Pat, Sug, and I headed out for the
2012 Hilly Billy Roubaix near Morgantown WV. We were accompanied by honorary AFC member Danny Atkins (Race Pace Bicycles). And also met up with Dan Wolf(man). The weekend before Pat had kicked ass at Stoopid 50 . Sug and I had a good simulation doing 2/3 the distance and climbing (45 miles and 5400 feet elevation) of Hilly Billy so we were "go" (see previous post "Simulation").
The ride out there was beautiful and easy. We're all in for a good time. Dan Atkins wasn't originally in, but I promised him we'd ride together for the first 40 miles, not pressing the pace. He wasn't looking for a killer race. And I had never raced for more than 2 hours and had never climbed more than 5400 feet. So I had no confidence that I could race for 4.5 hours and climb 6900 feet, quickly.
Pat, Adam, and I are on cross bikes with the Continental Cyclocross Plus tires that I can't stop mentioning. Pat and Adam are going clincher and I'm tubeless. The previous years have been won by cyclocross bikes so why go MTB? Well Danny went with his Superfly MTB with fast rolling MTB tires. No biggie except this is going to make Danny and I opposites. He will descend quickly and I will pace-line quickly on the road sections.
On arrival we see the classic CX scene. Tons of cars in a beautiful park field. Blue skies all around. People chatting and pumping up tires. Everyone is in a great mood, the weather is awesome (low 70s) and will only climb to about 80 by race end. We get registered and ready.
I was very concerned about hydration and filled my
Camelbak Rogue full of ice and then water. I had 2 water bottles on the bike as well, with sports drink. The plan was to roll with Danny, skip aid station 1, hit aid station 2, and only stop at aid station 3 if necessary. This race was huge! Nearly 300 people. The starting corral was super cramped and I had to pull a jerk, step-over-the-tape, move to get anywhere near the front 10%. I should have gotten to the start sooner.
The start was a neutral start. This was my first neutral start and I'm not a fan. It was better than a regular start which would have yielded much carnage down the steep immediate decent. I just don't like being crowded and get claustrophobic (wah-wah). Down at the road the kick it off and we are rolling. super crowded first miles on roads, i'm working my way up sparingly feeling no pressure with 70 miles ahead. But at about mile 5 the field was still thick and the roads getting narrow and gravely. I need to get ahead of some of these people! we hit a succession of steep gravel hills. Ugh! This is hard! People are flatting left and right. I'm having to pass hordes of folks as they come to terms with this Hilly Billy monster and their lack of bike and power for the grades in the teens and twenties.
Out of the corner of my eye I see an AFC'r on the side of the road. Damn, who was that? Pat, Adam, Alain? Hopefully just a quick tube change for them. I'm looking for Danny and maybe see him way up ahead climbing the next steep monster. I'll find him in a few miles, I hope, so that we can enact our plan. There's Dave Weaver, he has a flat. Groups are starting to form at about 9 miles. We enter the narliest "road" that is really a trail bombed out during WWII I think. This is madness. Its like a pump track but with slick mud and i'm still surrounded by people fending for their lives. That start position is looking more and more important. On the bright side I'm navigating pretty well through this stuff and my cx setup seems solid.
Finally we get to a more wide-open gravel road. It is hilly so i'm able to pick my way through the crowds which are dispersing. There's Danny! We come together towards the top and ask each other how its going. "I'm all in", I say. Meaning that i'm racing 100%. Danny knows that's not where I want to be. He says he's doing fine.
This is the closest that we come to riding together. Every descent, Danny disappears. Then on all of the road sections I whiz by in a pace group. We yo-yo like this for a few miles. I'm not upset about it. We're just riding very differently. Also this group we are with seems solid. The headliner is Roger Masse. After reading his
blog post about Hilly Billy Roubaix 2011 this guy is Mr. Hilly Billy from my point-of-view. I decide that he is the target. Stay with him. Learn from him. This guys knows the course and is an endurance race pro.
After a long road section, Danny doesn't come back to me on the next descent. Do I wait? I decided to stay with Roger. I apologized to Danny the next day, I promised I would stay with him. But at the time this seemed the right move. Just hold on to Roger!
This took a lot of pressure off. I was kinda lost before that. 70 miles on this wild terrain and managing food/drink etc. is a big undertaking. Then how fast should u go? Is this too fast or too slow? Going as fast as Roger for as long as possible, knowing that finishing anywhere near him would be a huge victory, gave me a calm, a clear goal.
Approaching the first aid station at mile 19(?) we catch Bernie Shaio, another Hilly Billy 2011 legend who won the single speed category that year. His Strava post from 2011 and his advice on the MABRA listserv were super helpful for us to prepare. I'm just starting to get giddy. Roger and Bernie and I'm hanging out with them! I couldn't help myself. I tell Bernie how awesome he is. I tell Roger how awesome he is. They don't seem mind much and are super nice to me.
At the aid station I'm thinking "what are they going to do? Do these guys stop? Do they roll right through?" I hear Bernie shout his number. He's stopping. Roger keeps on trucking. I'm super happy I had planned to skip aid station 1 and I keep chugging with Roger.
