This weekend was the Up North Race Weekend with races in Wilmington NY on Satruday and Down Town Saranac Lake Crit on Sunday. I got in to work super early on Friday to make an attempt at an early escape and therefor an earlier arrival. Cornell Nordic Skiing teammate Chris grew up in Saranac Lake and his dad and mom still have houses up that way. Chris kindly offerred up his dad's house as a place for me to stay. It is not clear if Chris asked hid dad, David, if it would be OK, but David and Lynn welcomed me into their home with open arms, a huge bowl of very good bean soup served over rice, and lots of good conversation. The plan was for Chris and his girlfriend Katie to make the trip from Burlington to Saranac Lake on Saturday afternoon and stay until Sunday afternoon. Somewhere in there the idea also came up to see if Steve and Sunita (two other ski teamers who live in Saranac Lake) could meet up with us on Sunday as well. I had not seen Steve and Sunita for upward of 10 years, and had not yet met their two kids.
Saturday I woke up to steady rain and was not looking at all forwards to another swim race with bikes, but with a 12:45 start, I figured hoped there would be plenty of time for the rain to do its thing and move on. A leisurely though killer breakfast (bagel with cashew butter and honey) and more good conversation followed. At around 10 I headed out for Wilmington. The rain had died back to an occaisional sprinkle by this point but it was still overcast and cool.
There were 15 of us including the 35+ (2 starters) field and the 1/2/3 field (13 starters). I had a pretty lackluster race. We didn’t ride in any rain and the roads were only wet in a couple places, so really it was quite pleasant riding weather: cool and overcast, but dry. I wore knickers and a long sleeved jersey to ensure comfort. I was feeling head cold engulfed – leaving me feeling like my sinuses were going to explode and with that somewhat though not really light headed feeling a person gets that gives the sensation of not being entirely inside your body. I also had no mental spunk, and suspected I had no physical spunk either.
The course was 6.1 miles out to a 14 mile loop we did 3 times and then 6.1 miles back and then 1.6 miles of 8% grade to the finish. The out and back was mostly flattish with a few rollers in it. The loop itself had some rollers – very gentle for the area, and some safe fast down hills and a 1 mile climb with the feed zone at the top. The flier said 55 miles, my computer claimed 56.8 or so miles.
On the way out to the loop and most of the first lap things were calm and easy going though that is not to say super slow. Everyone slowed way down for the almost 180 turn and the hairpin curves (we were warned about these before the race) before smoothly going back to the initial pace. On the climb I started near the back and worked my way through but could make it past two riders easily. I verbalized where I was and started to go only to have them drift in front of me so back to the other side, same thing. Finally I said let me by now and they did, but that left me dangling behind the front group of 5 or so. I tried to bridge and made it up to another dangling rider and the two of us caught another rider, but we just couldn’t close. So we sat up for the main pack, giving us a group of 9. My effort to bridge left me feeling like the gunk in the nose was moving into the chest so I considered stopping after the second lap. But the pace on lap two wasn’t too bad and the second time up the climb to the feed zone things stayed calm. Four of us got a little gap but the others bridged back up and I decided to stick it out. The third lap was uneventful and we all stayed together up the climb. On the second lap the front group gained 3 minutes on us. They gained an additional 3 minutes or so on the 3rd lap. I was half wishing I was with them, and half glad I hadn’t made the bridge, because their pace sounded like a lot of hard work (as I said, no mental spunk).
On the 6.1 back to from the loop there were a few attacks but those didn’t last and no one got away. I chased one of them down and was on the front for the last mile of that 6, and the first mile of the climb to the finish. I wasn’t pushing it particularly hard, but trying to maintain a steady pace, but when a couple of the ladies I was with went around me I had no spark in the legs to stay with them or contest. I have no idea what place I came in.
After the race I rode back down to the car and found Chris and Katie just getting ready to head out for a nice spin around the area. They invited me along. I moved the car to ensure it would not be locked in to the race lot, found the wheels I had put in the follow car, removed my dorky numbers, and grabbed a bite and joined them for a nice 17 mile warm down. Then it was definitely nap time, so it was to Chris' mom's house to make asian steak salad. Then back to David and Lynn's for me for a good sleep.
The cold felt a bit worse in the AM and with plans to meet Steve and Sunita being made I decided against racing on Sunday (crit). My field would not have started until around 2:30 and apart from feeling rather blah, I didn't want to start my drive home at 3:30 - 4 or later. Instead David set me up with his one person canoe and a kayak paddle and off I went for a gorgeous morning paddle on the lake in his back yard. Chris and Katie timed their arrival perfectly to me finishing up my tour of the lake and Steve and Sunita with their boys Galen and Oliver were not too far behind. There followed some nice easy going social time with lots of good munchies. Everyone got ready to head out just before 2 and I was home by 7.
It looks like I was 8th out of 11 finishers in the 1/2/3 field, and 5th cat 2, with 1 cat 3 and 2 cat 1 ladies ahead of me. Results are up at the BikeReg site. The odd thing about the results is that the group that got off the front had at least 5 ladies in it, but based on the results it seems that 2 of them did not finish, since there are only three riders listed as finishing 9 minutes ahead of the rest of us.
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