Mountain Massacree

6th Place Cat 1/2/3

Race Results

Strava Data

This was my first (and probably only) road bike race this year.  USA Cycling gave me a free Cat 4->3 upgrade awhile ago when I earned my Cat 2->1 upgrade in cyclocross!  This was great because it enables me to race in the Cat Pro/1/2/3 road bike races whenever I get the chance.  

I could not resist going to this Mountain Massacree race!  Looking at the elevation profile I expected little team tactics, and a race that was something similar to AFC's Wednesday Night Westside Worlds training ride but much much harder... and that is exactly what I got :).  The course was 3 laps with a Cat 3 and Cat 4 climb per lap, followed by a finishing section that was about 4 miles up a Cat 1 climb.

I am not a season road biker by any means.  I understand all of the rules and proper etiquette of road bike racing but the strategies at this high level are not something I have a ton of experience with.  Based on that I decided that my strategy would be to follow Jake Sitler.  Jake is a very fast rider, I have raced him in MTB and cross, I know that he rides like I do... he likes to go hard and make people work for it.  I figured that following him was my best chance for a good race and great result.

Right off the start we are going uphill and someone shoots off the front!  haha!  Oh man this is exciting!  Jake goes with them as well as a few others.  I am caught off guard and the pack of 6 or 7 guys is already down the road without me!  I sit there for a bit and think to myself... "what would Adam and Lance say if I go home and tell them that right from the start these guys got away and we never saw them again!"  I would be so embarrassed.  So I went to bridge back up to them, of course I brought he entire pelaton with me... a more savvy road racer would not have done that.

We were back together and this time I told myself I would not let Jake get away like that again... since I wanted to stick to my strategy.  Soon after that and before any of the major climbing even started Jake attacked and I went with him.  We got a gap with a few others and I asked him "hey.. so are we like going to try to stay away now?" (haha yea I don't know what is going on).  He is kind enough to enlighten me and tells me that "no I am waiting for Nick Waite (yea he raced in the Tour of California).  We all feared Nick at this race so this sounded like a good strategy to me.  Now I knew I had to stick with Jake, but I especially had to stick with him if he was with Nick since that would mean they would be attacking with the purpose of escaping and not coming back.

Soon after that we were all back together with the main field and going up the 1st of 2 major climbs.  Going up this climb I find that I can climb with these guys without too much trouble.  I stay near the front and we are going very fast, but the entire pack stick together for this lap (for the most part).

On the 3rd lap is when things start to get crazy!  Once we get past the feed zone Jake makes an attack and I follow.  A few come with us, maybe 3 or 4 at most.  We try to get a rotation going but the other guys don't want to work so Jake just attackers over and over until it ends up being him, Shawn (Battley racer), followed by myself going into the 1st climb.  I try to keep their wheels but they are both ahead of me.  I decide I need to settle into my own pace if I am going to survive.  I climb fast, as fast as the 2 in front of me, but not fast enough to catch them.  I can see that there is a solo racer behind me, Dan.  I am climbing just a little faster than him but he catches me on the downhill/flat sections.  Shortly after the 2nd climb he catches me.  When he does he tells me that there are 3 very fast guys coming from behind and they will catch us very soon.  I thank him for the info and prepare myself for when they arrive so that I can latch onto their momentum.

They hit us hard just before the super steep descent to finish this 3rd lap.  I am able to latch on.  Scott Giles is doing ALL the work.  He is racing for Team Bike Doctor and it is obvious that he is working for his team mate Ian Spivak who is also with our group.  Ian is a great climber and if Scott can get Ian close to the 2 that are down the road (Jake and Shawn) then Bike Doctor might get the win!  Scott is a machine... I am at nearly max heart rate on the downhill just trying to stay in his draft.. it is truly incredible.

Just as we finish the 3rd lap and start the 4mile uphill to the finish we nearly make contact with the 2 in the breakaway.  We are sooo close.  Scott finally lets off and moves to the back, his job is done, Dan takes a pull, Ian takes a pull, and then it is my turn.  It is hard to remember what happened at this point.  I know I took a short pull and I think that was what ended me.  A smarter racer would have not taken the pull.  I was in no position to pull.  I was at my limit.  After I pulled through I was not able to latch back onto the group of 3 and so they continued on without me.

I had already spent so much time above my threshold (see below from my strava data) that I was pretty much spent.

	Range	Time in Zone	Percent
Z1 - Endurance	0-120	18:00	10%
Z2 - Moderate	120-134	23:32	13%
Z3 - Tempo	134-141	13:28	8%
Z4 - Threshold	141-147	18:54	11%
Z5 - Anaerobic	147+	1:44:09	58%

I regained my composure and I continued up the hill solo... constantly worried that Giles or the pack of the rest of the riders in the race (probably being led by Nick Waite) would catch me on the final climb.  I did not go slow but I did not go fast enough to catch any of the guys who just left me.  I dug deep all the way to the finish and crossed the line with a respectable 6th place!

Crossing the finish line.  Picture enhanced by James McAndrew

Best road bike race ever!  If all road bike races were like this I would almost certainly be a convert... but unfortunately they are not all this fun and MTB is :)