Hillsboro Roubaix Road Race - March 31 - Masters 40+/50+ Combine
Hillsboro has become the first big race of the season on most team calendars from Milwaukee to St Louis to Louisville. This race is a screaming good time for anybody that likes to suffer through as many challenges as you can imagine in a road race during each 22.43 mile loop. Hills? Check (Hills-boro..get it?). Gail force winds? Always. Cobbles? Well, a mile of pavement bricks anyway, at the end of each lap. If the bricks were the roughest patch of road here, that would be understandable, but...
I missed another epic Hillsboro last year when I came down with the flu the night before. Two years ago, in my first go, I won the Cat 4 field sprint for third but got hosed by the officials who didn't notice that guy in light blue and red 15 feet ahead of the rest of the peleton at the finish line and I never got my gold cup mounted on a pavement brick (always make sure that you check the posted results in case you need to protest).
This year they are going to combine the two Masters fields into a single group with seperate awards. Race together, work together, but two seperate podiums. This is great for Team Mack because three of our Elite Masters Team are now racing age 50. We had Team Director Gary Doering, time trialist and tempo man John "Fleck" Fleckenstein and back from a two year haitus Larry Moore entered in the 50+ field with the rest of us set for the 40+.
The combined field at the start today is somewhere between 70 and 80 riders with about a 50/50 mix. Teams Purina, Big Shark, Mesa were out of St Louis. Mercy from Iowa. Druber and Dave Stone from Delta out of Indy. A couple of the Midwest contingency for MKA's Labor Power. There were about ten of us Mackers and an assortment of other one and two rider representatives from other Midwest teams.
The radar is threatening rain all day with a constant 20 mph wind out of the south gusting up to 30 mph. Another epic day at Hillsboro! The elements always seem to be as much of a challenge as the course. This is going to be fun.
Lap 1 - They turned us loose almost on schedule at 11:15, five minutes behind the Cat 3/4 field and ten minutes behind the Pro/1/2 field. After a neutral rollout to the feedzone on the edge of town we bombed down the first 8% grade and out into the countryside. A third of a mile up an 8% to climb back out of the valley out into the open for the first time to get our first taste of that 20-30 mph cross wind and at the two mile mark a right turn north for a two mile stretch of tail wind. Hold onto your handlebars, boys. This is going to get eye-watering fast for a few minutes. It was at this point that everyone's favorite TrueSport columnist and time trialist, Druber jumped with three others including Macker Gary Doering. Wow, 63 miles to go and there's already a break up the road. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Team Mack and Druber's mate Dave Stone hit the front, set a relaxed tempo and covered counter attacks, many counter attacks. Seemed everybody was inspired by the early break and wanted to bridge across but onesies, twosies weren't going to run that group down especially with as much horsepower chasing them down as we had mustered on point, that is until Fleck jumped off solo at about 8 miles and dropped us all. A couple of miles later we gave our man Tim and Dave Stone a jump with five Mackers doing an echelon across the road. Now we've got a total of seven up the road, three of which are Mack with two Delta's. You gotta love team racing on days like this.
The Hillsboro course is a pot luck of every imaginable road surface you can conceive. Out in the countryside it's mostly run of the mill tar and gravel chip and seal but there are sections where the pavement will suddenly cease to exist and you suddenly find yourself on gravel or past layers of chip and seal inside a crater that you just dropped into. This makes for some interesting sudden twitching of the peleton and on more than one occasion I rubbed the suddenly veering wheel in front of me or felt the grind of someone else's wheel on the side of my shoe. Just another day at Hillsboro.
At about the 12 mile mark we came to a narrow right turn. I saw that the "best" line for me was inside so that's where I pointed my rig. The county highway department had done another splendid job of matching grades in the pavement and those of us on the inside were suddenly met with a mini wall in the middle of the turn. I saw a red projectile flying up in front of me and yelled "Bottle!" to anyone who might appreciate the warning. Just then I felt that unmistakeable sensation of my own seat tube bottle bouncing off of my leg as it skipped to the pavement. The full one. Figures. Oh well, feed zone in another 8-9 miles. I'll grab a replacement and my down tube bottle is still 2/3 full.
More attack, chase, counter attack, chase all the way to the feed zone. The Hillsboro feed zone is a 'designated neutral zone.' This means no attacks in the feed zone. The feed zone is also on a 5-8% grade coming into town so you need to hold your rhythm for that 1/3 mile while trying to find your teams feeders. Mission accomplished and I grabbed a replacement for my lost bottle as we headed across the flat into town and the second 8% grade. The second grade is not neutral and all of the climbers try to draw out a bit of selection to finish the first lap and we're off and sprinting toward the highest point of the course and in the town of Hillsboro, for that matter. This get's things strung out and I think we may be losing some bodies from the field here.
