by Bryan Holloway, Atlanta Cycling Race Team
Race: Raccoon Mountain
Place: Chattanooga, TN
Division: Cat. 4 Men
Date: 4-21-2002
Howdy, Another cycling race report...With the team, I cruised up to Chatanooga, TN on Sunday to race the Raccoon Mountain Road Race. After a very fun and successful week out in Austin, Texas last weekend for the Ride for the Roses century, I thought I was ready to test out the brand spankin' new Cat 4 sticker on my USCF license. Oh my God. Can you say "Welcome to Cat 4"? It was among the most brutal races I've ever raced. I was cryin' for my moma! (Where were you, Moma?)
There were 6 of us racing for Atlanta Cycling in this race: Manny, Chance, Brad, Tim, another guy named Brian, and me. The course was a 27-mile loop, and the Cat 4 race would do it twice for a total of 54 miles. Did I mention the mountains? Oh my God. This loop included two brutal climbs. The first was a LONG 2-mile climb midway into the loop. Comparable to one of the Gaps. This climb was followed by a comparable screamin' fast downhill for a couple miles. Woo-hoo! And then there was the final 1.5 mile climb to the finish line.
Overall, it was a very scenic course. Forests bordered the road for most of the race, and one stretch bordered the Tennessee River. And it was a beautiful day. Clear. A tad warm. About 70 or 80 degrees. Good day and good course for a race. This race was the equivalent of racing 3-Gap. (Oh, Nellie!) Chance claims the hills weren't nearly as bad as the gaps, but they sure felt like gaps to me.)
To put things in perspective, this Cat 4 race wasn't much different than a Cat 5 race. The pace was comparable, and the squirrel factor was comparable, but the main difference was the distance. Double the miles. The Cat 5 race would do one lap for 27 miles, but the Cat 4 race would do 2 laps for 54 miles. (Most races are like this). That was the difference that separated the men from the boys. On this day, I was a boy.
It all started for us at 11am. or should I say 10:58am? According to Chance, they started 2 minutes early. The bottom line was that we were still warming up and we missed the start! Doh!! When we all rolled up to the start line, there was no one there, and someone said "they already started!" Doh!! Can you say "Hammer time"? We hammered in an effort to catch the pack. At the time, it seemed like a desperate situation, but in retrospect, it wasn't that big a deal. We caught the pack about 5 miles into the race, and had plenty of time to recover. (The pace was mild at that point, about 20 mph). 54 miles was a long way to go, and we hadn't even hit any hills yet. So we were in good shape. Except Chance was upset because, due to a pee break, he was further off the back and we didn't help him catch up to the pack. (Lesson learned: If a team-mate's fighing solo to catch up to the pack, drop back and give him some help).
Alright, now we're in the pack, and ready to race. The easy pace continued for another 10 miles or so, through small rolling hills, and to be honest, I was bored. The field was thick and congested, about 50 or 75 rides in the field. I was riding alongside and chatting with Brad, about mid-way in the field. "Are you bored? I'm bored..." and I was hoping someone would attack and spice things up a bit. (Lesson leared: Be patient. 54 miles is a long way to go). As we approached the base of the first big climb, I worked my way up to the front of the pack, as did Tim, I think, and Manny or someone came on the radios and asked if we wanted to attack, since we were at the front. I replied, "I'd love to!" and sped up. Not a lot, just a little, but it was enough to break away from the pack. Which actually was not my intention. I was just hoping to speed up the pace and/or break away from the pack with a couple people coming with me. To work with and/or wear down if they were competition. Well, about a quarter way (a couple minutes) into the climb, I glanced back to see who came with me, and I saw no one. DOH!! I saw the pack way back behind and below me. I was way off the front. I felt like a dork. I radioed back to my team, "Uh, I guess no one came with me, huh?" And came the reply, "No, but you look good up there!!" Doh!
