KSR P/1/2
Stage 1 is a very fast but unchallenging 18mi circuit featuring a fairly long draggy climb and wide open roads which we did 4x for 74 total miles. I pretty much aimed to pack surf to conserve energy for the next day, and also with the intent of trying a flyer with 1-2k to go if the opportunity presented itself, except I a broke a spoke just over the top of the 3rd KOM at like mile 50 and had to chase back on. It was kind of a bummer because I was stopped for about a minute, but neutral support was a real bro and paced me back at ludicrous speed and vo2 watts. On the last lap around mile 64 we caught another field near and over the top of the draggy climb and **** went absolutely bananas and was getting shredded, and at 10k to go, right when the elastic looked ready to snap entirely we got neutralized due to a house fire right next to the course - firetrucks meant the caravan wouldn't be able to get through. There was a breakaway with 1:10 on us at that point so the officials took the time gap where we were neutralized and gave the break that time advantage heading into the next stage. Everyone that got dropped was also awarded ST as the peloton, but the next day was hard enough that it didn't really matter. Teammate was in the break so he got that 1:10 bonus, and he also snagged the KOM jersey! I do not believe the stage had an official winner because of this. Hopefully everyone was OK in the fire!
Stage 2 is 75ish miles featuring a cornucopia of climbs ranging from draggy to steep to rolling uphill and a 20+ minute finishing climb slogfest that starts with 4k @ 8-9%, rolls for a bit, and then kicks back up to 5-6% for the last 2k. A break went away immediately after the neutral ended, got caught mid way up the first climb at mile 3, then powered away under the impetus of a Rally bro, my KOM teammate, and 8ish others. Over the top of the first climb it is a very fast rolling downhill lasting to the base of the KOM climb at mile 25, and the teams which missed out on the break sat on the front doing pace duty. The KOM climb starts with a 90+ degree right hand turn and is a fairly steep 4-5min section that is quite narrow so positioning is really key, and after that it rolls uphill for another 5k so you don't really get to rest if you fall behind. The p/1/2 field does it twice, so we makes a loop after cresting over the top and do it again, at which point you need to play the positioning game once more. The first time up the KOM climb I nailed the positioning and it was relatively relaxed and mellow overall. The second time up it I mistimed moving up by a few hundred meters and the front got absolutely swamped on both sides leaving no room to move up again. The group split towards the top of the steep section and because of where I was positioned I was never going to be able to respond in time before the road leveled out a bit so and the bros that made it in the split could start working together. The group I was in held them to 15ish seconds until 2k to go before the KOM at which point they really turned on the braaaaaap and disappeared. One of my teammates was in that front split but would eventually pop and filter back to us. The situation over the KOM was the break at 4min with I don't know how many people, chase 1 at 50seconds with like 15?, and chase 2 (us). I kept my nose out of the wind because I had a teammate burning many matches in our group, had another teammate that looked like he made the split and had also burned many matches, and the teammate in the break still.
We climbed over the feed zone climb and there were attacks that tailed guys off our group, then went up and over a dirt road climb and descent that was surprisingly smooth and unsketchy. After getting through that we hit a section that is a wide open 14mi false flat that is usually pretty fast and encourages organized chasing, but group cohesion broke down immediately and we soft pedaled while people took turns attacking each other. We went from being within 2 minutes of chase 1 to being 8 minutes behind by the time we hit the finishing climb at 10k to go. One of my teammates got fed up and refused to close gaps anymore, which caused a reaction that allowed a handful of guys to power away from us. My other teammate decided to attack solo a few minutes later because I think he was also pretty annoyed. I kinda figured since both my teammates had burned a ton of matches I should sit around picking my nose and save it for the finishing climb. Some other guys finally started a little bit of a rotation just to keep the staccato stuff from happening while I sat around annoyed at myself for not hitting the second KOM in a better position. Eventually my yolo solo teammate got caught, and 5 miles later we hit the climb and I did my effort from the base of it and pretty much powered away from everyone save a couple of canadian pro bros that I think were in a similar position to me. I wound up 26th on the day which is a bit of a bummer, but it's mostly my fault for screwing up the approach to KOM 2, and really there is no guarantee that I wouldn't have been popped being in chase 1. Such is life! My teammate kept the KOM jersey and was 9th on GC.
Stage 3 is a 10.5mi ITT which is a very gradual uphill, and this year into a headwind. It was my second ride on my TT bike and went about as well as once can expect given that lack of attention to detail. My power was quite good but my speed was pretty awful. Still, I moved up to 23rd on GC out of 75 and was the 2nd out of the Cat 2's (but I can't use that for upgrade points!). My teammate wound up 8th overall with the KOM jersey, which is pretty rad.
My goal was a top 20 so I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but there was a lot of good to come out of the weekend and it was fun.