Hilltowns 7/26/14

[mfwestbe]

Congrats to everyone who actually got to the finish line. Results posted here: http://www.road-results.com/race/4780
You'll notice that between the 40+, 50+, Cat3, and Cat4 an average of 11 people did not finish with a time.

Cat 4 - This was probably the worst 60 miles I've ridden in three years. My diagnosis is that I was not fully hydrated, and looking back on it I also did not eat enough. Being an afternoon race and only eating breakfast is clearly not sufficient. Also my first go in Cat 4. Once we got to the killer-grade opening hills, I spent probably the next 40+ minutes in red. I was with a chase group catching up on the long climb, but about the time we did was the time they took off again. Kevin and I both lost the group by the top.

So I continued on in a dreadful path of over-exertion and by the time I go to the second lap I was ready to toss in the towel. Out of sheer pride of not accepting a DNF myself, I continued. Kevin caught up to me on the long climb as I had lost my few other companions from the downhill. We rode together for quite some time, and at this point I could barely sustain a heart rate beyond 150 w/o a feeling of nausea (attribute to dehydration). After the sag wagon caught up to us, we were lucky to have some water refilled.

At the corner of Bow St, we saw Patrick Collins (Bicycle Alley) sidelined and we stopped for him. Apparently he had over-exerted and fainted. As he was feeling better at this point, he decided to refill as well and continue on with us. By the time we got to the long downhill, Kevin had departed from us, but I was feeling better after adequate hydration. So, Patrick and I decided to chase him down. He had a sizable gap that we managed to catch right at the line, hence all three of us have the same time, sorry Kev! Nothing like sprinting it out for 29th and 30th!

lessons learned - going in the red for so long is not a good race tactic. afternoon races require more fuel and hydration pre-race. I need more power in the 4's.

[JeremyC]

I'd just like to add that I thought this was, while highly enjoyable, a little too easy. I think they need to add more climbing.

[PJ McQuade]

The recon ride last week was a huge help since NCC completely changed the course this year, mostly for the better (I liked everything except for the downhill finish). While they eliminated one of the hardest climbs in NE (E Hawley Rd) the race is actually harder now, more interesting and has more elevation gain.

While my result proves I'm very consistent, I'm not satisfied with flirting with top tens every week, but that's racing. Jeremy put me up front for the initial ascent up the opening wall, which helped me keep an eye on early attacks. I felt good and led the pack up most of the climb, probably not the best decision but I swore to myself to be more aggressive this time around. My power data shows this was my hardest 5 mins of the day.Oops. On next climb, a 20 min deal that gradually gains 1,000 ft in 5 miles, I did another huge pull on the front killing matches I'd need later but I was hoping to put some hurting on the field and maybe split things up.
The splitting up didn't occur till we started lap 2 and 3 guys rolled off the front on the wall. I couldn't go deep enough to follow and watched the break go once again. The rest of the race was attrition and I'll cut to the chase with the finish: a small field sprint of 15 guys, a few with teammates still intact. I finished where I'd expect on a flat finale, midpack for 12th. While I wish I had saved some matches to attack on lap 2 at least I didn't just sit in and wait like other races.

[KTeves]

Rolled with Mike W. for the cat. 4 race and went over the wall with about half or more of the field ahead of me. Not what I'd hoped for by any stretch of the imagination, but I had to set a new 8-minute power record just to do that. I pressed hard and managed to form-up with three others on Upper Rd. and we chased a group of about 6 - 8 that included Mike W.. We caught-on near the end of Ashfield Rd./Rt 112 just in time for the start of the 5-mile climb up Clesson Brook Rd.. And now the chase was on for the lead group. I guestimate we caught the lead group of about 15 racers around 2 miles into Clesson Brook after a very hard effort in which I saw my heart rate raise to within two beats of this years' maximum and at this point been deep in zone 5 heart rate for probably 30+ minutes. The pace actually slowed at times, but it was too late—I was cooked and couldn't recover when the pace and grade elevated after mile 4.

