Ygduf

New year, new thread.

I raced the San Bruno Hillclimb today.

To my surprise, they ran the 3s with the p12 crowd which featured Adrian Costa and his buddy Zeke, both wearing their nifty USA junior team kit over Garmin dev team bibs. Yay for us!

I pictured this race 100 times over the past couple weeks, but I never pictured it with the p12 field involved. Oh well, I think I played it right, anyway.

Course is 3 miles, .5mi steep, 1mi shallow, .25mi down around an underpass, and 1.25mi relatively steep and steady to the end.

Half way up the first .5mi it was too slow, so I took initiative and jumped up until I felt I had about a 15 second gap. Felt pretty ballsy to fly past Adrian and the rest of the 1-2s, but I'm pretty sure they couldn't have cared less. But, the other strong 3s weren't going to let me go, so they started the chase.

I held out at threshold until I looked back and saw Zeke closing my gap down. I eased up, jumped on their group of 5 as they flew past. So, 6 of us now.

About a minute later, Zeke and Adrian were off to their own race and the other 4 of us, 2 3s in my race, and 1 lucky p12, were heading to the top.

As usual, I did a lot of pulling, but I saved enough that I felt great when the 1k sign rolled by. At about .8k I hear shifting and I try to throw it in the big ring to head for the finish. Perfect, about a 2-minute fast climb from that point which is to my benefit.

Except, my shift was a ****ing yard sale and my chain was spinning on top of my little ring somehow. I clicked around until it bit, but I'd given up 3-4-5 seconds and that was too many against these guys.

I finished 6th in the 1-2-3s, 1:20 behind 1st and 2nd, and 8, 3, and 1 seconds behind 3rd 4th and 5th.

I take solace in that my time today was faster than Phipps winning time in the 45+ race, but overall I'd rate my emotion as bummed-the-****-out at being 3rd in the 3s. That was my race to lose, and I lost it by being an idiot and trying for the big ring while in the 23t in the back.

the race segment: https://app.strava.com/activities/103291369#2227464170

podium


And then after the race I drove down to my TT hill with the race bike setup and destroyed my previous PR by 30 seconds. 16:50 to 16:20. Fueled by disappointment.

https://app.strava.com/activities/103291351

mattm

Nice work!

Do you think things would have played out better for you if you'd waited to attack, or waited for someone else to go first?

grolby

Had the front shift gone perfectly, you wouldn't be even thinking about it. Mechanical crap happens. Forget about it. You did a good race.

Ygduf

thanks, you're probably right.

In a day or two I'll appreciate the result for what it is, and use the gaffe as motivation to build more margin for error.

Beaker

That's a great time, Chris. Sub 16 on that hill puts you in rare air.

grolby

Boom. Exactly.

spdntrxi

Good stuff... I wanted to try this race.. Maybe someday

misterwaterfall

I hate that you guys are racing or getting ready to race. 2 more months then we're finally back at it up here

save10

congrats on the podium. I'm never doing this race because when I use my little chain ring I break out into hives.

But most importantly....congrats on starting the 2014 Race Results Thread!

Inquisitor.

Awesome race! It sucks that you had the mechanical, but you can take solace in the fact that you rode with confidence and made the right moves. Occasionally, preparation, skill, and luck align for the win. Take this as a rightfully earned victory.

Racer Ex 

He didn't win. Solace only comes when you can look in the mirror and know you did everything right and the other guy was just better. That didn't happen here. He was stronger and let someone take his milk and cookies.

Been there, done that, more than once.

A lot of good in this race, particularly not being afraid to head out on your own. Build on that. Fix the stuff that went wrong.

Pine Flat up next?

tetonrider

i don't have as much invested in the race as you, but as i read your description from my outsider's perspective i kept thinking there is SO much good stuff in what you did today, so much to be proud of.

i understand the frustration in having one small, non-fitness-related thing go wrong at precisely the wrong time. that sucks.

when you win the next one it will be just that much sweeter. you should also be proud of publicly stating your goal and pouring so much energy into achieving it. such commitment is always impressive and pays off, eventually. you could not have achieved this result a few short years ago, so soak that in rather than wondering what might have been.

congratulations to you.

Inquisitor.

I see your point, but consider it a small victory that he saw an opportunity, trusted his instincts, and made a bold move that likely gave him his best possible chance at winning. I would regard it as failure if he had been blind to the opportunity, or lacked the confidence to follow his instincts.

I'm looking forward to reading a similar story, but with his intended results down the road.

Ygduf

Yep, barring illness or something else.

appreciated.

the guys I lost to are by no means scrubs and I don't mean to diminish their achievement at all. All 4 of our little chase group ended in the top-10 times of the day across all the fields. I knew I was too confident going in and it could go like it did. I needed a perfect run to beat them and just didn't have it.

ovoleg

Nice race report man! Was it just 3 miles? or was it "laps"?

Hermes

Congrats Ygduf. It was superb conditions for the race and you had a killer time.

furiousferret

Great job, regardless of the result. Its unfortunate that you had the mechanical, just use it as fuel to power yourself to the next few results.

Racer Ex 

Take your vitamins and stay off planes.

If you can make the selection over the steep part of the big climb and there's no break up the road, it's going to come down to that uphill drag race. Don't be afraid to attack first because the finish is step enough that it's hard to come around.

Between now and then find a similar hill and work on your uphill sprint at the end of long rides. You want to know what you can do on tired legs.

FWIW I've seen a couple of solo attackers get away and make it to the finish, one on the steep, the other went a few miles before the big climb. The latter was a move that played off team dynamics, the former was just a strongman move.

So Phipps is 45. That should make things interesting.

hack

Congrats on a great effort. As you said, the guys that came out on top are not scrubs, so take pride in your result and build on it for 2014. I'm still new to the bike race scene (have been competitive in many other ventures previously), but feel your pain when you have a solid plan, are executing said plan, and then have a mechanical or outside force throw you off that plan. Quite frustrating and makes you think of "what could have been".

Looks like a new kit, too? Might be time for a new avatar pic...

tetonrider

a couple years ago i was racing the final stage of a 4-stage race. i was in a small group at the head of my race, suffering miserably to hang on. i only survived because i told myself over and over again that if i just made it through i would never race my bike again. i sold my soul to get into that move.

moments later a rider from the next higher field absolutely blows past our break on this climb. i've never been passed that fast on a climb before or since. we weren't exactly slouches, either. total holy $hit moment.

turns out to be a 15yo A.C.. he'd flatted during the TT then proceeded to solo an entire crit and then solo 2/3rd of the queen stage (where he passed us).

i wasn't in his race, but we were on the same climb at the same time (+ he had more load in the legs). i witnessed what he could do then and suspect is only more powerful now. that you were up there with guys like this is a big deal, and that you beat plenty of other top names should be a positive sign for what 2014 holds.

on a lighter note, the guy in this video below might tell you it could have gone worse..

rkwaki

Good job fudgy, happens to everyone and I agree with the others, more good than bad came from that race.
Keep it up.

Racer Ex 

Somebody has to be Blake around here.

Creakyknees

Di2... that is all.

hack

Wiggo may say otherwise

tetonrider

oval rings + shifting under load = no bueno, mechanical or otherwise. that gap between chainring and FD is huge 2x/rotation.

oxygen deprivation can make one do things that seem reasonable in the moment but maybe not so wise after the fact. i think a side benefit of more fitness that few talk about can be a clearer head for decision-making.