Frozen Flatlands Omnium Road Race #2 - An Easter miracle?

After Saturday's involuntary solo sufferfest, my morale was a bit shaken and I wasn't quite sure to expect for the final event of this year's Frozen Flatlands Omnium.  Usually, the second mass start event at this race is a circuit race held at Spokane Raceway Park, the local car road racing track.  This year however, that venue was unavailable so the organizers set up another road race on a 25 mile loop to the north and west of Cheney.  The terrain was pretty mellow with few hills to break up the pack, but the winds were back for a second day and they did the trick.

The wind had changed direction though, and was now blowing stoutly from the southeast instead of the southwest.  We rolled out on the course which started out by following the time trial course from the previous day.  It was a wide two-lane highway with a good shoulder for the first 10 miles or so with a strong quartering tailwind.  The pace was high but steady and it was quite easy to sit in the pack and watch the miles tick by.  At the end of this stretch, the course turned onto some narrower county roads with a few small rollers, but still nothing serious enough to break up the group.  With the race now nearly half done, various riders did try their luck at getting off the front, but none of the attacks stuck.

The course gradually arced back towards Cheney and more and more back into the wind.  Most of the race thus far had passed through forested areas and therefore the winds were somewhat moderated.  Soon, we passed across about a 1/4 mile wide open field which exposed the pack to the wind and gave a hint of what was to come.  The wind was blowing from the right and soon those of us near the back were lined out along the centerline trying to get what shelter we could behind the rider ahead.  We fought through it and entered the trees again.  A couple more miles passed uneventfully and soon the course headed directly back towards Cheney for the final five or so miles.  The run in was on a fairly narrow county road with some small rollers on it and through completely open fields.

The wind was now full force from the right and as the inevitable attacks began, the pace picked up and soon the entire field was lined out along the centerline.  This was the first time I had raced in crosswinds this strong where you gained no benefit at all from the rider directly ahead of you.  At about 5k to go as we headed up a slight hill, the pace began to ease and I decided since there was no draft anyways, it was time to try and move forward in the group.  I pulled out of line and began to move forward.  Several riders ahead of me, I could see a gap in the line opening and decided I had to get across it.  Further ahead, I could see a small group of perhaps 5 or so riders going clear from the front.  The gap I was moving across was to the chase group or second group on the road.

I realized that the course dropped away a little on the other side of this hill and that if I didn't close the gap before the top, I would never see that group again.  I dug in and gave it everything I had and just caught onto the group as we crested the hill.  I sat on briefly and tried to recover from the effort.  At the 3k to go mark, I could see the breakaway several hundred meters ahead but had nothing in the tank to try and bridge with.  I traded pulls with one or two other riders in the group in an effort to make sure that no other dropped riders would get back to us.  Entering the final kilometer, I found myself on the front realizing that at least a couple of the riders in our group had teammates in the break and therefore had not been working at all the last few miles.  I swung off the front hoping to get a bit of a breather before the sprint.  Two riders pulled through giving me at least a little shelter and a chance to catch my breath.

The final 200 meters were uphill on a nice wide city street.  I was pretty sure I was hosed if I waited to sprint late as the other riders in our group had been sitting on my wheel for the most part, so I gambled at about 250 meters to go and attacked with whatever I had left.  From the spectators' standpoint, I'm sure my attack was undetectable.  I was immediately passed by a couple of riders and shortly after by the rest of my group.  Fortunately though, the work had paid off and no other riders had rejoined our group in the late going.  I ended up ninth for the day.  It was really a great surprise to me to find myself near the front of the race at the end and my biggest mistake was not recognizing the team dynamics in my group of who might have teammates in the break.  Even if I had figured that out though, I'm not sure I had the gas in the tank left to do anything differently.

It was kind of a roller coaster weekend for me confidence wise.  A great TT result had me on a high, then a dismal road race that afternoon had me questioning why I even bother, and then the next day an unexpected and strong result in the second road race had restored my faith.  After all was said and done, I finished 8th in the weekend's omnium for the 40+ Masters field.  Not too shabby at all for the first full weekend of racing for me for the season.

