Capital Region

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djming
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Capital Region

Post by djming »

Mike W, Derin and I rolled out of the Millbury Park & Ride to go have some fun in the hills of Ravena, NY.
Got there plenty early and with a cloud cover and humid but coolish temps thought maybe the forecast was going to be a bit more tolerable.
A warmup and showing Derin the finish climb and back at the school clouds are burning off and it's getting warm. The heat and humidity would continue to build thru the 3 lap/62 mile race.

Combined 40/50+ with 43 total starters and some big guns, including a Finkraft trio (2 of which, Rob Lyons and Roger Aspholm, I now have joining me in the 50+, oh joy!)
Neutral first 3 miles and a couple non-threats take some flyers to mainly gain position for the climbs. Tracy Rd #1 and the pace starts off okay, but just keeps ramping up thru the 2 mile climb. By the top I'm off the back of the main group and thinking WTF?? I look around and find Alan Potter from FitWerx in the same boat so the two of us hammer the initial part of the descent to catch back on just in time for things to go ballistic on Whitbeck #1, which ends up being my PR for that wall. A bit better position but once again all the 50+ favorites have gapped me and I need to find a good sub-group to work with and it takes us a good 3 miles to catch back on. We do, and actually after that despite the pace staying solid I feel okay and settle in. Then attacks come but 2 guys get away and everyone else settles in. Finkraft has missed the move so everyone else looking at them to chase. I just follow wheels to stay in the first 5-10. Into the finish climb again I just settle in and let others expend energy trying to move up. Pretty uneventful except for the guy who takes a neutral water, slugs down half, and instead of heaving the remainder into the grass drops it into the road. Jeez dude, you trying to cause a crash??

Tracy Rd #2 and this time it's steady tempo just riding people off the back. Anyone who worked all thru lap 1 to catch back on who gets dropped here ain't coming back a 2nd time. Over the top and I'm much more relaxed but still working hard. Whitbeck #2 isn't a shellacking and this time I'm matching or leading a bunch that gapped me the 1st time and marking the top half dozen. But as I approach the top I get that special tingling feeling except it isn't my legs, it's more arms and chest and getting a bit light headed. A glance down at the computer and HR is 178. That may not seem like much to many of you, but I have an overall lower HR and that's full on max for me. The heat is starting to be a factor and I need to recover. Thankfully this time I positioned fine and able to sit in on the dip and the fast stretch. The main field is now down to 20 plus 2 up the road and that's the selection. Finish climb and I finish off my 2nd bottle (carried 3) and grab a neutral to dump over my head. Temps are MUCH higher now, the humidity is awful and I'm of course covered in white, but so are plenty of others. Guys beginning to really suffer. I'm surprisingly okay.

Tracy #3 and again it's more steady tempo with more guys just falling off, but this time at the top 5 guys go hard and get a pretty significant gap to form the main chase 1. I see Dave Taylor and Aspholm up there with some NY guys I'm not familiar with. A look around and all other 50+ guys are with me so that podium still up for grabs (although this turns out to be wrong as there's one more in the 5 man group that I didn't know from NJ). On the Tracy descent I attempt to work with another 50+ guy as we've got a gap on everyone else and for a short period of race brain actually think we can catch the 5 man chase group. A couple of pulls and I realize that's not even remotely a good idea and tell the guy I can't do any more. He responds he was about to say the same thing so we hit Whitbeck ahead of the diminished chase 2 and I do some pack surfing. On the dip off Whitbeck 4 more get away to chase after the 5 but I get with 3 other 40+ guys and a glance back and all other main 50+ guys are nowhere to be seen. Damn, I'm in contention for 3rd if I can hold this (again, wrong but didn't realize this at the time). The 4 of us try to rotate but there's one 40+ guy clearly stronger, I'm trying to share equally but the other 2 are skipping. But, the 4 man chase 2 is now in sight and the follow car is now behind us with rest of the field nowhere in sight. Keep sort of rotating when the twinges start to come. Shit, still 10K to go. Okay, time to start skipping. Shortly after though 40+ blue jersey guy puts in a big pull and the other 2 who had been skipping earlier able to hold his wheel (stupid me who shared earlier...) and I'm dropped. Then one guy from chase 2 sits up. Okay, if I can just keep this gap maybe those 4 will regroup before going a bit harder. Wrong again, as the instant that guy is caught by my 3 they all go further into chase mode and now the follow car passed me. 8K to go. They make the catch with chase 2 so that group is now 7 in size and it's looking like I'm TT'ng home with cramps. Just keep it at low tempo/high endurance and hope I can hold off the others. Just counting off the kilometers now in my head. Push, push and hope when the cramps come I can back off just slightly to not seize up. Working.
Into the final climb and I've given up almost 2 minutes to the 7 but I've held off everyone else. Finish and less than 30 seconds later a trio of Cliff Summers, Rob Lyons and Mark Paggioli come in. Not bad at all to have held off those three!
And then maybe 30 seconds after them here comes Derin sprinting in with one other for 2nd in the 3/4 field!!

A check of the results and turns out chase 1 caught the 2 off the front and there was another 50+ guy in the 5 man group. There were 2 other 50+ guys in the group that dropped me so I'm 6th in the 50+ and 14th overall and desperately trying to find water. Success there, then find Derin and Mike to make the roll back to the school after Derin's podium presentation.
Last edited by djming on Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Dave Mingori
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Mkidd3
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Re: Capital Region

Post by Mkidd3 »

Well done lads!!
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KTeves
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Re: Capital Region

Post by KTeves »

Nice race Dave, and nice report. Congrats Derin! Three laps around that course in heat and humidity is rough.
Last edited by KTeves on Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
KT
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jraguin
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Re: Capital Region

Post by jraguin »

Nice job both of you. My experience is that it is one of the hardest races in the Northeast. The big NY / NJ guns really come out strong and I am amazed at your mental toughness to stay in it Dave. Derin, that is awesome! Congrats!
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