The Robaix used to start in Frenchtown, and the Hell Ride started out on Mullan near Kona Ranch rd the last two years, but Bjorn, a founder of Big Sky Brewing, is a big sponsor of cylcing in the area and offered to host it at his house in the Huson/ninemile area, where the old courses passed anyway. That meant a place to camp if you wanted and free beer all weekend (although I waited until after the event was over to have any).
Stage 1 was a short time trial Friday evening. The original plan was to go ~4miles, but due to snow on the course it was shortened to only 2. And it was on dirt. Things started out smooth, but the last bit hit some mud and potholes, which were a challenge on a road bike after 4-5min of going flat out. My planned line went out the window and I found myself having to bunny hop huge holes, which made me a little slow at the end. But I still wound up 8th overall which was pretty good.
Stage 2 was 4 laps on the Roubaix course, which descends remount road from the ranger station, climbs ninemile, turns right, and goes back to the ranger station. Without the out and back from Frenchtown that made it about a 45 mile day. There is some climbing, but it's not really that excessive. That means our lead pack stayed pretty large every lap despite a few efforts to thin things down, and there were about 20 guys still together heading back to the finish. The last chance to create a break is on the climb back out from the ranger station, and a few guys picked up the pace. My plan was to push hard over the last rise, but I was toward the rear of the pack at that point. I still went for it, and when I got to the front I found that I had a little space with Josh Tack and a guy from Canada. I went as hard as I could over the top and down the pavement, but the other two guys had CX setups with a single chainring and I think I was the only one who could pedal at those speeds. Unfortunately that meant the pack caught us just before the last corner and after all that work I rolled across the line near the back, I think in 13th or so.
Stage 3 headed out to Alberton and up to the end of the pavement up Petty creek, turned around, then went 10 miles up ninemile road. Steven Davis from the Cycling House went off the front and the start, and while he was in sight, it meant no one from TCH was doing any work. Then Jesse went up to join him, which meant no one from our team was doing any work either. That meant around 10-15 pretty strong guys were just coasting, so the group stayed very large, probably 50 riders, and was a little frustrating for most, especially the guys from out of town who actually wanted to race and ride hard. There were some quasi attacks and attempts to speed things up, but it's hard to get away from a group like that on mostly flat roads, and then whenever one of the MBW or TCH riders pulled through things slowed down again. I tried to stay mostly near the front and near Ivan especially in spots where I thought something could go, but I was generally drifting all over the place.
Once we got to the dirt on ninemile things picked up a bit, and the road conditions were not so great. While there was some smooth dirt, there was also some mud, and a lot of potholes. Not so bad on the way up, but I did find myself nearly stuck in mud at one point and then had to put in quite a bit of effort chasing back on. But most of the ride back I was sitting just off the back, still getting some draft but able to move around to dodge holes. Not much happened over the hills to the finish, and there was still a pretty big group going into the last corner..And again, I was badly positioned for the sprint after nailing a pothole just before the turn. I was certain I'd gotten at least a flat if not broken the rear wheel, but after some inspection everything seemed fine. Unfortunately that put me on the back of the group in the sprint.
Overall, I think I wound up tied for 13th. It pretty much came down to positioning in the sprints at the end and I was just never in quite the right spot, and the group was pretty large both days. I would have preferred for things to be a little harder to thin things out, but with so many riders, things can stretch out but not break, and there are opportunities to chase back on even if you do fall back a bit.
Well, that's how the race played out. As far as weather and road conditions go, they were much better than the roubaix the last two years, where it was raining and muddy. There was a little bit of moisture but generally not too bad. Upper ninemile road at the end of stage 3 was definitely unpleasant, with plenty of slick mud and large potholes. That section, with a big group, made the day not so much a fun racing experience, and more of a stressful "don't crash, don't break bicycle" environment. Early after the turnaround a few people went down in the mud and then there was lots of bumping and veering around holes and some near misses on the way back down. Personally, while we have lots of it, I'm not a huge fan of the dirt/gravel/mixed surface racing. It just seems to add an extra element of risk to what is already a somewhat risky activity. When you're on pavement, the road is one less thing to worry about, and instead you can put more focus on your surroundings and the race. And I mean, we have MTB racing and CX, so maybe the road races could stay on the road? I'm also getting kind of tired of the extra wear and tear it puts on equipment.
So while the race was a well put on, overall fun event, with free beer and food, that $55 entry fee really belies the true cost of participating. Last year the roubaix and hell ride destroyed my rear wheel, the bottom bracket clicks, and mud greatly shortens the life of chainrings, chains, and cassettes. And it's especially expensive when you rip off the rear derailleur and break a bunch of spokes like a friend did. On top of that, the courses were toned down and cut short due to snow higher up, otherwise we would have been on a completely different, much rougher route for Saturday (that I probably would have used my CX bike for), and gone farther up ninemile Sunday. And while I am complaining about it, I still went, and still raced in the front group, and will still probably keep going to these.
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