Pawling RR

Pawling Road Race

I was thinking of skipping this race to give myself a little mid-season break. It is put on by Pawling Cycle. They are a great bunch of guys and I have gotten to know a few of them throughout the years at the FJ Clark circle. I decided to go because (basically) I said I would and I wanted to help support their club. The 35+ field was small last year and this year it was larger but not by much, maybe 22 riders. It was my first race back from Sutton and I was eager to see if the long weekend of riding and racing would have any positive affects. As the race started, I knew the climbs would be tough but I wanted to make sure I was at the front for the beginning of the first section. Well, as the first climb came up guess who was in front (the front)? Yours truly. I had coasted to the front, kept tempo and brought the riders to the first rollers before the big 20 minute climb. I was pedaling at a good tempo, not too hard but respectable. This did not last long, my legs were feeling weak and I started to think maybe my comfortable tempo would soon drop my own ass. In hindsight, I did very little for a warm up big mistake. One by one riders passed me, I tried to jump but no spark, nothing. Legs said “NO!” A group of about 12 went up the road and there I was in no man’s land. Left to climb alone, I didn’t panic, I knew I must have some fitness and to get shelled like this on the first climb! I knew the guys would be hurting as well. I told myself not to give up, keep going and keep suffering, it will be over soon. I kept going as hard as I could never felt great but kept the group in sight. I was getting closer and closer and finally, I had made contact with the lead group before a fast downhill. Whew!
After recovering on the downhill section it brought us to Route 55. It has a long climb but not as steep and I started getting a good rhythm and my legs were waking up, they were back. I was first (again) going in to the next set of climbs but this time I felt much better. I misjudged the crest but decided to continue a little surge to get over and nobody came by me. It felt good to know that I could put an effort in and maintain it at decent wattage. The group was strung out but came back together on the very hairy decent. I felt good and continued to race with a little more confidence. On the next lap there were no fireworks. Maybe 2 or 3 riders got dropped on the big climb but at least one came back. There were no efforts to catch a solo rider who got away. We handled the big climb like gentleman. After the last climb before the finish we had maybe 10 in our group. There were a few attacks but everyone was a little too attentive and nobody got away. I was at the back waiting for the sprint. Someone behind me jumped (finally) but he came out of his pedal. That was enough to start everyone sprinting. I stayed seated until 50 meters because of the uphill sprint, passed a few riders and ended up 6th.
Lessons learned:
Don’t be the first rider into a climb just be towards the front.
Don’t give up! If you do get dropped for riding stupid keep going as hard as you can, most of the time everyone else is hurting as well.
Thanks,
Mike