Tokeneke Road Race, Masters 45+ (Cat 1-4)
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David Andersen
Posted Aug 8, 2010 1:23pm
New England Regional Road Race Championships This was one of the harder (hillier) race courses I’ve done. Two laps of a HILLY 22 mile loop around the Barkhamsted Reservoir with 2,100 feet of elevation change per lap. The finishing climb was part of the loop so we traversed it twice. The climb itself was about 2.2 miles at a consistent 5% grade. OUCH! This race was the New England Regional Road Race Championships. As if the “old guy” races were not already hard enough—with Cat 1’s, 2’s, ex-pro’s, current USA Age-Group National, and World Champions—this race brought out all the best on a really hard course. This was a recipe for FAST which is a code-word for P-A-I-N ! About 55 of us started and after some downhill we started hitting rolling hills, then at 7 miles we started to climb. As usual the super fit experienced guys hit the gas HARD! The next 8 miles were mostly uphill. Oh the pain of trying to keep up was brutal. Eventually I began to fall away from the leaders as did a bunch of others. We formed a decent sized group of 10-15 riders. We began a rotating paceline and could see the leaders ahead. Finally some downhill where I hit 49 mph. Then we began the big climb. 5% is fairly steep and when it goes up like that for over 2 miles it is especially hard (at race pace). I was dripping in sweat. Near the top of the hill (completion of lap 1) four of us got away and began to hammer downhill. We eventually caught 2 guys before hitting the hills again. Then we scooped up some more riders so once again I was in a group of about 10. I recognized some of the guys (by their kits) that had beaten me soundly earlier in the year. I got confidence from knowing I had raised my game and was now staying with them. Back down the screaming fast hill at close to 50 mph then we began to go up the final 2+ miles. Some guys started to apply pressure and began pulling away on the long grinding uphill. I found myself next to the same guy (Bruce) I raced at last weekend’s Catskill Stage Race. We dropped several guys but the others were pulling away. I was going all out as we passed the “1K To Go” sign. I tried to accelerate past Bruce but I had nothing left. I finished in 38th place (Top 25 in the New England Championships). Our group of nine finished 10-minutes behind the winner. I’ll give myself an “A” for effort. |
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