FLCC> Owasco Stage Race – the view from the middle

[Charles Hamilton]

This weekend saw my first multi-day race the Owasco Stage Race.  I've got my
free bottle of JW Dundee's pale ale which is going great with my very sore
legs as I tap out this too long race report.

Stage 1 was a very wet time trial early on Saturday morning.  Pouring rain
came down coating both the inside and outside of my wrap-around shades.  I
started strong, third from the end in the cat 4/5 field.  A few coaching
tips from Laura B. and others helped me push hard on the downhills and try
to maintain a steady pressure.  Using my poor man's aerobars – one elbow
rested on the tops of my standard bars, I did my best to cut through the
rain.  Visibility?  Visibility is for the weak.

I managed to pass the guy one minute ahead on the way back up the 12 mile
course just before getting passed by cookie Shan M. who started one minute
back from me.  I finished with nothing in the tank with a solid middle of
the pack finish.  The official times kept changing, but I think I was about
3 minutes off the leader for 30th place or so.

Pouring rain convinced me to haul myself the hour by car back to Ithaca to
dry out and eat lunch.  After throwing everything through the dryer and
managing not to fall asleep, I was back for the circuit race for stage 2.

The course was a 3.2 mile rectangle that my field did 5 times with 4 time
bonuses on different laps.  Each lap had a fairly steep, but short hill, a
series of rollers, a sharp downhill corner and a riser about 1k from the
finish.  Shan and I went hard on lap one for the bonus, which he won.  I was
recovering at about 15 back in the 75 person field when the group surged up
the hill just past the start.  My brain tried to tell my legs this was the
selection point, but they refused to listen.  Shan and I were both gapped
back to a chase group of about 10.

We tried to catch back at one point coming very close, but never made it
back to the lead group.  There were some surly figures in our little chase
group, yelling at each other to hold lines or pull through etc.  Yells like
that never seem to come from the front of a group.  We finally got a bit
organized, but ended up finishing over a minute back.  Joe B. was in the
lead group and mixed it up in the sprint, not sure what place he got.
Thanks to Hobit for coming out to cheer in the smattering rain.

Does a burger at the State Street Diner count as a recovery meal?  I pounded
food, hugged the kids and went to sleep at 8:30.  Morning saw me walking
around on wooden legs.  How do those guys do the 5 day races?  Not to
mention 20 days…  A smoothy and toast for breakfast and back on the road for
the 10:05 start to the third and final stage.  I can't say I was looking
forward to 59 miles (90 for the pro/1/2).

At least the sun was shining and the grumpy folks were no where in sight as
we rolled out.  The group pushed hard on the first minor hill on the way to
Moravia splitting off about 1/4th of the field.  I hung out at the back of
the field all the way into town where the pace car and the state patrol
officer shunt us left at the main light.  Well about a block up the next
hill someone figures out we all just made a wrong turn and some minor chaos
ensues.  The field stops, turns around, no one knows what to do or which way
to go.  Our chase car is as clueless as the 60 guys standing around in
spandex.  I just smile and decide it's a great time for a snack.  Munching
powerbar the field finally finds the right direction just as the 15 guys we
dropped catch back on – all a little surprised to see us.

We ride fairly neutral out of town past Filmore Glen state park just as the
3/4 field comes blazing past on the left.  Everyone remains fairly calm as
they pull away about 200 meters ahead just as someone in their field
crashes.  I didn't see it, but the rider is down holding his arm with people
gathered around as our field passes.  Some bonehead at the front decides a
crash/rubber-neck zone is a good time for an attack and the field starts to
stretch out.  I'm chatting at the back with some of the late arrivals, one
of which knows the course.  We yell up to take the correct left up the first
major hill of the route.

If there had been 4 big hills, I would have been fine.  Maybe even 5, but I
lost count at around 7, not including all of the rollers.  No mountains,
mind you, but this first one had the lingering smell of burning brakes from
the car that just came down it.  I think I need some more gears on the back…
Very steep to start and then about 1k of rolling uphill.  Guys are already
going left and right zig zag up the steep parts as I put my head down and
grind.

I see myself through these kind of trials by limiting my field of view to
the wheel directly in front.  I know this isn't the best tactic, if the
rider ahead hits a cow at 10mph, well, I'll be milking it right along with
him.  But it keeps me from thinking too much as my body goes into the red
zone.  I'm doing ok and manage to pass Shan and Joe, but just lose sight of
the lead group across the top.  4 of us do some good pacelining back down
the long decent with Shan back on and pulling very hard.  Top speed for me
here was 53mph, which I tried not to think too much about or share with the
loved one back home.  A chase group of 10 more catch us along with Joe and
we get organized just at the bottom of the decent.

On the flat back into Moravia we work really well together.  Just managing
to regain the lead group as we enter town.  Guys are patting each other on
the back just as we hit major climb number two.  Again so steep at the front
I feel like I'm going to pop a wheelie.  Somewhere in here it starts to
flatten out and I hear crazed yelling from the side of the road.

I'm right behind Shan and Joe as we enter the feed zone, we're looking like
quite the team cookie machine here all lined up in red and yellow (quite by
accident) as we see the Fitterer's and the Shenstone's out cheering for the
home team.  I smile and yell back "where's the cookie?!"  They cheer in that
crazed way people do who clearly don't care what people think of them.

The cheering helps a ton, as I roll strong through the feedzone feeling like
quite the uber-cool bike racer.  They even have blessed volunteers handing
out cap-off water to any old rider that goes by.  I grab a bottle and dump
it straight away over my head.  Yeah, now I'm cool.  Riding on, Shan moves
up somewhere here or on the next hill, it's all a blur.  I look down through
my oxygen deprived eyes at my bike and it's flickering in my vision. You
know, kind of like your DVD does sometimes when it's about to skip a scene.
The top tube looks kinda like digital squares that my brain's just not
putting together right.

I shake out my brain and I'm about 250meters back from a group of 20 and 50
meters up on a group of 10 with Joe B. by my side.  Knowing we can't make
the catch, we decide to slow as the nicest bunch of chasers comes rolling up
asking if we need a lift.  We're on the line and working hard just as an
alien beast of a cramp takes over Joe's leg.  He falls back as we ride hard
forward.

Over each big hill the group would shatter, sometimes I'm at the front, more
often at the back.  We work well together, but I fall off around mile 40.
My legs are near cramping top to bottom, but I figure if I keep a steady
pressure I might make it.  I think I rode up one long hill at about the same
speed as one of those utility tricycles, the kind with a shopping cart on
the back.  5 mph up a mile long hill with wooden legs was the best I could
do.

I pick up a bit at the end with 10k to go.  Only one mile out and the
cycling gods put up a series of steep little hills.  The kind that I would
devour on fresh legs, powering over in my big ring and racing down the other
side.  Well, if I'd had a triple I would have been lovin' it.  Hell, if I
had regular shoes, I think I would have walked.

1k to go and I wake up again, pushing hard I look great for the last two
blips.  The finish line was awesome with lots of cheers and gatorade in
coolers about 75 meters away.

Long day, great racing, great organization (even with the wrong turn).
Congrats to all the others out there and thanks to the Owasco Velo Club for
the great event.
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