After the summit of Hillsboro you make a left turn and hit the fastest descent of the course. This is all fine except for the little wrinkle of the fact that once you hit the bottom of the descent, in the neighborhood of between 42 and 45 mph you are greeted by pavement bricks. Hit the bricks at 45 mph and you'll hear your bike make sounds you didn't know existed. The bricks continue for close to a mile and end as you make the left turn into the last 400 meters of the course back toward the start/finish line. Right about the time we came through to finish lap one, I noticed that my new bottle had fallen victim of the 45 mph encounter with the bricks. Beautiful. This means that I have half a bottle for the next 20 miles. Just another epic day in Hillsboro.
Lap 2 - After we exited town, hit the first climb out of the valley and made the turn north for the tailwind hammerfest I looked up the road and could see Gary dropping back toward the peleton. Gary tells us he was cramping and as soon as Fleck caught the break he decided to come back. Just as we were coming to the turn west at the end of the tailwind stretch, Robert Kron and a couple of others jumped off. Now we're back to three Mackers up the road and we're starting to look at opportunities to send one or two more. The remaining candidates are myself, Darrell Bratton and Professor Darren Sherkat. If you've read 'Heft on Wheels' Darren makes a number of appearances in Mike Magnuson's cycling essay and he's a great guy to have as a teammate. Darren and Darrell made a jump each that were reeled back. Late in the second circuit when the wind was favorable, I was planning on a tailwind attack to take advantage of my 55/11 sprinting gear. Just before we got the favorable wind, one of the Purina guy's jumped with Darrell on his wheel. I waited to see if anyone else would respond and when nobody had after they got 100 meters up the road, I opened up in full sprint mode and went across to join them. We managed to stay off the front for a few miles but by the time we approached the feed zone for the second time, the peleton had gotten their ire up from so many Mackers going up the road and they pulled us back.
By now, my lone bottle is long bone dry and the feed zone is a beautiful site. This time when I got my bottle, I reached around and deposited it in my jersey pocket. Not gonna lose another one today on those bricks. The climb to the summit of Hillsboro this time around was every bit as much on the rivet as it had been the first time but by now my legs were playing along and it didn't hurt as bad as it had the first time up. There were about 10-12 of us that went over the top and down to the bricks with a good gap on the rest but the concensus seemed to be one of recovery to prepare for the last circuit and by the time we hit the start/finish line, the peleton had regrouped as we headed out of town for the last circuit.
Lap 3 - Now the late attacks and attrition are going to make things interesting. We started with 70-80. Eight are up the road and it appears that there are about 30-35 remaining in the main peleton. Mack has three of the eight off the front with Darrell, Darren and myself still in the peleton. If it comes down to a field sprint, I'm the guy so I hope the lack of fluids doesn't come back to haunt me as we approach the finish.
About a third of the way into the last circuit, we suddenly see Robert and his two break partners getting larger on the horizon and with 13 miles remaining, we catch them. From now until we hit 6 miles out it will be mostly head wind so attacks are not going to go anywhere. Robert pulled along side and leaned in asking "How you feel?" I reply, "I'm good." He leaned even closer and said "OK, here's the plan. When we hit the final climb, I'm going to jump and I want you on my wheel. I'll pace you to the top and as soon as we go over the top you take it to the finish." Gotcha. All I need to do is sprint for a mile across cobbled streets and then for 400 meters into a 20-30 mph headwind to the finish line. Piece of cake.
The rest of the way seemed like a blur of one attack after another but the head wind controlled the first five or six excursions. Six miles out and the wind became less of an obstacle as we headed back northeast toward town. For the first couple of miles with the wind it seemed that everybody was gathering themselves for the final push with all of the standard tightening of shoes, long draws from bottles (mine was already empty), etc. I stayed glued to Robert's left hip as we echeloned toward Hillsboro. Two miles from town, my earlier break partner from Purina put in a full on attack with one of the Labor Power guys in pursuit. Darren looked over at Robert and I, gave a nod and was off in full pursuit, dragging the entire remaining peleton in his wake at over 30 mph. Darren pulled the attack back just as we hit the first climb into Hillsboro through the now abandoned feed zone. I expected another counter and Robert and I waited for it as we went past Darren. I gave Darren a thankful tap on the shoulder as he said "I'm done."
