news from the peloton
Snohomish Road Race, March 26, 2005
Andy approaches the saturation point
The official season kicked off in spring classic fashion at Snohomish on March 26, marking the third race in a row with plenty of water and cooler temperatures. Erik Anderson, Eric Attwood, Tyler Givens and myself raced. Aaron and I both got late starts driving to the race but I took 405, making it with a few minutes to spare, while he took I-5, got slammed in traffic, and had to pull the plug on the race. I had just enough time to sign up and scrounge a Clif Bar in the parking lot before the start.
We did a 3 mile neutral roll that was just enough to pre-soak the gloves and booties and confirm that your braking was 50% of normal efficiency. The race started at the bottom of the climb and was mellow the first time up; a couple of guys dangled in front of the pack the rest of the lap and a couple more swapped positions.
After the second time up, Tyler went up and collected the guys off the front and formed a break; I bridged up several miles later on the wheel of Ian McKissick (Second Ascent) and James Stangeland (Wines of Washington) joined us. These guys just upgraded, I believe, but were strong throughout the day - it took us about 5 minutes, but we made it up to the break with about 3.5 laps to go.
All 8 guys in the break were working hard and pulling through most of the next lap. I tempoed the hill the third time up and a few guys were starting to redline, but made it over. Half the guys were really strong, and the other half not-so-strong, which made the pace really uneven at times, but it was always pretty fast. We never got any time checks early on, but we were up on the group by over five minutes - I told Tyler to ride smart, because I didn't think we all could keep up this kind of pace.
Before the 3rd time up the hill, I told Tyler he should go and I was pretty sure he and Ian could ride away from all of us. He did, and Ian went as well, with Eric Kapfhammer (DoubleShot) dangling 10 meters off the back. I rode over the top with Stangeland and the rest of the break was history.
Tyler and Ian raced together, but Tyler said he was stronger and Ian was slowing him down - eventually Ian flatted and Tyler was gone. We finally collected Eric who also had flatted, so it was Tyler solo out front, Ian in second, and Eric, James and myself together. At this point it became a matter of survival, as everyone in my group was pretty gassed. I thought of collecting my rain jacket the 4th time up the hill and heading for the parking lot, but I gutted it out and finished.
Good time for a crash? Sure enough, going into the right hand turn about 1/3 of the way around on the last lap James decided to cook it and went down in front of us - Eric plowed straight into him and I just missed it. Not what you need when you are trying to ride it home - I sat up and waited, a little worried that the pack would catch us as we had lost quite a bit of time.
We finally dropped James and I rode in with Eric who took 3rd and I was 4th. Tyler was definitely the strongest guy on the day and took the win with Ian maybe 2 minutes behind. Eric and I were probably 3 minutes further back. Thanks to Erik and Eric, who controlled and attacked the bunch - you don't hold 5 minute leads in our group without a lot of help. I was lucky and in good position to get in the break, but either of these guys would have been stronger than me if the roles had been reversed.
A great first race for out team on a tough course with tougher weather! We had some horsepower, guys positioned themselves to make the race and not just be reactive, and we worked as a team!
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