Tokeneke

[Jacob]

A picture is worth a thousand words:
http://www.basetwelvephoto.com/p9385501 ... #h69d7b004

[Robd2]

Good one! Also lots of cleavage shots in there if you like that sort of thing (301). : )

I have to admit I’m behind on my race reports as I’ve been battling our NY competition that last few weekends. Sunday I lined up with Jacob and 70ish of my new NY friends in the 35+ cat 4 field. Our group would complete 2 laps (22miles loop with about 2000 ft of climbing per lap). The climbing on this race seems “different”, I think it has to do with the fact that there are no really steep sections. For example the finishing climb of each lap is about 2.2 miles at an average of 5%. Having gotten destroyed on this course a few years back I was curious to see how my current fitness would stand up.

Lap 1 goes as I had hoped, the climbing was tough but I was never redlined. When we crested the finishing climb at the end of lap 1 the group was down to about 15-20. As the 2nd lap climbing started I could tell the same dudes who were pushing the pace on the 1st lap climbs were tiring, good news for me as I felt like I was just warming up. My thoughts now shifted to how I could snag a nice result from this group. During the previous weekend I had dumped most of the same guys on the Catskills finishing climbs. Unfortunately this finish was much less “violent” but it was the only option I had.

The finishing climb seems to be its steepest about half mile in, this is where I went. I gave it a decent little dig for about 30 seconds trying to shake as many as I could. A few dropped off but not as many as I hoped. The gradient just wasn’t steep enough to hurt the bigger guys. Looking at my power data I didn’t actually kick hard enough and probably could have. After my unsuccessful attack I tucked back into the draft of the quickly moving line, recovered quickly and started to watch for another opportunity. The top quickly came and now it was time to get ready for a sprint, if you can sprint after drilling it up a 2 mile climb.

For some strange reason, I’ve done this a few times now, I’m sitting in a great spot 300-400meters out, feeling ok, and I open up my sprint much too early. There is no way I can hold it at speed for that type of distance. Of course I did it again, completely die with another 150 to go. I was able to hold on for 10th. Out of the points but a big improvement from my last attempts at this race.

This type of race/result is actually a great learning experience for me as I get to work on how to finish the race strong and even play a role in the final outcome, rather than just surviving.

I’ll finish this report with a quick highlight from my time in the Catskills in the one day races. Never underestimate the quality of these fields, both days I was asking myself “why am I subjecting myself to this pain”. : )

Day 1 Airport Rd
Almost gave up the sport completely on the first 20minute climb.
Recovered to make a 10man break.
I went all in and attacked on this section of the infamous airport rd climb: http://www.strava.com/segments/4985144
Dumped the entire breakaway group and soled for the next 6 miles. Just couldn’t reach the decent to the finish I needed!
Caught by a few chasers.
3rd

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Day2 Devil’s Kitchen
That is one tough climb.
Gave it everything I had.
7th, should have done better

[jraguin]

Great job Rob... that is a heck of a 3 race series.

I love the picture of PJ. I look forward to the race report (hint, hint).

[swawersik]

Congrats Rob. You're killing it lately.

Actually, the whole club is. It seems like we have another podium picture every couple of days!

[Robd2]

Actually, the whole club is. It seems like we have another podium picture every couple of days!

Completely agree! I can't stress how helpful it's been for me to have strong teammates there to push me past my own limits forcing me to also get stronger. I'm hoping to continue this on team type rides through the rest of summer and into next year.

[PJ McQuade]

Good find on the pic, Jacob, that shot pretty much captures my Tokeneke experience. Belated race report here as I went up to NH for a few days directly after the race for a not-so-recovery hike up Mt. Washington. That hike was far more painful than any bike ride all season! On to the report. I've always wanted to do Tokeneke and this year it seemed perfect since it fell one week after Catskills. I lined up for the Cat 3 race with about 50 guys for 3 laps (66 miles) w/ 2000+ ft/lap of elevation. Like Rob says, it's a deceiving kind of climbing, partially because of the way the course is designed. You're either going up or down. There's one punchy climb that's easy to forget on the opening 10 miles, which is basically a long descent from the start. The real climbing starts after you turn right over the damn. There are three climbs here, spread out over maybe 4 miles. The first one is pretty steep but fairly short. The next two are longer, shallow-ish climbs that hurt if haven't recovered from the previous efforts. This is great breakaway territory. Then it's more descending until about mile 20 when the road kicks up to the finishing climb, North Hollow Rd, 2 miles @ 5%. I stayed on the front for most of the first lap to scout the field. A break formed, but I didn't bite since it didn't contain two riders I was most concerned with. Our field had some names I recongnized who were high up on the Catskills GC including the KOM winner and stage 3 winner. My plan was to follow their wheels. Skip to lap 3. The group is together and three guys jump off the front on the hilly section after the damn. Two or three more guys bridged up later. This is where havings a teammate or two may have helped because I didn't see exactly when/where they went but the pace slowed and some blocking was clearly going on up front. Our pace slowed for just long enough for a time gap to open. There wasn't a lot of cooperation at the front. I did a few pulls but didn't want to blow before the last climb. It felt silly saving matches for 20th place but bridging up solo at this point would have been suicide. The two riders I was watching were with me still so there was that. We hit North Hollow Rd and the the pace lifts. Allen Carr, Catskills KOM guy, attacks. I thought about it but 2 miles is a long way up as Rob noted in his report. I stayed with the front of the group, which is now down to 15 riders, hoping we'd catch the break or pick up a few blown riders. We could see the break up the road but it was looking as though they'd stay away. 1 mile to go, still going strong, my new plan was to win the bunch sprint. One nice thing about a multi-lap race is you can scout your launching pad earlier in the race. I knew 1k was too soon, but the feed zone looked good at around 500 m, where the road flattens out to the finish. We hit 1k and everyone starts looking around at each other cat-and-mouse-style. The climb was easing up now and I clicked it into the big ring. I attacked a few hundred meters before the feed zone, someone yelled go! or something so I figured a wheel would have been glued to mine. It felt like an eternal effort but it was maybe 10 seconds. I was starting to blow up. I looked back and had a nice little gap at the feed zone and kept moving as fast as I could, good enough for a top 10. Next time I need to get in the break! Hearing the recent efforts from Chris and Stefan helped me get more aggressive in this race. I recall Doug doing the same at Battenkill and Rob at Purgatory earlier this season. Attacking works! Between the flat at Battenkill, crash at Quabbin and mess at Catskills I ran into some crap luck this season, but it felt good ending on a positive note. I would love to get a team together for this race next year. It's a fantastic course and nicely run race.