Dunnigan Hills Road Race

Dunnigan Hills Road Race
Masters 45+ 1-2-3
13 August 2011

Dunnigan Hills was on the calendar as the capper to a very two hard week block I was doing as part of the periodization for the national championships coming up in early September. I decided to do this race as it offered not just racing miles but gobs of them. My event was 86 miles, and though largely flat, there were some rolling hills that could be tackled in the big chainring, and being in the central valley, there was always the spectre of wind and heat to deal with.

My carpool buddy for this ride was Juliette (Joules) Olson of Red Racing. Our trip out in the morning was uneventful other than her penchant for computing while driving (at one point trying to show me a photo of her new boyfriend while simultaneously exiting the freeway, which resulted in a significant 'cargo shift event' of bikes in our laps and my breakfast sloshed on the floorboard). For my part I continually either missed giving her directional queues or was just spacing out (easy for me to do at 5 am). The net result was once there we had to put a hurt on it to make our start times.

The cycling hordes descended on the super small Town of Yolo, hundreds of cars and even more high-zoot bikes constantly rolling off the freeway and into a single empty gravel lot. Lots of bright colors, tan lines, carbon, dust.

May I say here that of all the items that have benefitted by technology over the last 20 years, one of the most-improved may not be the telephone or the hybrid auto but perhaps the honey bucket/porta-potty/johnny-on-the-spot. Seriously! The modern portable 'loo is a pretty amazing device. Here at Dunnigan, 20 or so lined up, getting heavy use, all working well. No smells. And a hand-washing station! These statements could not be made of the outhouses of old.

35 or so old goats lined up for this volley in the valley. Morgan Stanley, Safeway, Clover were present in addition to a bunch of big strong looking dudes from Davis and Sacramento (they seem to grow them big out there).

35 riders with not a one willing to pull us all along made for an awkward spectacle. Finally a group of about eight got away but never more than a minute, this felt better as now the pack would work to at least keep tabs on the break. From 505 frontage road to rolling farm road, the break was just at the verge of being far enough away to be a concern.

At about mile 35, past truck stops and produce terminals, Don Langley (Morgan Stanley) jumps away and makes a beautiful bridge across the 30 seconds of space between our two groups. Immediately this break becomes more important with him in it, as he is a "macher" (as they say among my yiddishly-hip friends).

Another barrage at the front yields Chris Black (also Morgan Stanley) taking off to jump across. He's also one to watch and with those two gone it was just too much to lay back and bide my time, so I went after Mr. Black, caught him, and the two of us made it to the front group almost as elegantly as Langley.

We were now a group of 10, 25 or so seconds off the front, but the organization was weak. Only half the guys were working. The other half were eating (or were they all texting?) The upshot was that even though we had the bulk of the strong guys here with us, the cohesion was gone and we weren't making the break stick. And there's only so much I can or want to do by myself to change matters. Meanwhile behind us a concerted chase was being conducted. Sadly, we were caught at around mile 50, just as we hit the neutral feed zone.

Velo Promo events are famous for giving out T-Shirts for prizes. But I learned they are also famous for the flavor of their neutral support water: Mine was distinctly brown tadpole flavored. No matter. When you're in the valley, in August, at mile 50 of a road race, you simply aren't going to insist on the Evian.

I drifted back through the feed zone, getting two big bottles, and sucking them dry for the most part. But during that time Robert Pasco (Safeway),  one of the other riders to watch for, carved five riders off the front with him and noodled up the road, in the slight crosswind, when the rest of us were sloshing about with our water.

The gap they got was not very much, just 30 meters, then 40. I was suprised that the chuckleheads 20 riders in front of me weren't putting their foot on the gas to close that small gap. But they let it open and then as the road turned right and into headwind, Pasco punched it and opened a big gap between his group and our suddenly unwilling pack, with none of us up to making an effective chase.

I tried to marshall the forces, but for some reason the two MoStan dudes and the Clover rider (O'niel, also strong as all hell), didn't want to put their time in at the front. Eventually some guys did roll through to help me out, but it was spastic and short lived. The result is the break that noodled out of the station built up a solid lead of well over three minutes.

After initial frustration that I had signed up for a bicycle race and found myself in a bicycle ride, I became resigned to my fate and was happy rolling in with this laughing group. With ten miles to go though Langley and O'Niel took off as if they were back in some sort of event where riding hard somehow mattered, gaining time instantly and building on that quickly. Why they didn't keep the race honest earlier is completely beyond me. I mean it's one thing to race hard for the win, but to drill it just so you have 7th and 8th place locked up in a Velo Promo event seems, well, not MENSA-quality logic shall we say.

In the run up to the finish I was fighting off calf cramps but had the suds to contest the field sprint for 9th. I had a good time playing journeyman riding on the leadout trains of the Rocknasium and Davis riders, but when the final left hand turn was made and 1.4 km remained, there was a re-shuffling that again saw me and Chris Black at the front.

When we got the stenciled sandwich board announcing 200 meters I hit out and had a good lead, but started fading a bit and was snagged on the line by a resurgent Black. Good enough for 10th. Out of the T shirt money okay, but on the other hand I had ridden hard through the week including the day before and had not even tried to recover to be fresh for this one. So  between the training issues and having to race with strong riders who seemingly race against their own self-interest, I guess it was a good enough showing.