Barry Roubaix 2014 Race Report

Retrospective analysis of a race is inevitable. Looking at each little detail, each moment to see how it impacted the ultimate result. Was an attack effectively timed, were too many matches burned too early, did that tree I hit slow me down? The analysis is a little more unforgiving when there is a close result, especially when mere minutes, or seconds, or hundredths of a second are the difference. This is my current thought process following the Barry Roubaix this past weekend. 

Anyway, first for the race report proper.

As noted in earlier postings, the weather was questionable, and a steady rain did indeed fall the night before. Race day dawned cloudy and cold, although, the ground was not as saturated as I expected.

Not really one for
selfies, but I don't really
have many other pics from the race so here you go.

A short warm up and then I worked my way into the queue for the start. I positioned myself well, in the first few rows and got a good start. One rider charged off the front and got a huge gap over the rest of the field, although he was reeled in during the first few miles. I got into a less than desirable position a few minutes off the start when I was pinned behind a slower rider and the right shoulder of the road. I managed to work myself out of that position before we hit the dirt, although I was several places back. The first hill section is called Three Sisters, a series of three climbs. I was in a good position but as I tired to pass someone from an earlier wave, the right shifted over and forced me into thick deep sand/mud on the shoulder of the road. Forward momentum was killed and I nearly had to stop. I got out fo the saddle and gave a few hard pedal strokes and I was free, but I figured some of the riders from my wave had gotten a gap on me.

After Three Sisters I zeroed in on two riders from my wave who were riding about my speed. One wore all black and the other had a jersey which said Great Lakes Dental, or something like that. The three of us rode loosely together for the next several miles, maintaining a good pace. However, just before the left turn onto Gun Lake Road, the Dental rider got caught behind another rider who crashed in a large patch of thick peanut butter mud. He dropped off and I didn’t see him again.

The only photo I found that I was in, out of thousands taken during the race.
Red bike just to the right of #2378. I believe this is somewhere in the 3 Sisters climb.Photo: Karen Bower

At this point the road conditions had been decent. Only a few short sections of thick mud, but the rest was not muddy, but soft. I kept thinking my rear tire was flat but it was just the bike sinking into the sand/dirt of the road.  As we hit the Gun Lake Rd. climb I found feeling very good, although I noted that I missed my goal time by a few minutes.

My time goals based on last year's times. I missed all, although I was
within a minute of the Wall goal. Also, it was a left turn on Mullen road. Oops.

I pushed on through several paved road sections, before turning back onto the dirt. I was still with the rider in black (I found out his name was Tyler) as we headed towards one of the last large climbs known as the Wall. I pulled out of a pace line we had going and said I was going to take a gel and that I was worried I had used too many matches for that stage of the race. He agreed, and I mentioned the last big climb. He acknowledged this, but also mentioned one more climb on the final stretch to the finish, a part of the course which was new this year due to a reroute. This caught me by surprise. I hadn’t investigated this new stretch since it ran parallel to the route from last year. Kind of assumed it would be the same terrain, i.e. mostly flat paved road. Anyway, back to the business at hand.

The Wall hill loomed, and I continued what I felt was strong climbing. Once over the top, I took a quick breather and then charged down the descent. The rider in black was still in contact and I commented to him that we only had 10 miles left. At this point something happened. The gel must have gotten into my system (or maybe a tapped some other reserve) because I got a surge of energy and upped my effort accordingly. The rider in black dropped back and I pushed ahead at a much higher speed.

I took the left turn onto the final paved stretch and charged hard. The final climb was ahead, with numerous 24 and 36 milers trying to get over the top. I maintained good speed and attacked the hill, buoyed by several cheers and shouts of encouragement from riders I was passing (that was a new experience). The course entered town, and again the course surprised me. I was expecting a straight run in, but the route went through a neighborhood and took several turns, almost like a road crit. Finally I turned onto the final stretch and sprinted to the finish. In my haste to catch a rider ahead of me I forgot to look at the time board as I cross. Looking down at my Garmin I saw……2:03.

I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I had ridden a fantastic race, had climbed well, and had felt strong all day, especially during the final stretch. But I still got the same time as last year? On top of that, I had no idea where I was in my age group. Things were so mixed up that my best guess was that I had hopefully cracked the top 20.

A little miffed about my time, I went back to the car and changed and got the bike cleaned off a bit before heading back to the festivities by the finish line.  I skipped the beer line (I don’t do well with a beer so soon after an event like that) and had a barbeque sandwich and people watched, figuring I would have a bit  to eat and then head out to South Bend and check the results once they were posted online.  

