Patterson
Pass RR Livermore, CA (35+ 4’s) 2 Laps 45 Miles Total
Field
Size: 19
Placing:
15
Start
Time: 8:35 (Finishing time 2:23:00)
Teammates:
Tom Stanis, Giles Douglas
Average
Speed: 18.6 MPH, Top Speed 47.8 MPH
Average
HR: 166 Max HR: 187
Power:
233 avg 661 max
Elevation
Ascent: 4,760 Ft.
Weather:
72.1 deg avg, sunny on Tracy side, and foggy on Livermore side, windy, with
cross winds, and tailwainds
This is my 2nd time
racing Patterson Pass RR. It’s a great
training race for me. I can climb the
hills, but burn a lot of matches on the flats of Altamont Pass Rd. Both areas that I need to work on. I am in the middle of a build period in training
right now. I woke up feeling great. I am sticking with my new pre-race meal
routine, it’s working out great. I am
riding my Mavic Kysirium SL’s for this race. These are my training clincher
wheels but have a lower profile. The
winds on this course can be really strong.
I just put some new tires on them too.
My normal race wheels are Zipp 404 tubulars. I switched my 11-28 to the Mavic’s also. That will come in handy on Patterson Pass Rd
climb. I didn’t get more than 15 minutes
to warm up on the trainer. I wanted at
least 30 min but ran out of time. I also wanted to line up first at the start
line. The past few races I have showed
up later. On the races where you can’t
cross the double yellow line (center line rule) it’s hard to keep moving up in
the pack. This race starts right off
with climbing, and I wanted to be up front to control the pace as much as
possible. My goals were to be in the top
5 for the entire first lap. My first
time in this race 2 years ago I was dropped before the main climb up Patterson
Pass Rd even started. Whatever I could
do for lap 2 was an extra bonus. I
filled 2 small water bottles and had a neutral feed zone prior to the climb if
I needed it.
The race starts and I am right
in the front like I want to be. Not a
huge field, but some familiar faces that I am racing with this year. We stayed together and no one tried to attack
the group. There were a few
accelerations but I was able to match them.
Nothing for more than 30 seconds or so.
We crested the false summit of Patterson Pass and then you could start
to feel the headwinds. Looking up at the
top of the climb is an amazing site! It’s
been named OMG hill. I settled in and
stayed as aero as possible. We began to
drop about half the group as we started to climb. I was in the front right where I wanted to
be. I was taking turns with a TopSport guy in front. There was nowhere to hide from the wind, and
I was expecting to start getting dropped.
No one was coming around us and that was fine with me. I didn’t feel like I was running in the red
yet. I was the first to the top; made
sure the jersey was zipped, and took a quick drink. The descent that was coming was going to be
fast!!! I wanted to be the first or second
into these next few turns as we head towards Altamont Pass Rd. Depending how large your group is, you need
to slow down to almost a stop to get through these if you are behind guys. Even if you are the first one through
it. The TopSport racer Paul Berger and I
were still on the front on the descent. A Raley’s/VW racer Paul Higley also came up
front also. He would later be the race
winner. We climbed up Flynn Rd with a
good pace, and I was still feeling good.
I was just happy to be in the lead pack!
As we turned from Carrol Rd to Altamont Pass Rd the pace picked up. There was not a real organized pace line
however. We still had time on the guys we dropped but if we had gotten a little
more organized, we probably could have kept away from them. Jefferey Miller from VSRT/DS Electric
attacked the group from behind. We let
him go. There was no way you could stay
away on this section. We still had 1 ½ laps
to complete also. They were caught
before the turn onto Midway Rd. Then as
we turned onto Midway Rd the group we dropped on the climb caught us too. Now we were all back together again. The top of Midway is a place where attacks
happen, but no one was interested in doing that this first lap. We all cruised through the finish line for
our 2nd lap. I was starting
to feel the pain from the energy I burned on Altamont Pass Rd. As we started the false summit climb guys
started to slip off the back. I stayed
up front until we reach that summit and then my power began to fade. There were some accelerations that I just
couldn’t match any longer. I was 10
seconds back, and then it began to grow.
I stayed within a min back as we climbed to the summit of OMG hill. I thought I could maybe catch them as they
descended and slowed for the turns. That
was the last time I saw them however. I
turned around and didn’t see anyone behind me to regroup with either. I decided to just keep chasing. I made the climb up Flynn Rd and began to see
a small group chasing me down. I made
the turn onto Altamont Pass Rd and had a bigger gap on them. I decided to not
wait but to keep chasing and just time trial it to the finish. I was hoping to keep them behind. Well they caught me at 4 miles to go. It was a gamble that I probably will not take
next time unless I have some more guys with me.
I could have conserved a lot more energy if I could have been in there
group to the finish. We turned onto
Midway Rd and I was expecting someone to attack the group on Midway. Sure enough a Team Oakland guy did, and we
all chased. I summited and was DONE!!!! I couldn’t chase anymore.
Now it’s time to recover and
continue this build cycle I am in. I
finished this race and learned a lot! I PR’ed the course by over 20 minutes from two
years ago. I also stayed with the lead
group longer than I did previous. Two
bottles on a colder day for this course was plenty of fluid.
My next race is Tempus Fugit ITT
August 25th (Summer)
Thanks
to SJBC!
Thanks
to my teammates!
Thanks
to Clif Bar!
Thanks
to Concept Cyclery!
Thanks
to Specialized!
Thanks
for reading!
