it turns out, this is the move that stuck. He soloed in for the next 1.5 laps. Very impressive effort. First Rate had something like 8 guys in the race - by far the largest and strongest team. Carter had 3. IJM had a few. First Rate played their cards well and got a deserved win. They guy was strong and I think was well rested. We needed a few more Apex kits out there to really match their numbers. Regardless, it was well played and a good race up to that point. After that, First Rate blocked and many guys were too tired to work so the pace bogged down and the back stretch sucked. With a full week of riding ahead of me, I sat up before the sprint but it was f-ed up just like the Mstr's C/Ds. So, no places for Apex. That's coming. -Ben

Sequim Master A/B 2009 Race Report

To add to Ben's report. I thought when the races were delayed that I wanted to stay and race. But Tonia informed me I wanted to go for a hike out on the spit, So Theo Tonia and I went out on the spit for couple hours. We came back and found the roads dry and people racing. Tonia was OK with me doing the 2:00 masters race, a non-shortened 4 laps 48 miles.

There were about 40 starters including Bob Wade, Tony Ogden we had ridden with once on our team ride. I knew these guys were strong. Pete was in there that was almost like having a teammate. But it was hard to find a strong team. Byrnes had 3 and second assent had a few.

At the end of the first lap as already getting anxious. I rolled off the front and caught someone dangling off the front we had a group of 3. But if was clear it wasn't going to work and we were soon caught by Tony. Later in the second lap just as we turned onto the long 5 mile straight road I saw Tony and Bob both accelerate after something. I followed, but when they eased I cruised by thinking maybe they'd get on my wheel. Instead a Second Ascent rider, Greg Carter, followed me. We soon bridged up to a pair that were off the front. We worked good together and built our lead to 20 to 30 seconds.

After staying away for a lap we lost one of our riders, a Cucina guy. But it was about this time we started to hear splits of 1:10 and 1:25. I guess the pack had given in.

On the last lap, I knew one guy was week, Bryce. He had gotten gapped on a riser on lap 3. The other guy Greg I wasn't sure about he was always steady but he took the shortest pulls he could get away with. Was he just recovering to beat me in the sprint, knowing that I would do more than my share of work until then? Or was he on the edge?

On the little climb before turning onto the long straight 5mi lead into the finish. I saw Bryce letting a gap open I rolled around strongly, not letting the pressure off. I thought we could shed Bryce here. I had thought about attacking them both here. But instead I thought I'll figure out what to do with Greg later. I didn't want Bryce to catch back on so I kept the pace up around the corner onto the 5 mi stretch. Looking back Greg wasn't on my wheel.

I went into TT mode thinking if he was chasing me he would be in the wind too. When I looked back I was completely clear. I put my head down and TT'd the last 5 miles to the finish.

I had put at least 1 minute on my breakaway partners in that last 5 miles and finished at least 2minutes up on the pack.

My first mass start win.
Greg