The finish line party! It started snowing shortly after this photo.

While eating I realized there was a tent with a result sign. I wandered over and found a line leading to several computer monitors. I punched in my race number and saw this:

Whoa. 6^th place.

I resisted yelling out in celebration, but truthfully, I was thrilled. I knew I had ridden a strong race, despite the disappointing time. Then I realized how close I had come to a podium, and a moment of disappointment popped up, along with the what if game. What if I had taken that gel earlier, could I have made up the time to get on the podium? Or if I had pushed harder on some of the climbs?

But, this was short lived. The result was far better than my 35^th place last year, and I took it as indication that my winter training has been paying off. I had been worried that the solid result at the Death March was a one off thing, the kind of result which comes from unconsciously exerting extra effort in order to not let down your teammate.  Following the BR, I think I’m on track in terms of training. Hopefully it translates to cross country racing later this spring.

 Edit 3/29/2014: I forgot to address the slower time from last year. I spoke to a teammate of mine who rode in a different wave and he agreed that the course was much slower than in past years. This matched several conversations I had post race too and a review of the results shows an across the board drop in times. I think this is attributable to the soft roads which required more effort to fight through. While somewhat icy last year, the roads were rock hard so it was like riding on pavement, resulting in the faster times.

 

Well Nuts: Barry Roubaix 2014 Weather Watch

So here is the radar picture with about 12 hours until race time with Hastings smack in the middle. I’m really wishing I had remembered to bring my fender. Tomorrow will be muddy.

Barry Roubaix 2014 Preview

Like last year, I am again heading north for the 2014 edition of the Barry Roubaix in Hastings, Michigan. Billed as the world’s largest gravel road race, or a “killer” gravel race, the name is a bit of a misnomer, at least in my opinion. The roads are mostly packed dirt, and the gravel is at a minimum. Definitely not Gravel Grovel level of gravel, at least on the 36 mile course.

Anyway, the course remains the same as last year. Due to excessive ice and snow during the winter which just won’t end, the sections of the seasonal Sager and Shaw Roads have been rerouted like last year. I was looking forward to tackling these sections since videos of these stretches seemed pretty exciting on video (around 35 seconds in).

But, with the same course, goal setting becomes easier. Last year I came in with a 2:03. My goal this year is sub 2 hours. To that end, I have typed out time check goals for certain points on the course which will be taped to my handlebar. I think the times are doable, especially if the amount of ice is reduced from last year:

Intersection with Gun Lake: 38 mins

Right turn on Mullen Rd: 1:04

The Wall Climb: 1:25

Highway 43: 1:35

Conditions are presently hard to judge. Photos and reports of the course are showing mostly clear roads with sections of packed dirt and some mud. However, complicating this is a mix of rain/snow that is predicted for Friday and some flurries for Saturday.

I picked up a pair of 700 x 40 studded tires just in case of ice, but I’m thinking they won’t be needed. However, I’m taking them with me just in case a last, minute change is needed. Otherwise, the bike is the same as last year. It seemed to have survived the Death March pretty well, except the rear hub needed to be cleaned and repacked.  However, this will likely be the last race on the Access XCL 29er. Once the BR is done I am building up my new race bike centered upon an Orbea Alma 29 frame. The Access may still get the nod for a few commutes but it will be retired in terms of mountain bike races. Might even sell it...

So, off to Michigan we go. Hoping it will be a fun ride and everyone stays safe. Just make sure those water bottle cages are nice and tight!

Oh yeah, and I joined a team, DRT Racing. My team clothing has not arrived yet but the team organizer provided me a loaner vest for the race. It is a size medium, which is......a little snug. The large I ordered would have fit better, but this will work for this race!

 

Kicking The Season Off In Brutal Style: Sub 9 Death March Race Report

Death March 2014 is now firmly in the rear view mirror, and I think the only thing that can sum up that adventure is “wow.” 

First, I have to toss out thanks and kudos to my teammate, Aaron Lifford. He and I spent time putting together a plan of attack which was successfully executed and we rode well together.

Now down to the nitty gritty. It would take me too long to type out an explanation myself, so here is how the race director described it on Facebook:

"Teams of two race to historical cemetery check points in any order using any route while taking a digital picture in front of the sign as proof of reaching the check point. Time bonuses earned for reaching more than just the five mandatories.  