Knowing there was no way I could continue the attack to the top of the climb and continue to solo my way another 35 miles to victory, I eased up in order to fall back to the pack. They regained me about mid-way up the climb, and I settled back in. Toward the top of the climb, two riders attacked and broke away, and they stayed off the front a long time, but there was still another 30 miles to go and they eventually got caught by the pack, too.
But let me tell you about the downhill after that first long climb! Oh my God, it was as steep and long as the climb up. I'd never done 45 mph in a pack before, but I have now! It was intense and exciting and awesome. Can you say "Please God, let no one crash!" Fortunately, no problem.
Then came the final climb of the lap, another long, steep 1.5 mile climb. I just sat in the pack this time. Then another steep downhill screamer and we were back to the starting line and the start of the 2nd lap. Lap #2, Coming Up! I still felt pretty good at this point, and woofed down a Cliff Bar.
The 1st half of the 2nd lap was much like the first. There was one dude off the front, suffering alone (and would eventually get consumed back into the pack), but everyone else was hanging out in the pack, and the pace was very moderate. A couple more small rolling hills didn't do much to break up the pack, but then tragedy struck. A crash. It was one of those stupid, for-no-reason, crashes. Don't know what caused it. I guess two guys just weren't paying attention, collided, went down, and took 2 or 3 other guys with 'em. And one of 'em was Brad. I saw them go down and swerved left with the rest of the pack to avoid them. They rolled off into the ditch on the right side of the road, in a tangled mass of bodies and bikes. Fortunately, Brad was ok. He was a little scraped up, and the bike was a little banged up. He had to straighten the seat and shifter, and the front wheel was now a little out of true, but he hopped back on and took off. With the help of Manny and a couple others who stopped to help, before long, he regained the pack! And he was Fired UP! Ready to race!! It was awesome. He's a trooper. I was amazed. I figured if it had been me, I'd still be laying in the ditch, curled up and whimpering. But he just hopped back on the bike and regained the pack in a surge of adrenalin, I was amazed!
Ok, so that was not long before our 2nd trip up the 1st really long, sustained, steep climb. And now we're about 10 miles from the finish. And Chance was ready to rally. He asked me, "How do you feel?" "uh, ok." He asked a couple other friends on a different team, and recruited their help, too. And he said something like, "Ok, let's go to the front and work together. Not an attack, just a steady, tempo pace." "uh, ok." (Lesson learned: Get in touch with my body. Learn to know when it will or will not have the juice to climb another brutal climb. Another lesson learned: if the answer is "no", tell Chance, "sorry, dude, I don't have the legs today", not "uh, ok".)
Ok, so Big Climb, here we go. The pack had dwindled to about 30 or so by now, and I was at the back of the pack. As we started the climb, Chance worked his way to the front, and I found that the distance had taken its toll on me. Like I alluded, I didn't have the strength left to go to the front, and it was all I could do to hang onto the back of the peloton. Same with the other guys Chance had recruited, so he was up there alone, without help.
Well, I was surprised I was able to last as long as I did and almost made it all the way up the hill with the group, but eventually, the inevitable happened and I slid off the back of the pack and got dropped. Doh! I hate getting dropped. Manny, Brad, and Tim had already slid off the back, so Chance was the only one left to represent Atlanta Cycling in the peloton, which was about 20 people at this point.
Soon thereafter, we crested the top of that big hill, and started that screaming descent. This time, I was all alone for the decent. 45 mph again, but I had to pedal this time. (wastes energy). To my surprise, the peloton was still within sight. So I timed the gap. 23 seconds. Doesn't look or sound like much, but I knew 23 seconds is an eternity when you're hammering solo, trying to catch a pack. I glanced behind me. No one in sight.
The decent leveled off. Still, I hammered. About a minute later, I timed the gap again: Still 23 seconds. Doh, I'm not gaining on them. This is hopeless... At that point, I figured I'd be coasting in to the finish by myself... Not to mention, a cramp was starting to make its presence known in my left thigh, so I eased up, as did the cramp, in order to avoid a full cramp-down.
