Bariani Race Report: 45+ 1/2/3/4's By Andrew

Bariani Road Race Report by Andrew
Team: Andrew/Devon/Mark/Chris and John Pauley
Cat: 45+ 1/2/3/4

So it has been a while since I reported on a race and thought I would jump in and give my two cents on Bariani (Zamora) Road Race.

The day started at 4:10am, which, if you did not know, is freakin early. I met up with Mark, Devon and Chris at the Park and Ride in Woodside and off we went. Two hours later we pull into an olive oil plant which is the start of the race. It is about 38 degrees, but at least no rain. We gear up and head to the start.

We are joined by John Pauley and so we have five guys in the field. Safeway has about eight guys and Well Fargo has about eight. This was my first race with 1/2's in the field, all be it old 1/2's (45+), but still. So going in I figured tactics would play a much greater role than they did in the 3/4 races. After spending way to much time reading Internet race reports, I really expected Safeway to throw attack after attack till one stuck. With this in mind I wanted to be in the top five guys in order to catch on to one of those attacks.

So there I sat most the race. Riding 5th wheel or so and wondering, "when is the big attack coming?" Well, there were probably four or five attacks, and I jumped on each one, but all of them seemed half hearted. Once about five or six of us got about a 20 meter gap and I thought we might have something when the motto raced to the front of our group and told us to slow down. It happened to be as we were passing the group that started ahead of us and she was trying to get them to move to the side of the road, but still, I thought that was odd to have happen in a race. Anyway, we were all back together and it looked like that was how it was going to be.

Final lap comes and we hit the one hill. I would say it is about like Sandhill. Not too steep and not too long. The actual hard part of the race is just after the hill. You come to a mile and a half long straight road that is right into the wind. The road surface is similar to how they describe the moon. Full of craters. Between the holes and the rocks on the road, it is a pretty sketchy ride. Some guy goes to the front just after the hill and starts to really drill it. We are strung out at this point and we are moving fast. We make the left turn to the final straight away and pace picks up a bit more. One guy in front of me moves left to avoid something and I go right. About three guys go by me, including Devon. I jump back on the wheel of the guy just in back of Devon. I would say I am about 10th position and Devon 8th. We are 600 or so meters from the line. Not sure what happens next, but guy I am following loses it. Does a summersault in front of me. I veer right to avoid a tumbling bike and rider. By this point we are probably 500 meters from the line and the guys in front of the crash are gone. I soft pedal the rest of the way in and try and catch my breath. A few go by in those final meters and I finish somewhere in the top 15. Devon holds on for a solid 6th or 7th. If I had to be honest with myself, I don’t think I had much of a sprint left in my lungs that last 500 meters and would have maybe held my spot in 8th to 10th. So, in all, felt good and was happy to have felt fine racing with old 1/2 guys.

Just to finish the tale of what happened to the others…Mark flats six miles into the race. He has tubulars and has to walk/hitchhike the last four miles back. Luckily for him his new bike only weighs 13.5 lbs so it is not as rough as it sounds. JP flatted as well and then road the course backwards. I caught site of him a few times going the other way. Chris hung in the pack and rolled in with the group.

Fun race, but not sure I would do this one next year if the road conditions stay the same. They really need to fill in the moonscape to make it a good race.

Andrew