                So yeah, there are five mandatory cemeteries/checkpoints, three of which were announced before the race, and the last two the day of. The remaining cemeteries, and one fire tower, were worth time bonuses which would subtract from the overall time. Lowest adjusted time wins.

                And here is a link to the Google map with checkpoints for those who want to follow along.

                So Aaron and I had a council of war the weekend before to discuss the plan of attack. Knowing the three mandatories, we planned a clockwise route which had us going up state highway 446 (aka Knightrideg Road) from the start line at the Midwest Trail Riders Camp (“MTR”) to hit the first mandatory and then heading east into the forest to hit Todd Cemetery, Hickory Fire Tower, Robertson, and Fleetwood, before heading north to Elkinsville, and then south to Lutes, Houston, and back west to Hickory Grove and the finish. The only tripping point was if some of the more outlying cemeteries would be called the morning of. Gorbitts is located to the southeast of the race area, and all access routes involved nasty climbs. Additionally, in the south east of the course was Gil Gal and Hawkins, which required some climbing, but whose time bonuses were not high enough to justify a detour, unless they were called as mandatories.

A final cemetery is Callahan. The only cemetery not accessible by a road, it is located in the middle of a patch of forest, with only trails to gain entry. Our in-depth analysis (and my experience on that trail two years ago) indicated skipping that.

So, our plan was set, contingencies were in place. Now for a weather watch. Conditions were slowly warming leading up to race day, although there were early reports of ice and snow covered roads. These reports led me to make two panic purchases: A pair of Lake MX303 boots and a new beefier front tire to blast my way through the snow, a Continental Mountain King 2.2.

On race day, forecast called for clouds with possible precipitation later in the day and with temps starting near freezing and moving into the 40s by race end. The boots would be kept for another day but the tire got the nod.

View from the middle of starting pack.

We arrived at the MTR nice and early and get situated. The drawing of the remaining two cemeteries, and the moment of truth as to which route we would utilize, was done and Mitchell and Hickory Grove were both called. This worked perfectly with our plan since Mitchell was less than a 5 minute ride from the start, and already on our list of stops, and Hickory was already on our route of cemeteries to hit.

We were off and riding and immediately hit Mitchell, along with about 1/3 of the race.

Mitchell Cemetery Selfie

Escaping from that mess we turned north and took 446 up to a side road to the second mandatory Hillenbrand-Stephenson Cemetery. We bypassed another Hillenburg Cemetery (the wrong one), although I called out to two teams who had stopped that they were in error, nabbed the right cemetery, and headed towards Tower Ridge Road.

The correct Hillenburg. Our last selfie since
I began to get nervous about cutting one of us out of
the photo and then missing the error until the end.

I hate this stretch of road based on my first Gravel Grovel experience. This time it wasn’t as bad, thanks to having a teammate, although we found the mud to be quite bad. Aaron and I got Todd Cemetery (our first time bonus of 20 minutes) at 29 minutes in, and proceed to the Hickory Ride Fire Tower.

The deal with the Tower is that you climb the thing, take your photo at the top, and you get 35 minutes bonus. Easy enough, but that tower is unnerving. I’m not afraid of heights (usually) but feeling it sway the higher you go, and the 15 other people doing the same thing, makes one hope 1930s construction was up to the task. I told myself that the tower had stood for over 80 years through the worst Indiana weather possible, and that a group of bike riders were not going to be the thing to bring it down.

We survived, took the descent down Tower Ridge Road to Robertson (25 minute bonus) and then to Fleetwood (15 min. bonus). At this point, we were 1:15 into the race, and had collected 1:35 minutes in bonus time. We were in the black! But it was not to last, as there would be no time bonuses for quite some time. Our next stop was another mandatory, Elkinsville Cemetery. On the map above, it is the checkpoint all by itself at the top of the map. To get there, we had to take Combs Road, a now closed and unmaintained county road which is at best a single-track trail, and at worst, a creek bed. For the Gravel Grovel, this route has been mostly solid and I have been able to climb the formidable hill at the midpoint of the road. Not this time. Lots of water, mud, and all around nastiness. I got a third of the way up the climb and lost all traction. Walked a bit, remounted and climbed the rest. The descent on the other side was sketchy, although Aaron rocked it like a pro, while I was my normal conservative self on the downhill.

We exited Combs and hit the Elkinsville Cemetery, and took a short break. All told from Fleetwood to Elkinsville, took 50 minutes. We were back in the red, and that red was only going to get darker. Our route took us back up Combs, but at the “summit” of the climb, we took a connector trail east to the Nebo Ridge Trail, which itself went east and connected with the Barry Ridge Road, which was our exit.

