Eden
06-27-2006, 08:49 AM
The Elkhorn stage race is an annual event out of Baker City, OR. It's 4 stages over 3 days and they don't give any preferential treatment to the women or the newbies. We did all of the same stages and distances as the men and our crit was even a little longer than the men's 4/5's! It was quite a race - it was long, it was hot. I'm glad I did it though. Women's particpation isn't high enough to have separate fields, but they did score the 3/4's and 1/2's separately. Hopefully there will continue to be a women's field in the future.
Stage 1 - 75 mile road race
We started out at 2 in the afternoon with a mixed field of all of the women. The first 30 or so miles we all stayed together. There was a long section of newly laid chip seal - translate it was pretty much a gravel road, just a little more compact so everyone was being careful. When we hit the first small climb I dropped off of the back by a just a bit but was able to
chase back on without too much difficulty. A few miles before the first
significant climb (there were 2 on this day) some of the cat 1's turned on the gas and rode hard. I stayed with the pack until the climb started then pretty quickly lost contact. I rode with another woman for a while, until she dropped me on a descent, but caught and passed one other on the second climb, about 5 miles from the finish. I finished 11th in the Cat3/4 field (out of 20) for the day.
Stage 2 - ITT - lesson learned
So I thought I was really really tired and was wondering if I was even going to
be able to do the 4th stage or not. Well, it turned out that somewhere in between taking the bike off of the trainer and getting to the start line my rear wheel's quick release had been completely opened and I was dragging the rear wheel the whole way! Really, I'm happy that if I had to
make a beginner mistake like that it happened at this time. Even thought I lost
a lot of time only 2 people jumped ahead of me in the GC - and one would have anyway. She had a mechanical early in the first day, othewise would have finished ahead of me, and was likely to make up all of that time in the 4th stage anyway, so no skin off my nose as it were.
Stage 3 - the Crit
Not too much to report here - crits are fast and hard even if you are racing in
your own category, so being in a completely combined field it was even faster and harder. I stayed with the group for a few laps, but wasn't overly comfortable in any case, this being only the 3rd crit I've done and it being quite a bit faster than the other two. The organizer decided to not pull lapped riders! He thought it was unfair to not let us lower cat's race -
we kind of thought it was a bit cruel. We had to stay in and it was even longer than the cat 4/5 men's race! I ended up off the back working with two other cat 4's so we survived, but we did get lapped.
Stage 4 - 100 mile road race
by this point the women's field had lost a lot of riders. The 3/4's alone lost 5
or 6 - which means we lost at least a quarter of our field! This stage started out pretty much the same as the first one. Everyone stayed together and worked together for the first part of the race. This day had 4 significant climbs, with a total of a little over 7,000 feet of climbing, so it was not an easy day by any means and no one was going to push it too early. Even
so, the first significant climb was only 25 miles in. I was really hoping to stay with the group at least over the first one, but it was not to be. I stayed on for about 1/2 of the climb, but by the time I was able to get over the top they were gone, not to be seen again until the finish
line. The idea of 75 miles alone was fairly unappetising so I was happy to see
another cat 4 that I know from the local races catch up to me on the flat after the first descent. We worked together the rest of the way and stayed together until about 5k to go (1/2 way up the final climb). I was pretty baked (did I mention it was near 90 degrees outside) so I dropped back and finished about a minute or two behind her. In the end it was good enough to move
back up to 11th again in the GC so I'm not at all disappointed. I really wasn't
sure how this was going to go. I've certainly never raced that far before, and even though I've ridden that far, its just not the same. Not being able to stop, rest, stretch, eat, really takes a toll. I managed to take in enough to get me though - mostly Gu, Cytomax and Nuun for electrolytes and was very careful to drink more than normal since it was so hot. I went though about 5.5 bottles, which is a lot for me. I was pretty sore Sunday night- feet and butt especialy, legs and arms too, but was feeling fine today and even went out on a nice recovery ride when we got home.
