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.