That's pretty much where the real racing ended for me. I was in "no-mans land" for a while and was basically sitting up when a group of 3 racers finally reached me at Bow St. I formed-up with them and was glad I wasn't going to be suffering in solitude for the remainder. We picked-up a couple of racers on the E. Main hills who had fallen off the pace and soon after Dave D., who had flatted on the decent after the wall, passed us on the decent on West Main/Rt. 116. I entertained thoughts of going with him, but I didn't have enough in my legs to stay with him on the final climb before the long decent on 8A. I was seriously thinking about throwing in the towel at the end of the first lap, but couldn't bring myself to turn into the parking lot. Apparently it wasn't a problem for most of the others that were in the group.

I struggled up the wall for the second time and was soon on Clesson Brook for the 5-miler. I was solo again and riding tempo after dropping the one guy from the group that stuck it out for the 2nd lap when saw a lone rider off in the distance—turned out it was Mike W.. Mike had hit the wall hard, and I was solo again and not really racing for anything but pride at this point, so I stayed with him and we suffered together. When we reached Bow St. we came upon Pat C. standing on the side of the road. We stopped to see if he was okay, and he told us he had to stop because of asthma. He decided to go with us instead of taking a ride in the broom wagon. We started up the E. Main hills when out of nowhere my leg started to cramp. At this point I felt I was better-off going harder than Mike & Pat were able so I went up the last climb on Rt. 116 solo and made my way down 8A hard. I figured Mike & Pat we soft-pedaling the rest of the way, and I was, literally, a foot off the finish line when I sat up to make a joke with the officials and Mike & Pat flew by. It was unbelievable timing and added a little humor to an otherwise not-so-humorous day. (It was reminiscent of Jack Bauer getting caught 10 meters before the finish after leading for 220 KM's in the 15th stage of Tour. Well . . . not quite )

[pace21]

The 2014 Tour of the Hilltowns, aka the 2014 Tour of the New Power Records

[Robd2]

First off, well done boys! This is a tough race just to start, finishing this baby resets your standard for suffering. Overall I was pretty happy with my race in the 40+. A small group of 3 rolled off the front early on but other than that it was a race of attrition for 60miles. It seemed like we lost one or two after each climb. Regarding the climbs this course is deceiving as on the profile you only see the 2-3 big climbs. There are actually 2-3 more climbing sections each lap that really hurt.

I was actually feeling "ok" at the end of the first lap. Certainly hurting but still ready to rock. The pace was hot all race and I fought my way over each climb. It was actually the very very last kicker right before the final big decent that got me in trouble. Somehow a little gap opened up here on me after some attacks went off which got bigger as we approached the big final decent. I should have burried myself at this point to catch back on towards the top of the climb. Instead I had to burn every bit of remaining energy to catch back on while descending. This took about 6ish minutes of chasing and 99.99999% of my remaing strength. This brings us to about 2 miles from the finish. I had a slight chance to catch my breath at the back of this group which was down to about 14 at this point. We were racing for 4th, which I felt ok about dealing with this pack of killers, all pretty much cat 1s and 2s. I Kept saying to myself "need to be closer to the front", "need to move up now!". I opted for just 5 extra seconds of recovery which was my big mistake of the day. You have to understand my eyes were still bleeding from all the massive efforts during the last 60 miles and then the effort I put in to catch back on desending really took a lot out of me. I just needed a few more seconds! But you have to stay agressive with these guys. Before I knew it we were at the "1k to go" and of course the pace gets super hot, I'm at the back with no chance really to move up and roll across the line pretty much at the back of the remaining  group for 16THish. It's a shame because I'm actually sprinting pretty well this year, especially at the end of these longer races. 

I'm ok with the result as I hung with a very fast crew over an extreamly challenging course. My strava times for all the major climbs are solid, especally the first lap. I also feel year over year I'm getting stronger, so all good signs.

Big thanks to the sparring partners that came out to preview the course which also helped sharpen me up intensitity wise. 
Next up tokeneke!