I wasn't able to ride last year's blizzard edition of the Boulevard Road Race. So, I really, really wanted to do it this year. A quick business trip to Nevada over the last few days as well as somewhat sporadic training, added a few hiccups to my fitness, so going into the race I had somewhat limited, cautious aspirations.
The weather reports all week pointed to a similar forecast as last year, heavy rain with a chance for snow over 4000'. The weather didn't disappoint. The skies opened up Saturday morning, the farther east - the heavier the rain. It was 50 degrees at the start and the rain had dropped to just a drizzle. As I always do, I overdressed a bit; tights, leg & arm warmers, thermal base layer, UA Coldgear shirt, bibs, jersey, helmet liner, cap, double socks and booties, almost double gloved it as well and as it was I needed every bit of it. The game plan was to just do enough work to stay towards the front, but avoid working too hard - hmmm, "the best laid plans...."
The race consists (at least for me) of two 22 mile laps each having around 2000' of climbing. It begins with a series of progressively rising rollers. My plan to start near the front instantly paid off as within the first couple of miles there was a crash just behind me as the group tried to avoid a puddle. Of course in light of the increasingly heavier rain, attempts at puddle avoidance may have been somewhat pointless. After this slight climb the route turns to the west and drops nearly 2000'; rivers of mud and gravel criss-crossing the road. Between the rooster tails of water coming off of bike tires and the winter monsoon falling from the sky I had all the hydration I needed - and my clothes had become absolutely saturated.
Finally, after 9 miles of descending, we took a hard right, crossed the rail road tracks and started climbing - and started to warm up. A few riders tried to go off the front, but were reeled in by the time we hit highway 80. I found myself redlining as the pace ratcheted up and had to slow down a bit, loosing contact with the lead group.
A few of us tried to form a chase group, and pace line back to the leaders, but it kept breaking up. After cresting the climb and heading out for lap number 2 I found myself leap frogging stragglers, until teaming up with Erik from SDBC. We cut the gap to the sharp end of the race to about 200m just before they began the long drop to the rail road tracks for the second time. Erik and I shared the work as we plummeted down through the rain and mud, expecting to see the group around every corner, no such luck.
We picked off a few riders as we climbed back out, but my legs began to feel heavier and heavier. The rain and effort was draining me. I told Erik to go and not wait as I continued to grind out the miles. A rider from Moment Cycles came up from behind and I latched on and tried to match his effort - we caught another Cat 4 rider who jumped in as well (not sure if that's how it's supposed to go). As he let a gap open I was able to jump around and then move to the front and did a mile uphill pull to the finish line. I pulled away from the others a bit towards the end; felt a little bad as the guy from Moment had help me with a long pull earlier in the climb, but I guess I had around 100m on the group by the line.
At the end of the day it was a top 20 finish on a hard, hard day. Considering my lack of fitness for the past week or two and staying in the land of air conditioning, second hand smoke, and fried foods (Vegas) for a few days; I'd say it was an okay finish. At least I know what I need to do for the Omnium.
