Hillsboro-Roubaix Race Report

Friday, March 28th, 3:30pm. We're off to the Hillsboro-Roubaix road race. Newt is riding the Men's 4/5 with me, and Calvin is racing the Men's 3/4.



A familiar scene lately. Bikes in a hotel room (re: team camp). The Hampton Inn was very nice, though, and I think everyone on the team stayed there that night.



We roll up to the church. Say "Hello" to the Burnham guys, get our race numbers and start to unload the car and set up the trainers.



Brian on the trainer.



Me and Newt, just before the start of the race.



I've been training for this race since last Sept, with it being my primary goal of the season. After our team camp, I realize while I'm strong, but I'm not as strong as I had hoped. Didn't work hard enough, didn't lift weights, or stuck with a 4-cylinder aerobic engine? Whatever the cause, I have to work with the fitness that I have.


Who were the xXx guys at the front chase group (behind the two-man break) pushing the pace during lap one? Newt, Chris and Jeff.



Newt, Brian, Chris Sherpitas and myself dedicated ourselves to working as a team to cover attacks, push the pace and race aggressively and stay up front to avoid crashes. Whoever wins, so be it. Teamwork in the 4's, believe it or not. We roll out, and right after the race opens up after the feed point, two guys go off the front. We let them go. It was 44 miles to go and 10-20mph winds. We figured they'd crack and/or the group would work together to catch them.

My goals were to get upgrade points (win if possible), but also to start the season off right by racing aggressive (my weakness), stay up front and be smart. My one teammate Newt and I traded pulls with a few other guys for most of the first twenty miles (one of them being a KillJoy rider, the other some Belgian-like monster from Half-Acre). Newt rode like a man possessed, while I rode a little more within myself, but I did push it and avoided two nasty crashes as payback. Chris and Brian also chipped in (if only we'd had Stocky and Jacques..., it would have been a different race). We chased down one feeble attack, but overall the racing was very conservative (uh, would anyone like to...RACE...or should we just ride at 20mph for 44 miles?). After the first lap and through the hills and cobbles, we whittled the pack down from 75 to 35 or so based mostly on our efforts and those of the two other guys from KillJoy and Half-Acre. I felt strong, really strong, but did feel it when the pack dropped the hammer in the headwinds and on the cobbles. Just can't seem summon enough power to do more than hang on at these points. Note to self: work on this with the coach.

During the second lap, we settled back into around 10-15th position (now down to Newt, Brian and myself) to sit in and let others do some work. We passed lapped riders and a Cuttin' Crew rider went off the front using lapped riders as decoys/camo (sneaky, but a good move). The two riders were off the front still, but within sight (300 yards?). I started to redline during the second section of headwinds, but gritted my teeth and burnt a match to bridge a gap and grab a wheel on the back of the lead pack. I recovered soon enough, but started to worry. A few miles later the Bob, our teammate, moved up to the top 15 riders or so from the back, where he was riding a very tactical race and conserving energy.

One of the three of us (Brian) goes up front and we start to make some progress on the breakaway. The VisionQuest guys decide to form a rotating paceline to chase them down. Only ten of us work in it, and half of won't or can't make it work smoothly enough to make a difference in terms of the pace (with me yelling at them to rotate and speed up). It doesn't work, and we never catch the leaders and the group is racing for 4th place now.

Brian goes to the front with 2 miles to go and just before the two hills and cobbles (the perfect place to move up front before the road narrows). I follow up to 4th position, feeling strong. Through the first small hill and up to the second steep hill, I stay in fourth. Going up the last steep hill, Brian attacks going up the hill first. I follow in second. He goes too hard and redlines, and I follow doing the same (my only major mistake of the race, but then again at least I didn't redline at the back of the group and get jettisoned). We get swallowed at the top of the hill, make the turn going into the downhill cobbles in about 15th position. I shift to the 53/12 and hammer down the downhill cobbles hoping I don't crash at 42mph. I move back up to about 6th position. Newt is right next to me then uses my draft to pull ahead, Brian behind me. Now a race of about 500 yards on slightly uphill cobbles, a hard left, then straight to a finish line of 150 yards of pavement away.

It's here my lack of power hurts me again, and I drift to about 18th position, just behind the lead group about 20 yards and ahead of my teammate Brian by 20 yards. Newt is ahead, and so is Bob. I maintain this position through the sprint. Bob gets 13th, Newt gets 17th, I'm 19th, Brian is behind me in 20th and Chris coming in 23rd.

Overall, Newt and I did maybe a little too much work. But, we worked as a team, raced very aggressively and "hung it out there". I feel like we raced the race instead of sitting in, only to emerge at the very end of the race to use miserly conserved energy (or is it "wisely" conserved energy?).

I think over the course of the season being aggressive and just a little bit smarter will pay off, and in the end, be a lot more fun as selected teammates and I work together and share in each other's successes.