A day trip to race the Hunter-Greene Catskills Spring Classic. Morning up to Tannersville, NY.
Foggy. Warm.
Sign-in and parking down at the lake with plenty of time. After some time the parking area got a little more utilized and also George and RPC riders showed up.
Preparing and getting ready to ride up to the start.
About 5km uphill ride to the start, non ideal as no supplies beyond the race carry on water/food but worked out in reach. A combined 3/4 field of some 80 or more riders staged on top of a local hill what would also be the finish climb. A supposed to neutral start down the hill was a kind of a bumpy ride and let some non Roubaix secured water bottles fly right away. The pace of the 1st lap got pretty heated with several breakaway attempts and catch up events and some drop the 4's games. Fun to meet a FB friend while racing, Keane -- I just figured since when, I took a few pictures of him at ToC 2012. George and Py had some good fun at top ten for quite some time and also been up front a few times -- possible to much fun for Py -- eventually rolling more back hiding into the field what is less fun but possible would have safes enough energy to tackle that one kicker with more reserves to stay in the game for longer -- as soon the pace picked up again a good notch to not allow anyone to ride off for more than a moment. However, 1/2 way around the loop slightly uphill pretty exactly as the forecast was predicting for 2..3pm on the way up on 23 towards Ashland the few drops turned into sustained rain/t-storm with some hail and alike on that side of the mountain and dry roads got flooded with an ugly mix of brown clay and road grime. Some of that mix cause a temporary burning in Py's eye -- whatever that was. Moving along hanging in a field of soaked riders with flooded shoes and getting a dirty farly warm shower from wheels ahead. Great. A sligh chill by evaporating water, added weight and running at and over threashold for about an hour Py had to notice a way too long sustained heartrate of over 178bpm -- that can not go well hitting this brief climb coming up soon -- too short to benefit from his climbing power, but calling for max power for just a few minutes. And there they go... passing by and a gap way too big to catch up at these conditions. A few more droppign off. Looking ahead at the damage looking back to a few riders and a team mate. Deciding no way to catch up and sure not alone but to ease up and team up with George for a good joined work to the finish. The rain eventually eased off but roads stayed soking wet and only seriously offsetting wheels helped to avoid a constant shower. Two more riders joined, eventually helped a here and there briefly. George and Py doing the work for most the time. Few more picked up later... Slowly the 74 miles double lap course with 2.5 mile finishing climb tricked down to 10 miles to go... somewhat working that hard Py noticed his knees a little complaining but a positing change and climbing felt good and eliminated the issue. Just while approaching this finish climb they came up on Rob who just had some fun with a bear like looking dog. Hitting this final steeper part of the climb with 1km to go sign Py put in all left and except 1 rider of the few hanging on dropped them all -- after 1h08 total at or over threshold.
*** And congratulations to RPC Tom for winning the CAT 4 today !!! ***
Roll down to the car at the lake, a quick bath right in there felt so good to wash of all that dirt! Long boring drive home with stupid traffic and sand still delays before Throggs Neck. A great day of excellent road racing with the team -- let's do more alike! A bit of everything, from a taste of Roubaix with that bumpy initial descent to some brief t-storm with following gritty roads.
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