Originally Posted by Ttoc6

LoToJa. 11th out of 20 in the p123 field. (202 mile road race, 7000ft of evelation in three climbs). 9 hours chip time.

Woof. What a race. Went in on good fitness and freshness with a general game plan for myself and the team. Unfortunately everything that was predicted (thanks to some great advice from friends) came true. One of my teammates went in the early break. I'm talking like 10 minutes in. It was still extremely dark and we kinda missed who went up the road with him. To our team's mistake it incldued two of the best climbers in Utah, and he is a bigger guy. Long story short, we rode really slow and no one could organize anything. The break went out to 15+ minutes then we got the word the break was down to three and I knew my teammate had been dropped over the first climb. At that point the break has 19 minutes. First climb was hard, but nothing that would destroy me. Easy, fast descent then into the feedzone. Missed my crew with my bag so I was on only the extra food/gels I started with and no water. And 40+ miles to the next aid station. Luckily teammates were able to share and I had over hydrated up to that point.

Second climb came and I knew it was the break point of the race for myself and pretty much everyone. The group you came over the top of this one with was the group you'd probably finish with. Teammate that had originally been in the break was setting pace and was really hurting so I went to the front to help. This lead to me setting pace up the second climb until he told me it was enough. Came off the front and another team ramped the pace a bit and I held well until about 500m to go when the gap really opened up and I was at my limit. Damn. Only redeeming factor here is I got to paceline through the valley and 3rd "climb" with Robbie Ventura (we started with M45+ group as well).

From the top of that tthird climb until the the end of the race was all fast tailwind. Like ripping tailwind. It's no wonder the course record was absolutely shattered and contributes to the impossibility of catching that break. I jumped on the back of the masters 35+ group and basically just chatted with people for the last 70 miles to get to the finish since my race was over. Didn't miss anymore feeds etc.

Overall an awesome experience, a really weird race and a good end to my season. I was hesitant to race in the p123 cat for this race but I'm really glad I did. The tactics and games played are fun and I seem to have the fitness to ride properly in a group like this now. This may not have been a "result" but I'm glad I did it. Type 2 fun and all that. I also got to experience racing with the team I'll 99% racing with locally next year. Fun guys to race withh and savvy racers, just seems that next year we pay more attention to what's going on and don't put all our chips on one guy in a long-bomb breakaway. Live and learn.

taking a break from bike training for a few weeks here. Gym, some running, maybe a cx race or two. Occasional HIIT something maybe. But after 9 hours in the saddle in one day and how long I've been focused this year, I'm looking forward to the mental break.