The mass start up hill prolog of he GMSR can be the hardest, most painful effort one make on a bike in there life time. Climber or not its hard. 1 mile neutral through town. Neutral in a nervous pro-1-2 field means 23 MPH. as we hit the climb last yr’s race winner had his team put everyone on the rivet. The first 4 miles of the climb are not steep. Only 1-3% not hard but not flat. We averaged 27 MPH. I was caught in the back of the pack after the ride through town and riding at that speed had me under pressure right away. As we hit the last 3 miles of 10% grade I saw that Joe our GC man was up front. I was supposed to be there as well. I had been chosen to be one the final riders to keep him into position in the final km’s or lead him out if that was the case. Now I was just trying to reduce my losses. The entire target training team went backwards fast after there blistering pace setting. I went hard in the first 1 km trying to gain some ground on the front of the pack but they were 45” ahead or more already. Loosing position in this race can be the end of you. I was determined to keep my pace if Joe or another teammate had a flat or a mechanical issue I needed to be as close as possible to help. I found a good rhythm and wasn’t blowing up. The more I pushed the faster I went without paying any price it seemed. I dug deeper, pushed harder and passed more riders. I could still see the lead group and the amount of riders between me and them was getting smaller. In the end the climb to short and more so the pace way to high for me to catch them. In the end I did feel great and finished 30th. Not bad for starting 120th but fact of the mater is I should have been in front when it mattered. There is more to bike racing than pedaling hard. Lots more.
Joe, our GC man, got the job done and finished 4th. He saved the day as he does a lot and we all will surly be called upon in the days to come.
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