After talking with Matty D by his truck before the race, it was evident he was poised to ride aggressive, which got me a little jazzed because I have been waiting for a race where we might be able to make a break. I know I’m new to bike racing, but I figured due to the elevation of this race that it would start out slow and build throughout with some aggressive break attempts. My fitness has been a question mark for me to this point in the year and was wondering if I’d done enough or the right things to prepare for some back to back races. Some good weeks, some bad weeks. But I really believe if every session is a good one, then you’ve probably not been pushing your “Threshold” to get better.

The pace started out hotter than I had expected, but I was ready to test where my fitness was. All it took was a couple looks back from Big Bird and I figured I’d better get my @ss up front with the team. They were ready to go and it was game on. The pace stayed high and at about mile 20-25 a climb that seemed a little longer than the previous started to thin the group out of bit and I thought this might be the first real chance for a true separation and all Thresholders were on board. Awesome! But to no avail. The climb probably needed to extend out another 0.5-1 mile or so. We make a right hand turn and continue to press a bit, but with no success.

At about mile 30-35, I talk with Big Bird and we decide, hey it’s time to let others do some work for a while. I have no hesitation at this point in agreeing. I choke down a bar at mile 35 and soon after the next set of real climbs are upon us around mile 40 with the heat picking up. I think to myself, if it’s gonna happen, the break is gonna be now! The group thins out and there is a separation of about maybe 10 riders and I dig deep to stay in it thinking this is gonna happen and we’ve done too much work to this point to fall out of contention, but just as little gap maybe was occurring we shoot down a small hill have to make what is about a 135-degree turn uphill which probably brought most of the group back together.

Uneventful, other than I notice a couple guys making their way near the front that hadn’t been there all day (probably been buying their time, but there was no way Threshold was gonna get left behind if a break had occurred) until the final climb back into the reservoir.

Final climb to the reservoir. Pace picks up, a few guys fall off. A little “breather” on a false flat, then a longer climb, and the pace picks up again. More guys fall off. At this point, my goal is to stay in contact with the group of ~20 riders to the Overlook point and see what happens. I tell myself to finish the race hard, try to accelerate as the group does (nothing there) blow a gasket about 50-100 m to the Overlook. Cory zipps by me – felt like I was standing still. Strong ride bro! Don’t know where you got the extra acceleration after all the work we did. Pass a couple riders on the final 100 m to the finish as they fall off the back too.

Legit race. Bird Bird, you rode like a mad man! I think we had few choices in this race (but I could be wrong as I’m still learning about tactics): (1) take chances and hope a break occurs, (2) sit in, hope a break doesn’t occur, finish with a strong climb to the finish or make a break somewhere with 30-60 minutes left of racing. I’d rather take those chances and see if it works out. Only thing is if we could have had a few guys sit and block on one of those climbs…

VB3