Can-Am Games: Road Race

The 43 mile Road Race was held on the last day of competition for us. I figured it was going to be tough. I was really starting to get stiff from the 3 previous days of competing, and this was going to be the most grueling. Not only that, some of the competitors had skipped the Street Sprints the day before, so I figured they were going to be more rested. The course was on a loop that was about 14 miles or so long, with mostly rolling hills. Except for one hill...it climbed about 200 feet within about a half mile. Even before the race started, there were talks throughout the parking lot of people setting up their attacks for that hill. There were also a couple of nice, long straight-aways, so I was hopeful that the wind wasn't too strong.

Once we got started, the first lap went by about how I figured. There were a few early "moves" to try to separate the group, and some trial-and-error tactics that people were doing to see what the field was going to respond to, etc. I have to admit that the big hill didn't pose nearly as much of a problem as I thought it was going to for me. Dennis and I worked together off and on, and positioned ourselves in the front group. On the second lap, the hill still wasn't much of a problem, but Dennis and I knew that one of the other groups were saving an attack for the final lap on that hill. We stayed in the front group, but then there was a solo breakaway that went up the road. Luckily, that rider wasn't in our category, so we didn't even bother to try to organize a chase. At the beginning of lap 3, we approached "The Big Hill". We knew this was when the big attack from one of the other riders was going to happen. Dennis looked at me and said, "This is gonna hurt". I chuckled, and agreed...but I had no idea how right he was. Halfway up the hill, the attack came, and a few riders accelerated to stay with it. At the time, my heart rate was low, and I was feeling good, so I pressed hard on the pedals to try to go with them. When I did, it felt like a lightning bolt struck my left leg and went from my groin, all the way to my ankle!! It was the worst pain I'd ever felt on the bike. I almost came to a stand-still halfway up the hill. I thought I was going to have to get off my bike, as the entire group passed me. As Dennis came by, he asked if I was alright, but there was nothing he could do to help. I thought I was done, for sure. I looked back, and saw the support van coming up the hill. I knew that if I wanted to stay with the leaders, I'd have to make it up the hill before the van did. I slowly moved my leg around with the pedals, and the pain slowly subsided. I managed to catch back up to the group by the top of the hill, where I could draft and take a little break for a while. Thankfully, it was just a temporary problem!

As we came into the final few miles, I looked around the group and began to calculate my final strategy. I knew that in an all-out sprint for the line, there weren't many riders in the group that I could beat.  I also knew that most (if not all) of the other riders in my group were NOT in my class, which meant that I already had a good chance at placing well in the standings. Since most of the guys in the group were in Dennis' class, I knew I had an opportunity to be a good teammate and support him and try to launch him for the sprint. With about a mile and a half or so to go, I positioned myself at second wheel, letting the guy in front of me pull me along for a few minutes. With a little less than a mile left to go, I looked back and locked eyes with Dennis. Then, I put my head down and rocketed to the front. Once I was sure that Dennis had come with me, I just kept hammering. I was now committed, to go 100% and lead him out for the sprint. My legs were numb, and I couldn't breathe! I glanced down at my computer, and I was pulling at almost 32mph, and 188bpm!!! Just as I was ready to sit up, Dennis took off around me..in an all-out sprint for the line. I yelled as loud as I could, "GO DENNIS!! GO! GO! GO!" As I fell back through the group, I looked up and noticed that he had a few bike lengths lead over the rest of the bunch. Once I realized that he was going to cross the finish line first, I began to celebrate with my arms in the air, yelling at the top of my lungs! It was a perfectly executed team move, and it worked flawlessly. We had both done our jobs, and it payed off BIGTIME! We both earned gold medals in our classes for our performances, and so had Ramon earlier. It was a great ending to a great week of racing!