Union Vale Road Race

I followed up yesterday's eighth place performance at the Maltese invitational with an eighth place at the very hilly Union Vale Road Race this afternoon. The course is a 14 mile loop, and we raced 4 laps.

It was so hot and humid before the start that I broke into a sweat while putting air in my tires. That was unpleasant. There was rain in the forecast, so I found myself hoping that it would rain. I did this race last year with Adam, but I was fat and out of shape then, and got dropped on the second lap. As such, my recollection of the course was less than complete. The course was much harder than I remember, with several long hills, and some shorter rollers. It also featured a 1.5-mile long finishing climb. The race was also made harder by a team of elite Aussie juniors, who were very strong, but were quick to violate the yellow line. There were about six of them on the team, so they were easily able to control the race.

The pace was pretty quick from the gun, with a few breaks going away. I did my best to stay near the front and help to control the breaks, and tried to get off the front on some of the course's bigger hills, but the field was pretty strong, and I wasn't able to get away. I even tried to work with a strong kid I know, Evan, from the CRCA Jr. Development team, who rode in a break with me at the Balloon Festival, but even working together, we couldn't make any ground.

My team mate Pete, who was also racing, helped bring back a key move in the last lap. Some time in the middle of the race it started raining, so the roads got wet, making the race a little sketchy, but mercifully cooling us off.

Halfway through the last lap one of the aussie kids got off the front, and was able to stay away. I was in the main group as we hit the base of the finishing climb, which was about a million miles long. The group immediately blew up, and I did my best to stick with the leaders. I couldn't stay with some of the aussies, and one or two others slipped ahead. I passed two riders in the last 400 meters, but they both sat on my wheel and out sprinted me at the line. In the end, I wound up eighth, but one of the aussies were relegated for crossing the yellow line (they all should have been relegated, but whatever), so I was officially seventh. Pete was in the mid-30s. If you average my finishes from Saturday and Sunday, you get 7.5. Not sure what that means, but there you go.

On the whole, it was a very successful weekend. I was hoping for the big "W" today, but it that goal continues to elude me. Maybe at the Empire State Games...

I've now got two weekends off for racing. I'll use one to observe Independence way, in some way yet to be determined. I'm scheduled to use the other weekend to cover a national-level mountain bike race at Windham Mountain. Here's to combining my passions! After that it's time to get my ass in gear for the Empire! In the means time, I'll be keeping you apprised of my training, and other races in the area.

Hopefully I'll have some photos of the race to post tomorrow. Keep the rubber side down!