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Lake Sunapee Road Race |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Chris Gardner
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
Lake Sunapee Road Race
Sunapee, NH
5/19/2007
If you are ever struggling to find your way onto the saddle for a 46 mile hammerfest around a lake in cold rain, just hope that you found a pile of Bikeman cool weather clothing and a stick of Greyhound Juice first.
The Lake Sunapee Bike Race got off to a manageable pace - not so much a test of the legs, but a test to see who dressed right. I won’t mix words here - I dressed right:
Sockguy long sleeved base layer
Roubaix Fleece bibs and long sleeve jersey
Leg warmers
Two pairs of socks
Sandwich bags in the shoes (not yet available through Bikeman.com)
Rain jacket
Full-fingered gloves
Fleece cap
Underneath all that, I rubbed on a bit of Greyhound Juice Muscle Warming Salve above and below my knees. If all this sounds a bit extreme for a race in May, it did to me too. But I never undid a single zipper, never felt uncomfortable once, and most importantly, never thought twice about any of my choices during the race.
The course, proven over 30 years of the race’s existence, featured 23 miles of New England’s smoothest pavement and 1300 feet of climbing per lap. Most races, including the Cat 4, completed the circuit twice. The weather whittled a few off of the pack, but the handful of fairly significant climbs did the rest.
My two races prior to this one had been disappointments for me, as I found myself yo-yoing off the back of the lead group after a climb in the second half of each race. Last season, my first season of racing, I had used every climb I could find to make up for my weaknesses, and now it seemed that perhaps my formula wasn’t working.
On Saturday, however, I was comfortable with the pace for the entire race, and going into the final ten miles, when a small gap did open up, I was able to put in a good turn with a few others to rejoin the group and put myself back in a decent position. For the first time this season, I found myself in the first group on the approach to the finish, where an uphill sprint would suit me. With the pack 30 or so riders strong out of 96 starters, I was looking forward to making a move into the top 20 or higher.
And then this voice from up ahead of the riders in front of me said, “WATCH THE CONES!” And sure enough, I watched that big orange cone right into my front wheel.
Big thanks to my Lazer Genesis helmet.
I stuck to the ground for a bit, giving some hard thought to how each part of my body felt. Everything was fine. I can’t really imagine how. I think that the wet pavement and extra layers kept me nearly scrape free. It was just fine with me that the other riders had already cleared the hill up to the ski lodge, which I still had to climb. I figure it took 2 minutes for me to recompose, and another 3 minutes or so for me to climb the hill with a broken cleat and a bruised butt. So that accounts for my finish, about 5 minutes off of the winning mark. At the time, I wasn’t too concerned with missing out on the potential good result, and I’m still not really worried about it.
Chris
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