Zachary Hilton
Placing: 20
35+Cat 4
Early Bird RRPatterson, CA
0 Teammates
Field Size: 22
Weather: 46degrees avg. Sunny. Icy roads and 35 degrees in the shady canyons!
Start Time: 8:30am
Total Time: 2hr 27min
Average Speed: 17.2MPH, Top Speed 34.5 MPH
Average HR: 155 MaxHR: 185
ElevationAscent: 2625 Ft.
First road race of the year. This is the beginning of my 3rd season. Last year I left my clinchers on because of the rain, and this course is filled with pot holes and debris that washes down the hillsides. Since I thought it was going to be dry road conditions I put my Zipp 404 tubulars on. I should have expected the icy conditions, but for some reason it didn’t even cross my mind. Note to self for next year. I have been doing a lot of cold morning training when I get off work in Oakland. I am a Firefighter up there. So I was used to riding in the high 30’s but not used to ice all over the roads for miles. I got a good 30 minute warm-up in the sun on the trainer, and I felt comfortable not wearing all my cold weather gear since I thought I would burn up on the race. I wish I had worn my long finger winter gloves!
My goals were to stay with the lead group all the way to the climb. Take my share of pulls upfront but let everyone else do the work until the climb. I was going to try and make a breakaway right before mile 14 where there is a little downhill. That would leave me with a few miles before the climb would begin. I was shooting for the KOM! No SJBC teammates in my group, but I was hoping a couple friends from other teams were going to show up, and I could get them to go with me. They opted to stay at home L.
Race started off easy. Course wasn’t that windy for the first 10 miles. Then the ice patches came. It was not a good sign when we started coming around corners and the landscape went from spring looking to dead of winter. Frost everywhere! The same guys were taking pulls off the front, and not moving to the back of the pack. Fine with me! The pace was all over the place. These accelerations are usually when I get shelled off the back, but I stayed mid-pack and matched them. Right around mile 13 we were going up through a section of ice when rider 2 rows ahead on the right decided to get out of his saddle and as soon as he tried to accelerate he went down. That caused 5 of us to go down. Normally I am always looking for an out in case of crashes. I tried quickly to move to the left and my back tire slid out. I avoided running over the guy in front of me, and went down on my left side. Took me a second to stand on the icy road. It was like ice skating. That fall took everything out of me for a moment. I was initially pissed and thought about throwing in the towel and returning back to the car. I had a minor cut on my left knee that was bleeding, but bike and everything else was working. I was so numb and cold anyways to feel the pain. Then the true passion of training, racing, and being apart of a team (SJBC) kicked in. You don’t give up when you have come this far! If you can make it, then you get back on that bike and ride it out. Strava is also awesome for these moments because I thought why would you want to show everyone “Well he almost made it but it was too cold and painful” Ha! Racing in these races for the past 2 years now has shown me what true physical exertion is all about, and you have lots of conversations with yourself on the bike during these races. One is the constant battle of your body telling you to shut down and you telling it just a little longer…we’re almost done! So I straightened out my gear shifters and back brakes and rode hard. My fingers were now completely frozen and numb. I was riding alone now, and my mind was going crazy. I contemplated how much I would pay someone to let me where some warm full finger gloves. I went up to $100! Those campers and campfires off the road looked really enticing also. That climb to the top was challenging. Grades of 10% average to 21% at the top. The climb was the warmest part of the ride. I got a PR on the wall climb also. The return back to the finish was just as sketchy as riding up. I passed up many riders that either flatted or went down. It’s a time trailers paradise on the last 5 miles to the finish. You can really stay tucked and fly. I got to race a few from other categories to the finish and felt like I worked my ass off.
Happy to finish. That’s all I can say about competing in the Early Bird RR.
My next race is the SJBC Winter Series RR Jan 27 and Snelling Feb 23.
Thanks for reading!
Thank to SJBC Racing, Concept Cyclery in Morgan Hill, and Fluid!