Robert and I along with four others took the point past the first climb and got ready for the final assault of 'Mount Hillsboro.' Just as we hit the base of the final climb, one of Robbie Ventura's Vision Quest guys hit it full throttle with Robert in hot pursuit and me on Robert's wheel. Two thirds of the way up the climb, I could tell that the 25 miles that Robert had spent out in no-man's-land had hit him short of the summit and I accelerated past with one of the Labor Power guys chasing the Vision Quest climber. The three of us went over the top with a solid 20 meter gap on the rest of the field. I noticed that both of them were wearing blue numbers which told me that they were in the 50+ field and I didn't need to worry about finishing this last section on point so I stayed in their wake as we bombed towards the bricks with the peleton in pursuit. As we approached the next to last turn, which is tight and tricky especially going 35 mile per hour, the three of us took the corner with care and I could hear the field coming in hot and dangerous right behind us. I decided to trust my sprint and when two more blue numbers attacked with half a mile to go, I decided to be patient and watch for only red, 40+ race numbers to show themselves. A third, fourth, fifth blue number went past and I decided that I now had a solid leadout for the final 400 meters as we hit the final corner into the head wind to the finish line and I grabbed the wheel in front and waited for the 200 meter sign. Just as we came upon the 200 meter sign I saw one of my Chicago 40+ competitors, Henry Saha pull along my right and the Purina rider on my left and the sprint was on. I charged through the swarm of blue numbered riders in front of me and hammered in catching the two half mile break riders at the line and crossing right behind them for the 40+ field sprint, 8th overall and 5th in the 40+.
My legs ached for the next several hours but it was a good day, great training for the early season.
Fleck had dropped the break on the last circuit and had soloed the rest of the way for first overall and first 50+. Tim finished third overall/2nd-40+ to Dave Stone with Druber 3rd-40+ and a Met Life rider 4th-40+.
Stats: 67.3 miles / 3:04:45 / 21.86 mph ave / 45 mph max / 158 ave HR / 189 max HR
Hillsboro has become the first big race of the season on most team calendars from Milwaukee to St Louis to Louisville. This race is a screaming good time for anybody that likes to suffer through as many challenges as you can imagine in a road race during each 22.43 mile loop. Hills? Check (Hills-boro..get it?). Gail force winds? Always. Cobbles? Well, a mile of pavement bricks anyway, at the end of each lap. If the bricks were the roughest patch of road here, that would be understandable, but...
I missed another epic Hillsboro last year when I came down with the flu the night before. Two years ago, in my first go, I won the Cat 4 field sprint for third but got hosed by the officials who didn't notice that guy in light blue and red 15 feet ahead of the rest of the peleton at the finish line and I never got my gold cup mounted on a pavement brick (always make sure that you check the posted results in case you need to protest).
This year they are going to combine the two Masters fields into a single group with seperate awards. Race together, work together, but two seperate podiums. This is great for Team Mack because three of our Elite Masters Team are now racing age 50. We had Team Director Gary Doering, time trialist and tempo man John "Fleck" Fleckenstein and back from a two year haitus Larry Moore entered in the 50+ field with the rest of us set for the 40+.
The combined field at the start today is somewhere between 70 and 80 riders with about a 50/50 mix. Teams Purina, Big Shark, Mesa were out of St Louis. Mercy from Iowa. Druber and Dave Stone from Delta out of Indy. A couple of the Midwest contingency for MKA's Labor Power. There were about ten of us Mackers and an assortment of other one and two rider representatives from other Midwest teams.
The radar is threatening rain all day with a constant 20 mph wind out of the south gusting up to 30 mph. Another epic day at Hillsboro! The elements always seem to be as much of a challenge as the course. This is going to be fun.
Lap 1 - They turned us loose almost on schedule at 11:15, five minutes behind the Cat 3/4 field and ten minutes behind the Pro/1/2 field. After a neutral rollout to the feedzone on the edge of town we bombed down the first 8% grade and out into the countryside. A third of a mile up an 8% to climb back out of the valley out into the open for the first time to get our first taste of that 20-30 mph cross wind and at the two mile mark a right turn north for a two mile stretch of tail wind. Hold onto your handlebars, boys. This is going to get eye-watering fast for a few minutes. It was at this point that everyone's favorite TrueSport columnist and time trialist, Druber jumped with three others including Macker Gary Doering. Wow, 63 miles to go and there's already a break up the road. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Team Mack and Druber's mate Dave Stone hit the front, set a relaxed tempo and covered counter attacks, many counter attacks. Seemed everybody was inspired by the early break and wanted to bridge across but onesies, twosies weren't going to run that group down especially with as much horsepower chasing them down as we had mustered on point, that is until Fleck jumped off solo at about 8 miles and dropped us all. A couple of miles later we gave our man Tim and Dave Stone a jump with five Mackers doing an echelon across the road. Now we've got a total of seven up the road, three of which are Mack with two Delta's. You gotta love team racing on days like this.
The Hillsboro course is a pot luck of every imaginable road surface you can conceive. Out in the countryside it's mostly run of the mill tar and gravel chip and seal but there are sections where the pavement will suddenly cease to exist and you suddenly find yourself on gravel or past layers of chip and seal inside a crater that you just dropped into. This makes for some interesting sudden twitching of the peleton and on more than one occasion I rubbed the suddenly veering wheel in front of me or felt the grind of someone else's wheel on the side of my shoe. Just another day at Hillsboro.
