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Race Result

Racer: Richard Gendron
Race: Bunny Hop
Date: Sunday, July 20, 2008
Location: Suitland, MD
Race Type: Bike - Other
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Overall Place: 28 / 80
Comment: Excited, Nervous and Dreading



Race Report:



Friday Night
I'm excited for, nervous about and dreading this race. It's my first race as a CAT 4, so I'm excited. It's a combined CAT 3/CAT 4 field, so I'm nervous. It's supposed to be close to 100 deg during the race from 3:00-4:00 so I'm dreading.

The course is "super easy" - no hills, wide open corners - wide enough to pedal through. There is some bad pavement to watch out for. It's gonna take some super human effort to get away from the peleton, especially in the heat - but then again Ryan Bracken and B. Vaughan are in the 3/4 race. This will likely end in a field sprint and the accompanying chaos that goes with 80 riders all trying to be in the top 10 before the last turn - so nerve will be almost as important as raw power.

My strategy - good 20-30 min warm up to keep from getting dropped early. Stay out of the wind and trust that the field stays together, find teammates in the last 2/3 laps and then lead out like a hero or sprint like the sky is falling when the time comes.

Race Report
I hydrated last night, sipped water and occasionally a sports drinks all morning (including during a one hour swim workout). I got to the course an hour before the race, where I saw Pete Custer finishing the 1/2/3 race. I asked "how was it?". "I was vomiting water, make sure you have two bottles". So I set my rollers up in the shade next to Nate Miller (his first CAT 4 race too). Warm up is not the right description - it was more like rotisserie. Despite the shade we felt like we were roasting. Just before the race, I doused myself in ice water just to get some relief.

Lined up with three teammates (Chris (CAT 4), Joe (CAT 4) and Ryan Bracken (CAT 3)). I told Ryan, "the best thing about my first CAT 4 race being a 3/4 is that I have a better seat to watch you win" - prophetic.

Right from the start I had a little trouble. After the first road bump, my bars were facing south. I had adjusted my handle bars on Thursday and obviously did not tighten down the faceplate enough for race conditions. I've been nervous about over tightening a carbon stem on carbon bars - I'm buying a torque wrench on Monday for sure. I contemplated a stop in the pit, but decided that it might not qualify for a free lap. I straitened them back on my own and decided to stay in the drops for the entire race. Not bad training for TT position. That little maneuver sent me back from about 15 position to 1/2 way back in the pack and riders were passing me by on both sides. I did not panic, but rather, settled in and tried to find some smooth wheels to follow. There were some very sketchy riders near the back. I spent the first three laps behind guys who would brake on and through the turns - leaving gaps to close after the turn. On lap 3 or 4 I found Bryan Vaughan's (BV) wheel and all was well - smooth, predictable etc. After a few laps following BV, I got back into the middle of the peleton and started to figure out how to avoid the bad handlers and find gaps in the turns where I could pedal through, moving up at will without getting into the wind. I dare say I was feeling good, but was eager to see the officials put up a lap counter.

From where I was sitting, I could see an early break that had, what looked like, Chris and Ryan. I was not confident enough to go and block, so I sat in just tried to stay smooth with a high cadence. The early break came back and we rolled as a peleton for a while, occasionally getting strung out. I seem to recall that with about 10 laps to go, there was a hard attack on the left side by an NCVC rider - I did not see what happened to it. I felt good enough to work for the team, if needed, so I started looking for teammates and found Joe and Chris - Chris took off for the front. Joe told me Ryan was off the front with another rider. I asked if I should try to go and block. "if you've got the energy". I told him, "it's either block or store up for a monster sprint". I decided to try and Block. As I worked my way to the front, I saw Chris sitting second wheel and playing havoc with the pursuit for about three laps. The gap increased from 9 sec. then to 10. When Chris dropped back through the field, I went to the outside and got on the front next to BV. I got into second wheel and sat up a little, stranding the Artemis pursuer in no-man's land. I saw the lap counter read 2 and heard the gap was 13 seconds. I pumped a couple more times and then scrubbed a bunch of speed through turn 1, then dropped through the peleton to look for Chris and Joe.

When I found Chris, I asked him what he wanted - he said "go in front of me and I'll tell you". We were pretty far back, maybe 40 or so at this point with 1.5 laps to go. I thought we should move up, but trusted Chris to call the shots. I managed to find Joe's wheel, so we had a train, just needed a track. When we passed the line the bell was ringing. Chris said "is this the last lap? lets go !". Joe started moving up fast, and I stayed focused on his wheel. After turn one, he shot a gap between two riders, but I saw it coming and caught Joe on the other side. We kicked it through turn two, passing riders. On the back stretch I got impatient and pulled around Joe to the inside and started my leadout. My goal was to deliver Chris to Turn 3 in as good a position as possible. We passed a ton of riders - maybe 15 - going into the turn, but in the end I lost a little nerve being on the inside. I pulled in to make room for Chris - who pulled through on the inside. Chris got a little boxed in for a second or two and I almost went down as the field crowded to the inside line. I limped to the line with whatever I had left. If I had to guess, I'd say 28th. Officials forgot to turn on the camera, so I guess I'll never know.

Ryan won the race and Chris sprinted to a top 20 overall - probably a top 10 in the CAT 4.

I've survived a CAT 3/4 race in some brutal heat and got a field finish. If this race is a good indication of my fitness, I should have loaded guns for Culpepper and Luray Sprint Tris.