The low turn out for women - 20 for the 3/4 field and even fewer for the 1/2's- has the organiser questioning whether or not there will be a women's field next year, so if there is I hope that some of you who race might consider it. (there were more than a few up from California this year!). I won't kid you about it being easy, but it is survivable and you know what they say - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! (and gives you lots of really funky tan lines.....)
Stage 1 - 75 mile road race
We started out at 2 in the afternoon with a mixed field of all of the women. The first 30 or so miles we all stayed together. There was a long section of newly laid chip seal - translate it was pretty much a gravel road, just a little more compact so everyone was being careful. When we hit the first small climb I dropped off of the back by a just a bit but was able to
chase back on without too much difficulty. A few miles before the first
significant climb (there were 2 on this day) some of the cat 1's turned on the gas and rode hard. I stayed with the pack until the climb started then pretty quickly lost contact. I rode with another woman for a while, until she dropped me on a descent, but caught and passed one other on the second climb, about 5 miles from the finish. I finished 11th in the Cat3/4 field (out of 20) for the day.
Stage 2 - ITT - lesson learned
So I thought I was really really tired and was wondering if I was even going to
be able to do the 4th stage or not. Well, it turned out that somewhere in between taking the bike off of the trainer and getting to the start line my rear wheel's quick release had been completely opened and I was dragging the rear wheel the whole way! Really, I'm happy that if I had to
make a beginner mistake like that it happened at this time. Even thought I lost
a lot of time only 2 people jumped ahead of me in the GC - and one would have anyway. She had a mechanical early in the first day, othewise would have finished ahead of me, and was likely to make up all of that time in the 4th stage anyway, so no skin off my nose as it were.
Stage 3 - the Crit
Not too much to report here - crits are fast and hard even if you are racing in
your own category, so being in a completely combined field it was even faster and harder. I stayed with the group for a few laps, but wasn't overly comfortable in any case, this being only the 3rd crit I've done and it being quite a bit faster than the other two. The organizer decided to not pull lapped riders! He thought it was unfair to not let us lower cat's race -
we kind of thought it was a bit cruel. We had to stay in and it was even longer than the cat 4/5 men's race! I ended up off the back working with two other cat 4's so we survived, but we did get lapped.
Stage 4 - 100 mile road race
by this point the women's field had lost a lot of riders. The 3/4's alone lost 5
or 6 - which means we lost at least a quarter of our field! This stage started out pretty much the same as the first one. Everyone stayed together and worked together for the first part of the race. This day had 4 significant climbs, with a total of a little over 7,000 feet of climbing, so it was not an easy day by any means and no one was going to push it too early. Even
so, the first significant climb was only 25 miles in. I was really hoping to stay with the group at least over the first one, but it was not to be. I stayed on for about 1/2 of the climb, but by the time I was able to get over the top they were gone, not to be seen again until the finish
line. The idea of 75 miles alone was fairly unappetising so I was happy to see
another cat 4 that I know from the local races catch up to me on the flat after the first descent. We worked together the rest of the way and stayed together until about 5k to go (1/2 way up the final climb). I was pretty baked (did I mention it was near 90 degrees outside) so I dropped back and finished about a minute or two behind her. In the end it was good enough to move
back up to 11th again in the GC so I'm not at all disappointed. I really wasn't
sure how this was going to go. I've certainly never raced that far before, and even though I've ridden that far, its just not the same. Not being able to stop, rest, stretch, eat, really takes a toll. I managed to take in enough to get me though - mostly Gu, Cytomax and Nuun for electrolytes and was very careful to drink more than normal since it was so hot. I went though about 5.5 bottles, which is a lot for me. I was pretty sore Sunday night- feet and butt especialy, legs and arms too, but was feeling fine today and even went out on a nice recovery ride when we got home.
The low turn out for women - 20 for the 3/4 field and even fewer for the 1/2's- has the organiser questioning whether or not there will be a women's field next year, so if there is I hope that some of you who race might consider it. (there were more than a few up from California this year!). I won't kid you about it being easy, but it is survivable and you know what they say - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! (and gives you lots of really funky tan lines.....)