Banna Belt #2 (3/7/2010)
Out at Haag Lake, today’s race was run counter-clockwise. The race is a bit harder this way as the climbs are a bit steeper than when run clockwise. The biggest climb on every lap is the climb coming off of the dam, short but steep, this climb, normally breaks up the peleton as people’s climbing legs get tested.
From the first lap on, I made sure I was at the front of the field so I could cover any attacks that came on the dam climb. My hope was that I could (worst case scenario) fade back as the climb progressed. However, I found that I didn’t fade and was able to stay near the front of the field, albeit pressing to near max heart rate on every lap.
As anticipate, this was a different race than last week’s and the peleton was not letting anyone escape their grasp. Each lap we tested the pack and each lap, the pack stayed there after the climb. The closest we came to breaking the pack off was on the 3rd lap when four guys were up front, Phenney and Ivan two of them, and three guys following, me being in that group.
They had me on the rivet for sure on that lap (in a spot of bother as Phil Ligget would say) and the pressing to max HR on each lap was taking a toll on my legs. One of us three was fading and the guy jumped to bridge to the four ahead of us. I went with the jumper and when we bridged, we still had a fair gap on the field. I expected Ivan and Phenney to keep the hammer down.
However, they let up, which tells me that they were at or near max effort just like I was or we’d have kept the hammer down and broken away from the peleton. Almost anything is better than 30-40 guys sprinting for a finish if you ask me. So, the group was back together and on the last lap, there were no real attempts to get away.
So here we were, groupo compacto heading for the finish. As expected, everyone was constantly positioning themselves for the finish, me being one that stayed near the front. At 1K to go, we were still all together and I was glued to Terry Knight’s wheel for the sprint.
At about 300 meters from the finish, this one guy that had being pinching me off, repeatedly during the race, went down just in front and to the left of Terry & I. They kept coming toward us and I just saw myself either bunny hopping this guy’s rear wheel or going down with them. All of a sudden, they stopped coming toward us.
First Terry got around the mess and then me. He had a nicer jump than me and got a little closer to the main pack. I was about toast and thoroughly frightened. I tried to get back in but saw there was no chance so I just tried to protect my current, way back, position. I wound up 22nd, I believe, but save and ready to fight again next Sunday! Yay!
There was some road rash on the guys that went down but everyone was fine basically.