2010 Frozen Flatlands Saturday Road Race - Wind sucks as it blows!

After my solid result in this morning's time trial, I was cautiously optimistic that this afternoon's road race might be an enjoyable affair.  I've yet to finish in the pack in my previous two attempts, but hope springs eternal!

As we lined up for the start, the day's wind was still howling 20+mph and a very dark cloud seemed to be headed our way.  Most of the riders were chatting about how much clothing they had on and would it be enough with the wind, precip threatening, and temps in the low 40s.  I opted to start with my rain jacket on and that proved to be the right decision even though the dark cloud staring us down at the start missed us.

The course started through a forested section for the first few miles and was fairly directly into the wind.  This and masters proclivity for easing into their races made for a comfortable pace early on.  Soon though, someone had had enough and launched an impressive solo attack.  The pack chased intermittently, but seemed content to let the rider go up the road a ways.  Soon we emerged from the trees and onto a more windswept landscape.  The wind was still from mostly ahead, but had a pretty good cross from the right which meant I spent a lot of time trying to hang near the centerline and get as much shelter as possible.  I'm always amazed at how unaware of wind direction some riders are.  The pack steadily shed a few riders in this section as they were unable to figure out where the draft was, even though the pace was still reasonable.  that was about to change.

Soon, the course made a 90 degree turn to the left and entered a rolling section.  The wind went to being a quartering tailwind.  The collective will seemed to be that it was time to reel in the break.  The pace spiked and their was almost no shelter from the wind at all.  I yoyoed a bit, but was soon dropped for good after only about 15 miles of racing.  With the wind and squall clouds all around, I seriously considered pulling a 180 and heading back to the start.  Many other dropped riders were choosing this option.  Stragglers off the pack were tantalizing close and I continued on hoping to catch on and have a group to ride with.  Alas this was not to be and soon I had passed the halfway point on the course and the shortest way home was to finish.  The wind and occasional bouts of hail, some heavy, made the solo ride less than enjoyable, but I finished it off.

I'm sure I was the absolute last finisher in my field as surely no one else was stupid enough to ride the rest of the course after being dropped that early in today's conditions.  Tomorrow is a short road race of only 25 miles, so hopefully that will go better.  At any rate, its all good training mileage which is what I need most this time of year.

Frozen Flatlands Omnium TT - Where the wind comes blowing across the plain

The weather forecast for today's racing was quite fear inspiring.  Temperatures in the 30s, snow showers, and wind.  Fortunately, we only ended up with two out of three.  At this morning's TT it was in the mid 30s and partly sunny, but the winds were 20 to 25 mph.  The first challenge was finding a windbreak in the parking lot to set up the trainer behind so that warming up might actually be possible.  I found a fairly sheltered spot and set up camp.

The next issue was wheel selection.  With the wind howling I wasn't super psyched about trying to control my usual TT setup.  I chickened out and decided to run just a standard low profile alloy rimmed front wheel instead of my usual deep section carbon wheel.  I'm so glad I did!

The course was a nearly flat 12.4 miles (out 6.2, back 6.2) that was a mix of crosswind and headwind on the way out.  The first mile or two of the race (and therefore the last couple miles) featured a nearly dead cross wind in the vicinity of 25 mph.  On the way out, I was forced to get off my aero extensions a couple times in this section and for nearly all of it coming back.  With the deep section front wheel, it would have been really, really scary and not all that fast given the control issues.

At this race, they just start racers in alphabetical order, so I'm the first one off in my class with a nearly 4 minute break ahead of me so there is no one to chase.  As such my race was pretty uneventful, fight hard into the headwind on the way out, try to make the most of the tailwind on the way back.  Oh, and try to stay on the road and out of traffic in the crosswinds!

My time for the race was 31:57, about a minute and a half slower than last year, but it was good enough for 4th in the 40+ masters group so that was a great confidence boost heading into the season.  Next up is this afternoon's 48 mile road race (also in the wind!)