Nebo was Nebo, an old school trail, with heavy leaf cover (makes the rocks and roots more fun) and lots of mud. I was a bit slow on this section, as I usually am when using a rigid fork on singletrack, but Aaron rocked it. Our plan was to hit Berry Ridge, take it northwest to Mount Nebo Road and onto Buffalo Pike which would drop down to the next few checkpoints. As we hopped on to the road I spotted a group of riders coming north on Nebo Ridge. I did a double take. The southern terminus of Nebo was another 5 miles away. Considering the conditions on Combs, and the section of Nebo we had just ridden, I couldn’t imagine riding it all the way north. My hat off to you folks.

Anyway, we were cruising along Berry Ridge à Mount Nebo, saw some other riders, and climbed a few hills. We hit the descent on Buffalo Pike, and I told Aaron that at the base of the hill there would be a hard left, followed by a right turn to take us to Lutes. Well near the bottom we came to what I would now call a gradual left, followed by a right turn. I stopped, a bit confused, since the turn did not look like what I was expecting. Aaron consulted the cue sheets he had made for us, and we determined we were a little early for the turn and continued onward.

Soon enough we did find the hard left and then a right and got to Lutes Cemetery for a 35 minute bonus. For those of you keeping score, we were now 3:10 into the race, and had collected 2:10 in time bonuses. Red was expected, and this wasn’t that shabby of a position. Following Lutes we headed to Houston Cemetery and its 15 minutes of time bonus. On the way there is a short climb, which I thought would be a good chance to eat my mid race snack of a Payday bar. Unfortunately, I managed to aspirate a peanut and spent the climb, and the rest of the ride to Houston, hacking up a lung in an effort to dislodge it. Who knows, it could still be there.  At Houston I ran into a friend who was on a co-ed team. She was running low on fuel and asked if we had any food. Unfortunately, all I had was a gel, which she declined. I think she needed something solid. We had yet to see a SAG and hadn’t had a chance to pick anything up.

Getting thoughtful at Houston.

After Houston was a stop at Thompson Cemetery for 30 minutes and then the trek up the Buffalo Pike climb the largest climb of the day for us. At the top was the only SAG stop we found for the race. I asked them how long they would be there, since I had a friend somewhere behind us who needed some food.  They said they would be there for another 30 minutes at least so I hoped that would be enough time for her to get there. After leaving the SAG we followed a quick descent to the second to last mandatory checkpoint at Hanner Cemetery.

From here, we had a choice. We could make for Callahan Cemetery which was only accessible  by trail. Callahan was worth 50 minutes of time bonus. We had wrestled with whether to tackle this checkpoint. 50 minutes was the largest time bonus but my experience from two years ago was less than pleasant, with mud, deep creek crossings, and steep climbs. Toss in the thawing ground we expected a tough slog in, and were not convinced the trip would be worth the trouble. Based on the earlier trail conditions that day, we stood by our plan to skip it. Instead we cut south, hopped on Highway 58, took it west to Norman, then north to the final mandatory checkpoint at Hickory Church Cemetery where we took on some rather positive demeanors:

 

From here was the fast ride along McPike Branch Rd. towards the finish. Unlike the Gravel Grovel, which follows this road to the finish line, we planned to cut across on Trail 80, a horse trail which fed into the back of the MTR property. On the map, this looked like a decent short cut verses the road. Review of GPS tracks suggested the trail was all downhill. Seemed like a good plan, although in speaking to some friends pre-race we mentioned our use of the trial and they said that last year it was terrible with mud. We still forged ahead, and ran into one of the worst stretches of horsed out trail I have ridden. Deep, hooved cratered mud was everywhere. Numerous branches of all sizes were down everywhere.

About half way through the trail, I road over a series of downed branches and heard a grinding sound. At the same time I attempted to shift to a higher gear and found nothing. I clicked the trigger several more times with no result. I glanced down and saw the derailleur was still there and attached to the frame, but was not moving. I assumed the derailleur cage or spring was broken. The shifting problems and in saddle analysis had cause me to drop back far enough that I had lost sight of Aaron (he was consistently faster than me on the trail sections all day), and after gaining some speed, I found him waiting. I told him I could still ride, and luckily, the gear I was in was good for climbing. We pressed on and finally came out on a gravel road downhill that led to the camp. We checked in at the finish line (actually a woman sitting in a car with a clipboard) at 2:03, for time of 5:03 with 52 miles for the day.

