For the first time since I’ve been racing I started my season off with a gravel race. To top it off it was a race that I’ve heard lots about, but never done.
For several years I’ve had friends tell me about this very early season race and how much fun it can be, but also how tough it is. After all the hype I decided this was the year to try it out. Weather is just so hard to predict in an early March race and I think that’s what had kept me from heading down to this race in the past. Since it’s so early in the year I didn’t change my training plan to accommodate it or to allow me to peak for it. My base training plan has me in decent shape for really March and I am just rolling with it.
No campgrounds with bathrooms were open yet, so Trisha found us an amazing bed and breakfast. Davie school inn was a school but in 1910 that has been turned into a bed and breakfast. Our hosts were amazing and the building was SO cool.
After a great night’s sleep they provided us with a delicious breakfast.
Race time! It was a brisk morning so I chose to wear a thin base layer, a short sleeve jersey and a wind vest. The start line was crazy. It was like being on the line at BT Epic. After the “neutral” roll out I grabbed onto a small group and even found a few guys I knew. I forgot my cue sheet that has the mile markers of the biggest climbs, so i#just winging it. I knew the first doozie started at mile 10. That beast of a climb was about 2 miles long ! As we descended the other side I flew past a lot of folks. At the bottom I heard someone behind me yell that we had a group and I could roll off. To my surprise there were about 15 guys in the train. We worked together well and took pulls for miles. We passed folks and also picked up some riders. I think at the biggest point we were 25 strong. The group came apart shortly after we came off of the levee section. As we hit the hike-a-bike hill we felt apart and I managed to hook up with the front portion of the group. I was by far the largest rider in the group as we entered the trail of tears and I got dropped on the climb in. Bombing the descent at full tilt got me caught up to the back of the group. Larry Hallstrom, myself and the woman who would end up as third place worked together as long as we could. I started feeling the pain of my over ambitious pace with 6 miles left. The final climb was packed but long. I was wishing I had foregone the base layer at this point. I was so hot! I rolled in at 3:42. Over half an hour sooner than I anticipated.
After some lunch we went to take in some sights and I took Trish to see hike-a-bike hill. The whole weekend was so much fun in anxious to do it again next year.
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