Rasputitsa 2019

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cbusick
Tête de la course
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Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:42 pm
Location: Shrewsbury, MA

Rasputitsa 2019

Post by cbusick »

When I packed for Rasputitsa, the forecast was 43F, rain from 9-10 and overcast after.

So my plan was to wear what I wore at Ken Harrod last year that seemed to work pretty well for me. Assuming less than 3 hours for the ride, the first hour would be mostly climbing in the rain then after that the rain would stop.

Then, Friday afternoon the forecast changed to 40F, rain until 10.  
I talked with Rowell at the party and he said to expect 5 degrees colder and snow by the max elevation,
So I added the Zima bibs and Zima long sleeve to the list of things I was going to wear.

Then Saturday morning the forecast was 38F rain from 9-10 and snow after that.

At that point I committed to wearing a jacket at the start, and planning on taking it off if I got to hot on the climb.  I sent a text to Brian saying I was choosing "warm and slow" over cold and fast. I also cut some plastic grocery bags and made toe covers to slip between my wool socks and shoes. Patrick said he had some luck with that at supercross and I didn't have anything better for my feet.

During my pre start porta john visit I could hear sleet pelting the roof


"Bring it!! You crazy weather God's!!"

I couldn’t find Brian at the start, but once we got rolling I heard him behind me “Chris! You have a different idea of what Warm and Slow means than I do!!” I looked back over my shoulder and saw someone dressed head to foot in black warm looking kit. I couldn’t get a good look though, since the downhill neutral start with 1200 gravel grinders of questionable pack skills wasn’t a good place for not paying attention.

When we got to the bottom of the neutral I was feeling pretty good about the choice to wear the jacket since I wasn’t cold. I was skeptical about Partrick’s grocery bag to warmers though, since my feet were already swimming in ice water.

A guy about Brian’s size dressed all in black went by me on the first climb so I chased him down and asked if he was warm yet, only to get a confused look back from someone who clearly wasn’t Brian.

My plan was to go easier that last year since there wasn’t a case of beer on the line. I was thinking threshold on the climbs and fast enough on the descents/flats to stay warm.

At the bottom of darling hill road I passed some really cold looking elite women who’d started 5 minutes ahead of us. Several of them would abandon at the first rest stop a couple miles ahead.

Then the climb up sugarhouse road started. I moved up through some groups with a bikeman guy who’s name I can’t remember but who I always race against in CX working through the groups with me. I told him to smile for the camera and said hi to Kaite as we went by. Near the end of the first steep pitch I overtook a tandem but they picked up speed on the false flat and I tucked in behind them to get out of the headwind. From all the CRW centuries I did before joining MRC I knew how to use a tandem. Enjoy the ride on the flats, then make sure you get ahead before they go back up. I wanted to get ahead before we entered Siberia, but, wow, this tandem was moving pretty quick. Later Katie told me it was Tim Johnson and Lynne, which made me feel better.

Sibera didn’t have any mud, but it was basically riding up a muddy stream bed through rapids. I got bogged down in some deep ruts but fortunately choose the right wheel and we both made it through without having to dab.

On the technical downhill after Siberia my front brake failed. The lever just went loose, no brakes at all. The rear was still “working” but wasn’t doing much. The same thing happed at super cross, but then was fine the next day. This isn’t a case of the pads being worn out, this is just the brake lever failing to pump fluid. Bikeshop CX did a podcast on how to fix this. I bet it’s better now though anyway now that it’s warm.

After Siberia we started climbing again. And it started snowing. Not a couple flakes, but big wet snow that turned the road to slush and the trees white, and reduced visibility on my glasses down to a little spot in front of my left eye. The descent down schoolhouse road to Newark was pretty sketchy with limited visibility and no brakes. I kept pumping the levers on the way down and was getting a little bit our of the rear. The 90degree turn onto the pavement at Newark was scary, but fortunately no cars came. Then we had a couple miles of pavement before the Abbot Hill climb. I got into a group and we did our rotations into the wind and then up the climb.