We got our photos checked, and washed down the bikes and changed clothes. By the looks of things, we were easily in the top 30 teams back to the camp but the results would take a few days to be finalized. We enjoyed some Yats, and then headed home since there were no door prizes to be won. The results were posted on Tuesday and we had taken 19th place in the men’s division (out of 85), and 23rd overall. I was very pleased with the result. I felt good during the race, and our pre-race goal had been top 20 in our division.

In terms of post-game analysis, I liked our route, although Trail 80 was likely ill advised. The time ended up being very similar to the time it would have taken us to ride back to MTR via McPike. It also looks that Callahan was a key checkpoint for many of the top twenty teams. Of that, 13 teams claimed Callahan. Even if it is not a mandatory checkpoint, future strategy will likely dictate going to Callahan, although this year I’m not sure our legs would have held as well on the trails as they did on the road. Lastly, in looking at various GPS routes taken by some of the top teams, I think next year we would take a counter clockwise route, by leaving via Trail 90 at the back of MTR, and then making for Hickory and Callahan first thing. Spoke to several riders who took this route and it seemed the horse trails and the trail to Callahan was in slightly better shape early in the race due to cold temperatures.

Nonetheless, I was very happy with the performance at the Death March. Having a result that you can feel good about is a great way to start the season and was a good warm up for the Barry Roubaix coming up this Saturday in Hastings, MI.

 

Catching Up And Death March Weather Watch

Times are a bit quiet. The death grip of winter eased slightly over the past few weeks only to come back shortly thereafter. Luckily two weekends ago I was finally able to get outside and got in a decent 30+ mile ride with some hills. I felt fantastic, and could have ridden another 30 if not for the one water bottle I had (the water fountain at one of my usual water stops is turned off) and I wanted to watch some Olympic action that afternoon. But, it looks like the indoor riding is helping. Whether it, and some additional riding I got in this past weekend, will be enough for the impending Death March remains to be seen. My outdoor riding time is a shadow of what it was for races like the Gravel Grovel, last year's Barry Roubaix, or even my 2012 Death March ride. Although, the weather has likely hurt the training time for the other riders so I should be in good company.

In other matters, I received the last piece of my 2014 race bike…

No matter what I tried I could not flip this photo
horizontally. Sorry about that.

However, the bike will remain in pieces until sometime later in March. My plan is not to ride it for the Death March or the Barry Roubaix, for the less than awesome reason that I read online that the paint on the frame may chip if subjected to gravel roads.  Both the Death March and the BR have a bit of gravel, and I’d like the new bike to remain pretty until at least the first XC race. Then the gloves are off.

Also of note, I had my first crash of 2014. On the morning of the 25^th we had a light dusting of snow, so I decided to forgo the spin bike/Sufferfest workout, and ride the fat bike. I took my normal route through the Butler University campus, which includes riding a trail behind their fitness center down to an access point for the Central Canal Towpath. The trail ends at a gravel maintenance road, which, after hopping over a small pile of snow, I took one pedal stroke on and my rear wheel (with its huge 4 inch tire) slid out and down I went. Hard. My arm took the brunt of the hit, along with my left hip. Probably would not have been too bad of a crash if there had been more snow on the ground, or on trail. As it was, the ice was like concrete, and the cold made things worse. One mile in on my ride and I’m limping home slowly. Everything was fine, save the pain and scrapes, and I was able to do a short spin that evening without much of a hindrance.

We had what was hopefully the last snowfall of the year. While 6-10 inches was predicated, we barely got three. Still, it made for a nice snow bike ride.

 

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to the Death March this upcoming Saturday. The map of the check points is here. My partner and I have our strategy set out and have several contingency plans depending on the weather and the final two mandatory check points.  Unless it is listed as a mandatory check point, we do not plan on bagging Callahan Cemetery. The time bonus is not worth the fight in to the cemetery and back out again, especially if the trail conditions are less than ideal due to melting snow or rain. Also, fingers crossed that Gorbetts Cemetery is not pulled as a mandatory check point. Having to go that far afield from the other checkpoints for that stop would seriously dampen my enthusiasm for the day's event.

Without further ado, it is the traditional weather watch. Presently, Weather Underground is predicting this for Saturday:

A local news outlet's prediction for the same area and day is this:

 

The differences in the two forecasts is somewhat concerning. We'll see how the weekend shapes up over the course of the next few days.