Well, to my surprise, the race wasn't over yet. No sooner than I decided to sit up and limp into the finish, about half a dozen riders came screaming up behind me. Manny and Brad were in this group. The chase was on. "C'mon, let's catch 'em!" I jumped on the train and helped 'em catch the peloton. (Lesson learned: If you're dropped from the pack and alone, constantly look back to see whether a chase group is coming up. If so, don't hammer alone. Rest, recover, save energy, and wait for them to get to you. Then jump on board). At this point, about 3 miles from the finish, I knew I was so wiped out I stood no chance of contesting any sprints (or the final climb). So I figured the best way I could help my team-mates would be to help get them back to the pack. So I got in front of the train and hammered one last time while in the flats. To my surprise, we caught back up to the peloton! Six guys working together is so much more efficient that a solo effort. (Lesson learned: If you get dropped, the race isn't necessarily over yet. A chase group can regain the peloton).
Alright, so now we're on the back of the peloton going into the final climb. Chance is on the front of the pack, wondering where in the world all his team-mates went, and Manny, Brad, and I are on the back of the pack. And here comes the final climb. Sure enough, I was done. The leaders picked up the pace, and the peloton strung out in direct proportion to the strength left of each rider. Manny and Brad sped away, and again, despite giving it my all, I was dropped and spit out the back. I climbed the last hill in pathetic fashion, and just prayed for the finish line to find its way under my wheel in order to end the suffering.
The end of the story: Chance got 2nd! Awesome. Manny and Brad crossed the line in 19th and 20th place, repspectively. I finished about a minute off the leaders in 33rd place, and Tim wasn't far behind me and got 39th. (It was Tim's first Cat 4 race, too). Final stats: 54 miles, ~20 mph average pace, ~2.5 hours.
So there you have it. It was awesome. Welcome to Cat 4, Bryan Holloway. Can you say, "54 miles is a heck of a lot longer than 27"?! I learned a lot, and feel like I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully, I'll do better next time. I was so wiped out, and my lower back ached so bad, I couldn't even bend over. I slept 10 hours that night and the next, too. I think my body was telling me it needed some rest. I did the Monday Night Recovery group Ride, since after that experience, I felt like I needed a recovery. 20 miles at a very easy pace. Fun ride.
This racing stuff is so exciting and challenging and fun, I think I plan to do this for a long time...
In other racing news, while we were racing in Chattanooga, there was a series of crits going on in historic downtown Roswell, Ga. Eric May, James, and Isaac competed in the Cat 5 crit. Eric got 4th! (just missed the podium by a hair. It came down to the final sprint, and he was within a bike length of the winner) James got 9th, and Isaac finished in the pack. Another team-mate, Rick, competed in the Cat 4 crit, and his story is quite awesome. About mid-way into the race, he went down in an 11-man pile-up crash. A little banged up, he jumped back on his bike and regained the pack. He was in contention again (in the top 10), with one lap to go, and another rider went down. He slid in front of Rick, and Rick bunny-hopped him! That threw him off his rhythm, so he wasn't able to contest for the sprint, but he finished in the top 10! But get this, the local TV news crew captured the bunny-hop on film! They interviewed Rick after the race, and aired it all on the evening news! They asked him about the bunny-hop, and he said something like "Well, I already crashed once in the race, and I didn't want to crash again..." Sunday afternoon, us Racoon Mountain racers went to Roswell as soon as we got back into town in order to watch the crits. Rick was hanging out with the Atlanta Cycling crowd in good spirits with a couple bandages and a black eye. We got there in time to watch the Pro/1/2 crit, which was awesome. There was even a US Postal guy in there. Pro cycling races are so awesome to watch...they go so fast and make it all look easy! The Roswell course looked like so much fun, I really want to do it next year.
Still learning how to race, -Bry