Know When You're Beat, Lance

Audrey Scott July 11, 2010 Pawling Mountain Road Race Report - 19 starters; result: 1st
It's been a long season. But I've been holding pretty good form since Killington at the end of May, and I know that all good things must come to an end, so I was afraid it was going to be this weekend, and I was not happy about it. Though small, the 17 women pre-registered for the race were not a slow group. I had a hard time feeling recovered after Fitchburg, and in my daily download of my heartrate file I was consistently picking the little face icon with a squiggly mouth - not a smile, not a frown, and the word "tired" to represent how I'd felt for that day's ride. Add to that the fact that the race didn't start until 1:16 pm on Sunday, so I spent the morning watching the Tour and the beginning of the end for Lance before I had to pack up and head over to Pawling. To top it off, Rob was going to ride over and find me at the race, so I had to take his car which has the bike racks and spent the drive fighting with his radio, never figuring out exactly how to operate it or find anything I wanted to listen to, and then I was rudely informed I couldn't get to the park the way I was used to and was diverted around Pawling to go in the back way. So I was good and (obviously, for no good reason) cranky by the time I got in to the park, so much so that I was ready to get in a fist fight with the poor kid standing in the middle of a field in the blazing sun and directing me to also park in the middle of a field in the blazing sun.
But, beating up a volunteer is probably bad karma so I parked in the middle of a field in the blazing sun, got my numbers and pinned my jersey while sitting on the cooler and hiding in the little bit of shade created by putting up the hatchback of the Subaru. And then of course the idiots parked next to me ruined the day's final Tour results for me by shouting to each other information apparently gleaned from their iphones that Lance lost 11 minutes and Schleck won the stage. Just great. And then, I saw that although she wasn't pre-registered, Beth Miller had shown up to race and had on a new Verge kit, so she was't even going to be handicapped by having to race in the plastic bag that is a Champion System kit in the day's heat. Her appearance was good, since it raised the level of competition even higher, but did not help my mood at all. And, of course, I was not looking forward to dragging myself up and over the back side of blueberry hill twice, or the nasty little climb on old route 55. The course had everything: a narrow, twisty road for the start/finish, some wide open, windy roads in horse farm country, the big climb, with its double set of s-curves with a bit of flat in the middle, some easy rolling flats over the top, a screaming downhill, a loooonnnnnggg not too steep climb on route 55, a short and steep double climb on old route 55, and another screaming downhill (this time with bad pavement) back to the start/finish road. Well, bring it on. My plan was to attack over the flats at the top if I was still with the front group the second time up.
19 of us lined up to start. We did our little parade lap into the Village of Pawling and the people sitting out at their cafe tables dutifully clapped as we rode by. Beth was at the front, as was her custom and the smart thing to do to avoid any mishaps since the parade loop had a 180 degree turn. I floated around the very back, as is my custom. And in between, everyone was trying to be on Beth's wheel, as is their custom. And so the situation remained as we headed out into the headwind in farm country. Slowly. There were at least 3 teams with at least 3 people - someone needed to send a team member to the front! As Beth slowed and slowed in an attempt to get off the front, everyone else did the same, afraid of the looming hill and to actually do some work. I looked down and saw we were actually going 12.8 mph! In a 1/2/3 race! Ridiculous! So mumbling obscenities under my breath (which apparently were rather loud) I shot off the front. Not the plan. Bad, bad idea, as I got hit full in the face with the headwind. Luckily, my legs and heart and lungs committed the physiological equivalent of mutiny aganst my, by now, totally irrational little brain. Chastened, I eventually went back to the group but then at least after that there were some others moving off the front and keeping the speed up. But we all hit the big climb for the first time together. Amazingly, as the road went up, I felt just fine, and quickly found myself at the front. Maybe my little tantrum did a good job of getting my legs going. At the top, we were down to 6: Beth and her Anthem teammate Sarah, Cheri Fager (who I have written of before as "Thru-it-All" based on the name on her kit), Nancy Ford of Simple Principles, and Ashley Prine of Radical Media, all good climbers, and me. After working our way across the flats across the top, I went to the front on the downhill, to be safe and have some fun. We made the left turn and pacelined up the long 55 climb where I was able to leave it in the big ring, stuck together on the old route 55 climb, which was not a problem, made it through the bumpy downhill, pacelined again on the start finish road and headed back out to horse country. On the rollers out there, Sarah seemed to be slowing the most on the inclines, and I think eventually Beth told her to stop working in the pace line and rest, and sometimes Ashley looked to be working hard. We hit the big climb again, and again I was at the front, and felt fine, having no difficulty setting a steady pace. I listened behind me for any desperate downshifting and to hear how hard everyone was breathing. Through the flat section half way up I pushed it into the big gear to keep the speed up and Beth said we lost 2. As we swung through the second set of sharp curves right and left and the road pitched up again I had to put it back in the little ring but I listened for further downshifting and when I heard the clicks I left my gears where they were and pushed a little harder. As the road finally leveled, I backed off a bit and flicked my elbow to tell the next rider to go to the front and so I could see who was left. Nancy went into the wind for a bit and I slipped in behind for a little rest, took a drink, and caught my breath. Then as we topped the roller at the highest elevation I looked around, put it in the big ring, and stood up to go according to plan, and got a gap. At the left onto the big downhill I checked back behind me to see that there was no response and then looked back just in time to avoid the pace car as it braked behind the masters men that were dropped from their group which had started a few minutes before ours and were spread out on the downhill. I went down hill as hard as I could, picking up masters men as I went, who all looked so shocked to be getting passed by the women's pace car. I had to keep yelling to stay right please, and one guy in particular got to hear about what I would do to him if he got me disqualified when he failed to move right and I was stuck up against the yellow line behind him. Eventually he moved over and I worked hard to pass the next guy, whose ass said Organic Athlete and who was not a small individual and definitely had an advantage over me on the downhill and insisted on racing me despite the fact that he was obviously totally out of his own race, and then a couple more. I railed the left turn onto the long climb on 55 and went to the extreme right of the road, hoping to hide in the shadows there (out of sight, out of mind - but the pace car would give me away anyway) and concentrated on keeping max and steady speed and holding on to any advantage I got on the downhill. I risked a look behind me and there were about 5 guys, starting with Organic Athlete, right on my wheel! Bad form, not to mention cheating! I managed to squeak out a "Get away from me!" and they fell off and I turned back and just kept going, still not knowing if there was anyone that was female anywhere close. I just kept up the pressure on the pedals as steady as I could up the steep climbs on old route 55, not wanting to blow up and lose it all. After hammering the downhill again, I finally made the turn onto the start/finish road and my legs started to really hurt as I desperately looked for the 200m to go sign. A couple of curves, and finally there it was! I actually managed to sit up and point to my Bikeway jersey as I crossed the line. I didn't see, but Beth finished with Cheri and Ashley 1:55 later. I looked at the full results and I think Organic Athlete's name, ironically, was Lance. So now I can pick the little smiley face when I download the heartrate file for the Pawling Mountain Road Race. And, obviously, I need a little break.