This year, Alex Gallego and Missoula Bicycle Works decided to put on the Bearmouth Road race. It's a course that has been used before, and is generally a pretty nice ride. If you're going to do it on your own, start at Bearmouth, ride to Drummond, and then up the pass. You can just go to the top, or all the way into Helmville (the Copper queen is a decent lunch stop). The race works a little differently as Drummond makes a better start/finish location, so first is an out and back to Bearmouth along the frontage road, which is quiet and rolling and about 15mi each way, then goes up and over to Helmville and back. It's around 20mi from Drummond to Helmville and in total the race was 74mi for the long race, and in the 50s for the shorter, just to the top and back race.
One of the problems with road racing in Montana under USAC is that so many fast guys are stuck in the lower categories due to the lack of races. They might be on the group ride every week and cat 1 CX and MTB racers, but when it comes road they are still 4/5s. So for this event, you could sign up in the "open" category and race in the 1/2/3 field. There was separate scoring for 1/2 and 3, and then an overall "open." So if you were a cat 4 that finished behind all the 1/2/3s, tough... but if you were on the overall podium, you got recognized (and prize money)
Anyhow, turnout was decent with about 25 in the field, although with so many categories mixed together I wasn't sure who I was racing. At the start, some guy I didn't know rode away from the group, and then Kevin Turchin went up to join him. We were crusing along at a good pace with little effort out to bearmouth and I figured that with the headwind on the way back they wouldn't get too far ahead. Unfortunately the pace on the way back was really variable and a lot of guys woudn't go to the front. In a big field, I get that, but when no one has teammates and there are only a dozen guys it's just slow and annoying. Like just ride tempo for a minute if you're going to be there. I took some turns and wasn't too worried though as the climb out of Drummond is a big one, at about 1000 vertical feet total. I figured that was where things would split up for good and was mostly worried about not getting left behind there.
At the turn, Ivan and Gabe, the juniors, along with Ben Grass took off and got a solid 100 yards up the road from the pack. Gabe was in my category and I didn't want him getting too far away, and then Justin Raynes went after them. At that point I felt that I had to go with as he and Gabe were also in cat 3 (and Justin is another one of those guys stuck in the lower categories in road. He won the roubaix last year overall, and I think has raced mtb as a pro). We bridged to the three guys up the road and Ben said something like "Ivan, don't drop me on the climb because you need our fatasses to get you to helmville and back." That was Ivan's cue to go I guess and he took off. By the top, he was a good 20-30 seconds ahead but I manged to be 2nd over with Gabe and we chased him down. Then Justin, Andrew Frank, and Joel Sheehan caught us, so we had 6 closing in on the two guys up the road, who had split up on the climb. I had my hopes up that we would stay ahead, and we caught one of the guys and now had 7 chasing Kevin who was still up there alone.
Unfortunately we weren't as fast as we thought, and another 6-7 caught us just before the turnaround. I had felt great on the climb, was drinking enough water, and ate most of a larabar and a couple of shotblocks on the first out and back, but from the base of the climb I didn't have much, and it was farther than I thought to the turnaround. I was starting to feel not so fresh and for some reason didn't cram the rest of my shot blocks in my mouth.
Suddenly Joel and the guy who was off the front before were up the road, and then after the turnaround Justin attacked and Andrew Frank, Cory, and I chased him. We caught up, Cory lasted a few turns, and then decided to drop back to the group. I tried hanging on longer but Justin was pulling through hard and accelerating past Andrew in a pretty smart effort to make me hurt. It worked, and then I was alone, in time trial mode, trying to get back over the hill ahead of the main group. My legs were not feeling good though and I had a limit that I just couldn't go over. Cory, Matt Butterfield, Ivan, and another guy caught me and we were all together until just before the top, when I fell behind and then Matt fell behind. I tried standing on the pedals to get back and my legs were dead. It was beyond that point where your legs hurt when you try to pedal- it was a strange numb feeling, and I started getting light leaded. Kind of reminded me of the end of the Butte 100.
I got over the top just behind Matt and he was just behind everyone else, and it stayed that way to the bottom and finish line. Joel managed to catch Kevin, but was out-sprinted at the line. Justin caught that mystery guy, who turned out to be another cat 3 from Spokane, to finish 3rd overall and 1st cat 3. Cory rounded out the cat 3 podium making me 4th. The worst place?
Generally I am good about nutrition so I'm not sure what happened there. I went through 3 bottles in the 3 hours which was enough, but after going through Drummond I barely ate anything. I remember cresting the top, seeing that it had only been 38 miles, and thinking "huh, we still have a pretty long way to go." But the other side of the pass is half downhill, much more gradual, and there was a tailwind on the way back, so I just underestimated it and I guess forgot to eat. I finshed with 2 shot blocks after giving half my other pack to Ivan, so I only ate 7 (231 calories). Then I had most of a larabar (about 170cal), about a bite of a clif bar (30 cal?) and then there were a few calories in my bottles. I would estimate I got in about 500 calories, which, given the snacks I had before the start, would have possibly been enough had I spaced it out better and eaten more later on. But no, I had the fitness, and felt great on the climb, and just forgot to keep eating. And maybe I took too many pulls early on? But mostly I think it was the eating. Or those guys are just faster (they kind of are).
So, that's how the race went. Not as well as it could have, but I was still really happy with my climbing and how I felt in the first 1/2-3/4. I just needed to keep it up for another hour or so and things would have maybe turned out differently.
After the race, the awards were held behind Parker's restaurant, which was cooking us burgers and had drinks and snacks and free beer. This is something I feel that you need to have at races, as it provides a more social aspect and gives people a reason to stick around after suffering alone out on the road for hours. So thanks AG and MBW for putting it on, and thanks for the consolation prize of 2 big sky 6 packs.
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