E4 – Wente Vineyards Road Race

Teammates – Mike L, Joe, Jacob

Sunday’s Wente RR – This being my 2nd ever hilly race, my goal was to try to make it either to the finish or at least the start of the last climb with the main group. The last one was Santa Cruz University RR and I got popped off on the first lap. I’d been doing more climbing and thought I was starting to get decent at it, so my confidence was fairly high.

The first climb was more difficult than I expected, but I managed to make it to the top with the pack. I noticed that there was a guy leading most of the way up the climb wearing a big blue POC helmet. On the way down the back side of the course, rumors were spreading through the peloton that this guy was a pro mountain biker. Great, this will be fun.  The descent was pretty slow and it looked like most of the field was still together.  Nothing really interesting happened on the front side of the course and the pace was fairly relaxed.  As we went up the false flat before the real climb, I hoped this would be the ‘easy’ one, but that wasn’t the case. Pro MTB dude and a couple other guys set an even faster pace at the front and I had to dig probably the deepest I’ve ever gone to stay on, even while starting the climb near the front and slowly floating back through the group.  As we crossed the overpass, I was near the back of the pack with Mike, trying my best to ignore the burning in my legs.

Mike gave me a few words of encouragement and I pressed on.  As I saw the bunch round the corner to the last bit of the climb, I saw that the guys at the front were jumping out of their saddle and the pace surged again.  I had nothing more to give and just tried to hold the pace I’d been doing.  I got over the top with about a 10 second gap, but worked together with a couple of guys and made it back pretty early on the descent.  As I caught my breath I noticed that Jacob and Joe were no longer with the group.  Starting the climb at the front must have done the trick for me, since I usually struggle to keep up with them on climbs.

As the course flattened out, the pace dropped suddenly.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I somehow rolled off the front with a couple of other riders while soft pedaling.  I don’t think any of us were looking to form a break, but as we looked behind us we saw the moto ref talking to the group.  They were neutralizing us for a little bit to let a group of 4 ladies pass by.  This was good because it let Joe and Jacob get back on, but at the same time a little frustrating because I felt like I did all that work to stay with the bunch for nothing.  Along with Joe and Jacob, a lot of the other riders were back as well.

The pace jumped again over a few rollers and on the slight descent back through town, but sitting in the pack was way easier than climbing, so I did my best to hydrate, eat a gel, and catch my breath.  At this point, I was feeling the effects of the first two climbs, and the sprints up the rollers in between.  I knew that if they went hard up the climb this time, there wouldn’t be much I could do.  We hit the climb and, of course, the pace was even harder than the first two.  I went as hard as I could for a minute or two, but I was getting passed left and right and before I knew it the main group was out of reach.  I wasn’t alone, though, and managed to find Jacob and Joe and rode to the top with them.  Once at the top, we picked up other riders and eventually formed a chase group of 7 riders.  Without the whole bunch in the way, we were able to descend faster than the previous laps.  I think this was the funnest part of the race.  We were getting our aero tuck on and railing the corners.  We may have gone even faster but we had to shout at a lot of other riders to move over, since there were riders from other fields all over the road and we were booking it down the hill.  As the road flattened out, we started a rotating paceline that was going like clockwork.  Everyone was taking short, smooth pulls, and encouraging each other.  Guess all that team practice really pays off.  Our last lap time was only 20 seconds off of our first, and we set our best times on all the segments after the bump.  If only we’d broken away with this same group earlier in the race!

As we neared the Altamont, we caught up with the pro-MTB guy riding solo.  Turns out he got a cramp and dropped from the group after inflicting all that pain!  Go figure.  We rounded the last two turns and started the climb for the last time.  Joe and Jacob accelerated away from me, but I was just glad that the suffering would be over soon and finished the climb at my own pace.

Great job to Mike for getting 8th place and sticking with some really strong guys.  Thanks to Joe and Jacob for helping in the chase and for suffering along with me.  Our chase efforts got us 21st, 22nd, and 24th, out of a field of 40.  I can say with certainty that this was the hardest race I have done so far.  My confidence is a little shaken, and my ego bruised, but at the same time it has lit a fire under me to work harder, train more, and keep improving.

P.S. Thanks Brian for providing excellent feed zone support