JP's Modesto RR report- 5-20-12

John Pauley's Modesto Report
Race Day, Sunday, May 20,

Race: Modesto Road Race

Course: 63 miles (that's further than they raced in the TOC on Sunday!) Seven laps of a 9 mile, 10 turn course in the orchards of Salida, CA

Category: 35+ 1/2/3

Riders: 80+ (only 17 had pre-reg'd)

Teammates: Scott Fairman

I knew that I was going to make the decision on whether or not to race at the last minute, but I didn't decide until 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. That's cutting it a bit close. Anyway, load car, eat as I drive, get there an hour before race and check in. No problem. I'm in the "day of race" line which is about 20 guys deep and Bubba Melcher is in line behind me. I introduce myself and he and I talk about his win the day before at the Modesto crit which he won in a 10 lap solo breakaway (uh oh, today is going to be fast). Bubba's a pretty funny guy and he has everyone in line cracking up. That's good for me as it loosens me up before the race.

The race starts with 80+ riders, it starts on time (8:15) and we have seven - nine mile - very flat laps ahead of us. It's basically a really long criterium on a really big course. The race is a typical 35+ 1/2/3's race in that it is very fast sometimes and very slow others. We average 25.7 mph for the 63 miles and every lap averages between 25.1 and 26 mph. Amazingly consistent considering every lap felt different in regards to where it was fast and how hard the wind was blowing. (p.s., almost no wind for this course, but it did continually increase as the race went on.) The first lap was uneventful. The second lap there were a couple of break attempts, but nothing stuck. We get to the feed zone after lap two and I finally figure out the trick getting a bottle; dive in at the last minute, cut off two or three riders, knock a couple of bottles out of the hands of the feeders in a feeble attempt at grabbing them and then grab the last bottle available so the riders behind don't get anything (oh no wait, that was the idiot in front of me, grrrr). On lap three, five guys went hard and got a small gap and I hear someone yell "Everyone chase, you need to attack! Bubba Melcher's in that break! Go, go go!" So I turned to see who was yelling, and it was Bubba. All the riders around him were laughing. The break stayed away for the next three laps and we caught them sometime near the beginning of the final lap. I was still feeling pretty good so I started thinking that maybe I would take a flyer with a kilometer or so to go and see if I could surprise everyone, but my plan, and my strength, were thwarted. Around 2 miles into the final lap, a group of 10 riders got away. A group of 15+ chased and gapped the group I was in (another 35+) and we chased all of them. We dropped about 15 of our group and continued to chase for three or four miles. We finally catch back on, just as the group in front of us catch the break and we are gruppo compacto with 2 miles to go and I am worked. I try to relax and save something for the final kilometer, but it doesn't look promising. We make the final turn which is approximately 1 mile from the finish and I am sitting mid pack (around 20th). With a kilometer to go, the speed really ramps up and it's all I can do to hang on. I sit up with 200 meters to go and roll across in 42nd place.

All in all it was a good race for me to do for my first race of the year. I'm very happy that I was able to ride smart, dig deep when necessary, recover after each effort and finish with the main pack. I think that with a couple of weeks of riding, I will get used to the new position, start using my quads more and hopefully I will be able to ride up and over rolling hills like I used to be able to do three or four years ago. (fingers crossed)

Monday, May 21, My hamstrings and my quads are very sore and stretching isn't helping. This new position will help in the long run, but I'm paying for it now.

Thanks for reading,

JP