Tuesday, April 26, 2016

2016 Rocky Mountain Roubaix

Last weekend was the Rocky Mountain Roubaix, about the only road race in the Missoula area. Being a spring event in Montana it goes down a few dirt roads and the conditions are usually interesting. It rained fairly hard in the days up to the race and was still raining when we started. I think the weather discouraged a few people from racing, plus it was the same day as the grizzly triathon so the turnout seemed a little smaller than usual. There was a 1/2/3 group that raced 3 laps for 51 miles, and then everyone else did two laps and 41, including Ingrid, the only woman who showed up.

Since the 4/5/masters were all grouped together, we had a decent sized group, but I also had no idea who I was racing against in the 4s. Up the first dirt climb on ninemile road the pace picked up, and by the ranger station we had a lead group of 7. I knew Greenberg and one other guy were masters racers, Ian and Cory were 5s, but there were two others and I didn't know what category they were in. We did our two laps and all stuck together in a pretty organized pace line, and it wasn't until we passed the ranger station and were on the way to the finish line that I thought to ask, "ok, so who's racing against who here?"

As it turned out, one of the guys was a masters racer, and the other, who I was most worried about, was in the 5s. So I had the race won just by being the only cat 4 in the break, and figured I should try to help Cory and Ian. As we crossed the train tracks and made a sharp turn on dirt leading into flat and straight last 4 miles to the finish, Ian came flying around the outside of me so I said "let's go" and tried to make a break for it, but that didn't work. So then I just got on the front and pulled. At 1k to go the other cat 5 went for it and unfortunately Cory couldn't quite catch his wheel.

Last season went fairly well for me and I got to stand on a few podiums, but I never made it to the top step. And last year at roubaix I had a bunch of flats and basically rode in alone in last place. So I was really happy to get a win at this one, which is also the first race I ever signed up for. Here's the strava, and the podium (there were more than 2 of us):



Did I mention it was muddy?



Being wet and dirty during a race is not really a big issue. Everyone was soaked within about the first 2 minutes of riding and then you just get used to it. The dirt/mud was slippery and slowed you down a bit, but we were in a small group of good riders away from any potential sketchyness or crashes, so no real concerns there. The big problem was being able to see. Riding behind another bike or two, everything coming off the rear tire is going right into your face. I had on a pair of clear glasses, but could barely see through them plus they were not large enough and stuff was getting past them into my eyes. Taking them off made things worse.  On the dirt sections, you pretty much couldn't see anything at all and I kept spraying my water bottle into my face and eyes, which sort of helped for a short period of time. Getting back on the pavement you were being sprayed with mostly water so it was better. I just hope I don't end up with dysentery or something this week.

I had no bike issues during the race, but a few people had their bikes stop shifting and it caused one guy in our group to drop off before the end. On the ride back to my car, however, I noticed the steering felt a bit funny. After I got home I hosed off the bike and disassembled everything. The headset and bottom bracket bearings pretty much won't turn. Chain should probably just get replaced, along with cables, housings, and bar tape, maybe a chain ring, jockey pulleys (whole RD?). In short, the maintenance I've been thinking about doing all needs to be done immediately before the bike can go back together and be ridden again.

This did make my hell ride bike choice easy. I have some 32mm Clement Stradas coming this week for the cross bike, which is the smart choice anyway. It's going to stay pretty cool and wet all week so I think bigger tires and more clearance is going to be a good move.

And there's still time to sign up:

https://runsignup.com/Race/MT/Missoula/MontanaHellRide



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