Roger climbs at about the same speed as me. I'm on gears and a good climber. He's on a single speed and is a great climber. That evens us out. On the downhills he rolls away. He's on a mountain bike with MTB tires and I'm on a cross bike with cross tires. He's a great descender, I'm okay. He's got the big advantage here. But on the flats he has to spin it out on his SS. I am able to close down the gaps fairly easily with my gears. Whenever I catch him he drafts on me, which keeps us together. This is awesome!
I don't push too hard on the road sections. There is always a huge climb not too far ahead. And that is where I'm killing people. So I don't mind letting people go or getting caught out on the roads. With every hill I move up into a new level of riders. Some of these hills are so hard and the gravel so loose that some good riders are having to walk. I set another mini-goal, "You are not walking". It would only be a technical error that would cause me to walk. I think most of the walkers are walking because they are exhausted from early paces that were overly-optimistic. I'm really happy I didn't push the road sections every time I hit a hill. The roads were simple, I either participated in a pace-line or just chilled, drank, ate, prepared for that next brutal climb that I knew was ahead.
At some point I tried to push the roads hard in between hills. I think I was getting a little excited about how many people I was catching. I latched onto this guy with an old timey cyclocross bike with shifters down on the frame. I could hold onto him but he was hurting me. When we got to the next hill I was dangerously close to cracking. This is a good shot of us but after the "almost crack" I had to let him go.
Coming into aid station 2 (mile 38?) I was doing very well but really needed it. Some where on a crazy descent I had lost one of my water bottles. I had drained the other water bottle and my camelbak completely. I am still seeing the occasional flat tired rider or some one that is just broken. I think we all need aid station 2. I haven't seen Roger Masse lately. He is some where back there. Is he going to roll right through aid station 2? I can't worry about that. I need it and I need to do it well because I plan to skip aid station 3.
The aid stations are amazing. Volunteers are asking me what I need, getting it for me, I even asked the one girl if she would peel the banana before she hands it to me. I open my Camelbak and am amazed that most of the ice I put in before the start is still there. Thats how I ran out of water so fast. I had assumed that the ice would melt quickly. I filled up the bottle with Head and the camelbak with water. Ate the half of banana. Drank a bunch of their little cups of water. And was rolling. Maybe a little over a minute. It was all a blur.
As I start pedaling I see Roger Masse just ahead. I'm not sure if he stopped or just rode through. But we were together again which made me super happy.
Through 40 and 50 miles I was coming to realize just how fresh I still was. I'm hurting on every hill climb but recovering from them quickly and riders are dropping like flies. The competition is getting a bit thin out here. But the views are to die for. And Roger and I are never too far apart. I decide to throw down a little now and see if I can leave him behind and catch some more folks. What place are we in? I have no idea. I say a little prayer for Adam up ahead. He must be crushing this course. It was made for him (aside from the more technical sections). I really want him on the podium.
Every 20 minutes or so I catch some one else. I'm killing people out here now. It feels like I'm climbing every hill as fast as before. I roll through aid station 3 (mile 59?) and they say I have 11 miles left. Time to really throw down. I'm feeling great. I hit a very steep road descent. I see a flag lady waving me to turn right. I jam the brakes but have built up too much speed. She's yelling to turn! I can't at this speed as the turn is covered in gravel. I'm heading straight for her! She side steps me as I simultaneously turn to avoid her and go down, sliding on the gravel. My leg cramps so I'm yelling, laying on the gravel. The cramp finally lets go and I apologize to the girl I almost killed.
Back on the bike with 10 miles to go. I start climbing the next hill and go to shift... uh-oh. My rear dérailleur cable snaps and the gears shift all the way to the hardest gear. ug! What do i do? I stop fiddle with it. No luck. I'm in trouble now. Everyone was talking about the last 10 miles being the hilliest of all. And I'm rolling on a 39x11 (I originally said 42x11 in the cycling dirt interview because I was delirious and forgot what chainrings I have).
I mash the big gear. I'm catching people on the roads now that i'm not holding back. I'm sprint into hills. But I know it can't last long. I finally come up on Rob Spreng who was having an extra tough day. We go into a hill that is too steep for me to ride. But I'm almost keeping up with him by running it. He's hurting and I know it. How many miles can I keep this running/mashing combo up? Well eventually the sprint mashing takes its toll. My legs are starting to cramp. I almost welcome the super steep hills where I run because it makes the cramps go away. With 2 miles to go Rob and I are on the roads leading to the finish. I know there is one gigantic hill to the finish. I look back and Roger Masse is in the distance but gaining on us. I decided then that I would run that long hill as hard as I could. I could still beat Roger! The hill to the finish seemed to go forever. But Roger isn't coming very quickly on these crazy steeps. But he's gaining! Just as I reach the top and turn onto the grass flat course to the finish. I hop on my bike just as Roger comes up beside me. I know I can beat him if I don't cramp because I have the BIGGER GEAR for a sprint! LOL! I crank like crazy and hold him off at the finish.
