Now fast forward to this year and I am really enjoying road racing and want to do Housatonic Hills which is the same weekend as the Griskus. I figured since I had been training for the CT Stage Race that did not materialize that I could do the aquabike on Saturday and Housatonic on Sunday, but I really wanted to do well at Housatonic. I was debating skipping the aquabike, but since I asked them to create the new division I felt obligated to race. Ok, so now how hard do I race the aquabike so I am not shot for Housatonic which was my primary objective? Hmmmm.....
As Ryan reported on earlier, race day at Quassy was a little crazy because of the fog. They debated cancelling the swim and then finally decided to shorted it at press on. Unlike Ryan, I took the wrong line from the shore. There were no buoys in sight at the gun. Half the pack went straight out and the other half of us went slightly left. After 100yds, I realized that I guessed wrong. and was way left of the first buoy. Oh well, what can you do? I came out of the water feeling good, but still with questions about how hard to press the bike so that I would do well in the aquabike, but still have something left for Housatonic. The first few miles of the bike were the toughest mentally for me racing because I let people pass me without reacting. I decided to ride about 80% max HR, but no more. I had people passing me that I knew were not as strong on the bike as I was, but let them go so I would have some gas in the tank for Sunday, but still kept a good pace.
The race ended with little fanfare because unlike a bike race or doing all 3 portions of the triathlon, an aquabike finishes without a finish line. Your time is calculated when you hit transition and no one knows that you are done. Oh well, I do not do it for the crowds anyway.
As it turned out I was the only male in the aquabike so I did not have to work at all on the bike. I am, however, the Northeast Regional Aquabike Champion for 2011!!!! I got a big medal for first(and last) place.
So now on to Sunday and Housatonic Hills...
I felt good warming up and was anticipating a good finish. As I lined up, I noticed that there were several big teams that could pose a problem for a solo rider(Bethel, Bike Way and Tarmac). Ryan told me before the race that if I did not ask USAC for an upgrade after the race that he would start calling me a sandbagger. Well, as it turns out there are other obvious reasons to get out of cat 5. On the neutral start up Constitution, someone dropped their chain and almost took half of the field down.
I was feeling good at the start and the Bike Way team was doing a great job controlling the pace with 3 riders on the front. They would let one drift off the front and then block the main field to see if they could get anything to happen. This went on for the first several miles, but they never got away. The lead groups was all together coming down Hut Hill Rd. and as we were making the turn everyone noticed some loose gravel on the tight portion of the turn,hit the brakes and took it wide. A Tarmac rider cut the corner closer without slowing and I grabbed his wheel. It was early, but I thought if I had someone with me we could break away. For the next 3 miles we increase our lead and then after my pull I looked back and the Tarmac rider was 3 bike lengths behind me. He yelled "I'm done." OK so now what to do? We are about 15 miles from the finish with 2 hard climbs and I only have a few hundred yards lead. I decided to take the downhills hard hoping that the chasers would burn some matches catching me. I sat up when we hit an uphill and let them catch me which was fine because I was not in distress after the descents. A few minutes into the climb I touched wheels with the Bike Way rider in front of me. I was not sure if it was his fault or if it was me just being too tired to pay attention. Luckily I was able to keep upright and no one went down.
Fast forward a few miles to Davenport. We make the right for the last few hills and on the climb I was right behind the same rider I clipped earlier. Guess what? It happened again!!!! I realized too late that when he transistioned from a standing climb to a seated climb that he paused which threw his bike back. This time when I clipped his wheel I went down. UGH....
By the time I got back up and clipped in I was about 50yds behind the lead pack and still had to finish the climb. I was able to make up a little ground by the time we crested the climb, but I was maxed out. We made the right turn and started descending and I knew that if I was going to have a chance to finish well I would need to make it up on the descent. As other riders were sitting up and recovering, I buried myself to catch the leaders. I caught them right before the KOM and got a small breather before the turn. Once on the KOM, they were starting to gap me and I did not have the energy to keep pace. Over the top I once again found myself 40-50yds back from the lead. More hard decending instead of recovering. Oh well.. its almost over and mostly down hill. Thankfully I am heavy and descend well so I was able to latch back on with 2-3 miles to go.
From there I tried to just tuck in and rest. I felt fine as the school came into view. I was about 7th wheel as we made the turn. A few riders started the sprint from there and I waited until we hit the 200M mark(which in hind sight was too late) I made up a few place and crossed 4th about 5 meters out of first.
I am still trying to learn how to race and wondering if I will ever stop wondering what I could have done differently to do better.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda.....
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