The top of Abbot hill is where I was planning on assessing if I was too warm or not, since the course was essentially 20 miles of climbing until this point and was going to go down for 7 miles afterwards. I was NOT too warm, and chose to leave the jacket on. I was still relatively comfortable though, but over the course of the 7 miles of descending the water in my shoes got really cold and my legs started to cool. I could feel some cold seeping in at my shoulders, but my core, head and hands were all still warm. Eventually my feet got numb. Like the numb you get when walking in the ocean at Hampton in May, not like frostbite in the winter, so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Having working fingers that could still shift the bike was much more important.

Then it was just rolling hills, up and down. I blew through one turn into the soft shoulder mud due to lack of brakes but managed to fight my way back out and onto the road. Then on one of the longer climbs I dropped my group. A guy on a mountain bike blew by me and I followed. I couldn’t see much more than the bright colors of his jersey and the guys he was chasing. Then he took a left turn 1/2 way down one of the hills and I followed him. Shortly after some guy went by me in the other direction saying “Wrong Way” but I didn’t know if he meant me or him. After about 2 miles the MTB guy returned saying, we missed a turn back there somewhere. I had a good idea where and took off for it.

When I got back on course it was similar to last year, I was back with people that I’d dropped at the beginning of the race. I’d lost 16 minutes on my detour. I didn’t really care about the result though so went back to climbing at threshold. Maybe I’d catch Brian. I stopped at one of the turns where there was a crowd and took a big swig of Jagermeister. Good stuff the warmth went all the way down to my toes which I hadn’t felt in over an hour.

I overtook Mike Condon on the last climb but didn’t know it and he was too surprised to yell out at me until I was out of reach. I kept marching on and finished the race with a time of 2:58, so would have been 2:42 without the detour.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the ride, I did well under tough conditions. A LOT of people didn’t finish. There was a stream of overland trucks with riders stacked like cordwood coming back into the lodge. People have been saying it was the coldest they’ve ever been on the bike. I don’t think it’s even in my top 5. To get truly cold on the bike requires a combination of bad conditions and poor planning/dressing.

My top 5 coldest would be:

1) Quabbin 2013
2) Montezuma Valley to the Pie Shop
3) 2018 Harvard RR
4) Night MTB ride with Eric F at Wachusett
5) Raining knives WNR
-Chris Busick
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Jacob
Peloton
Posts: 476
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:14 pm
Location: Arlington, MA

Re: Rasputitsa 2019

Post by Jacob »

Nice.

Mine are:
1) 2018 Harvard RR
2) that time I rode to work in the winter
3) that time I rode to work in the winter
4) that time I rode to work in the winter
5) that time I rode to work in the winter
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peterkuhn
Domestique
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Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:23 am

Re: Rasputitsa 2019

Post by peterkuhn »

Great report Chris. I'm reposting Nate Kemp's report off the monsters list also because it is perfect

================

"Forgot gear at home and had to borrow everything. Brutal cold, rain, snow, sleet, hail. Underdressed. Crashed 3/4 through the race because I could not hang on to handlebars. Muffler fell off car. Race number was 666. Survival mode there for an hour just in a tunnel of shivering with the knowledge that if you stop you freeze and if you go too hard you cramp. Fine line. Took me about 30 minutes sitting in my car with uncontrollable shivers and full body cramps until I was able to even get off my wet clothes. In some cases, what I had available to borrow was just insufficient, but for other cases I underestimated the weather conditions and opted for something lighter-weight than was available. I just reg'ed for 2020 as well... $75 what the hell?!"
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cbusick
Tête de la course
Posts: 1686
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:42 pm
Location: Shrewsbury, MA

Re: Rasputitsa 2019

Post by cbusick »

Nate captures it well, to make my list of top 5 coldest I've been on the bike it has to result in my shivering in my car afterwards with the heat blasting.

The to be determined guys have a good write up as well.

https://www.tobedetermined.cc/journal/2 ... titsa-2019
-Chris Busick
Briana
Chasseur
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Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:23 am
Location: Ashland, MA

Re: Rasputitsa 2019

Post by Briana »

I hope the AC/DC Thunderstruck theme for 2020 doesn't influence the weather gods for 2020! I'm already signed up.
Brian Anderson
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