Whiteface report

Well, as many of you know I rode the whiteface road race today. This race promised to be difficult and challenging and it lived up to its rep...sort of. the race went as follows...

First off, it was a 3/4 race. as if that wasnt difficult enough not enough people showed up for the later fields so all were combined in the afternoon with the exception of the pro123. so it looks like ill have to show matt purdy how to climb hills another day. (this is me joking) it was a 3/4 combined with masters 35+ and the women. the race started out as most do. neutral start, chatting, me soiling myself, no big deal. the field was split towards the end of the first lap, on the only major climb of the course...before whiteface.

I found myself in a group of about 20 or so. mostly 3s and masters with some 4s. we road as a group the entire race with the pace car infront of us. eric shcillinger would not approve of this i feel. i found myself sucking the wheel of one mark sumner for most of the race. i figured my best game plan would be to copy the one of an experienced, strong rider like mark. this proved to be a good move on my part. up until the final climb anyways.

as we neared the end of the final lap i founed myself surging towards the top of climb. i was the first one over hill when mother nature decided it was time to turn on the fans. and by fans i mean pouring ran. a complete down pour began to hit us and dont ask me why but i felt the need to attack as soon as this happened. i could barely see 2 feet in front of me b/c of the rain but i put the hammer down and went as hard as i could. we turned left off the course and began our 6 mile route (mostly flat except for one little bump) to the start of whiteface. i figured if i could get enough distance between myself and the group maybe id be ok riding "tempo" up the first part of the climb and then really going hard up the last to challenge anyone who caught up. as i hammered through the down pour i heard someone yell "dude let me pull for a bit" i looked over my shoulder and through the rain i saw myself and one other dude had opened a gap of about 200 meters on the field. Perfect! i thought. this is just what i needed. the two of us began to work together and things were going smoothly up until we reached that little bump i spoke of earlier. well, this pump was not little nor was it really a bump. we started it together and by the end the field had caught us. NUTS i thought.

i was able to position myself somewhere in the middle at the start of the whiteface climb and hung on as long as i could. 1.6 miles of straight up hill is hard. i dont care who you are its hard. unfortunately, my fitness was just not where it needed to be to stay with the leaders. cycling is a cut throat sport. sometimes you get a lucky pitch in baseball or in basketball your last second chuck from half court goes in. but in cycling, if you dont have the fitness you dont have the win. i was dropped about half way up the climb and a last moment surge abled me to pass the dude from UVM cycling that won the first johhny cake. i finished 8th overall and 4th among the 4s. a result i am pleased with.

this race proved to be difficult but not as difficult as i thought. honestly, i felt balloonfest was harder but that could of been b/c it was about 30 degrees warmer that day. i dont know. all the climbs where more long and steady then short and steep. nobody was dropped on them and they were doable for all of us. something to consider for next year i guess. i hope everyone did well in conn. and i look forward to reading the report. good racing to all!!!!!!

-mattg.

oh yeah by the way lost in all of this pointless dribble i just wrote jenny ives won the womens pro123. kickass jenny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!