At about the 12 mile mark we came to a narrow right turn. I saw that the "best" line for me was inside so that's where I pointed my rig. The county highway department had done another splendid job of matching grades in the pavement and those of us on the inside were suddenly met with a mini wall in the middle of the turn. I saw a red projectile flying up in front of me and yelled "Bottle!" to anyone who might appreciate the warning. Just then I felt that unmistakeable sensation of my own seat tube bottle bouncing off of my leg as it skipped to the pavement. The full one. Figures. Oh well, feed zone in another 8-9 miles. I'll grab a replacement and my down tube bottle is still 2/3 full.
More attack, chase, counter attack, chase all the way to the feed zone. The Hillsboro feed zone is a 'designated neutral zone.' This means no attacks in the feed zone. The feed zone is also on a 5-8% grade coming into town so you need to hold your rhythm for that 1/3 mile while trying to find your teams feeders. Mission accomplished and I grabbed a replacement for my lost bottle as we headed across the flat into town and the second 8% grade. The second grade is not neutral and all of the climbers try to draw out a bit of selection to finish the first lap and we're off and sprinting toward the highest point of the course and in the town of Hillsboro, for that matter. This get's things strung out and I think we may be losing some bodies from the field here.
After the summit of Hillsboro you make a left turn and hit the fastest descent of the course. This is all fine except for the little wrinkle of the fact that once you hit the bottom of the descent, in the neighborhood of between 42 and 45 mph you are greeted by pavement bricks. Hit the bricks at 45 mph and you'll hear your bike make sounds you didn't know existed. The bricks continue for close to a mile and end as you make the left turn into the last 400 meters of the course back toward the start/finish line. Right about the time we came through to finish lap one, I noticed that my new bottle had fallen victim of the 45 mph encounter with the bricks. Beautiful. This means that I have half a bottle for the next 20 miles. Just another epic day in Hillsboro.
Lap 2 - After we exited town, hit the first climb out of the valley and made the turn north for the tailwind hammerfest I looked up the road and could see Gary dropping back toward the peleton. Gary tells us he was cramping and as soon as Fleck caught the break he decided to come back. Just as we were coming to the turn west at the end of the tailwind stretch, Robert Kron and a couple of others jumped off. Now we're back to three Mackers up the road and we're starting to look at opportunities to send one or two more. The remaining candidates are myself, Darrell Bratton and Professor Darren Sherkat. If you've read 'Heft on Wheels' Darren makes a number of appearances in Mike Magnuson's cycling essay and he's a great guy to have as a teammate. Darren and Darrell made a jump each that were reeled back. Late in the second circuit when the wind was favorable, I was planning on a tailwind attack to take advantage of my 55/11 sprinting gear. Just before we got the favorable wind, one of the Purina guy's jumped with Darrell on his wheel. I waited to see if anyone else would respond and when nobody had after they got 100 meters up the road, I opened up in full sprint mode and went across to join them. We managed to stay off the front for a few miles but by the time we approached the feed zone for the second time, the peleton had gotten their ire up from so many Mackers going up the road and they pulled us back.
By now, my lone bottle is long bone dry and the feed zone is a beautiful site. This time when I got my bottle, I reached around and deposited it in my jersey pocket. Not gonna lose another one today on those bricks. The climb to the summit of Hillsboro this time around was every bit as much on the rivet as it had been the first time but by now my legs were playing along and it didn't hurt as bad as it had the first time up. There were about 10-12 of us that went over the top and down to the bricks with a good gap on the rest but the concensus seemed to be one of recovery to prepare for the last circuit and by the time we hit the start/finish line, the peleton had regrouped as we headed out of town for the last circuit.
Lap 3 - Now the late attacks and attrition are going to make things interesting. We started with 70-80. Eight are up the road and it appears that there are about 30-35 remaining in the main peleton. Mack has three of the eight off the front with Darrell, Darren and myself still in the peleton. If it comes down to a field sprint, I'm the guy so I hope the lack of fluids doesn't come back to haunt me as we approach the finish.
About a third of the way into the last circuit, we suddenly see Robert and his two break partners getting larger on the horizon and with 13 miles remaining, we catch them. From now until we hit 6 miles out it will be mostly head wind so attacks are not going to go anywhere. Robert pulled along side and leaned in asking "How you feel?" I reply, "I'm good." He leaned even closer and said "OK, here's the plan. When we hit the final climb, I'm going to jump and I want you on my wheel. I'll pace you to the top and as soon as we go over the top you take it to the finish." Gotcha. All I need to do is sprint for a mile across cobbled streets and then for 400 meters into a 20-30 mph headwind to the finish line. Piece of cake.
The rest of the way seemed like a blur of one attack after another but the head wind controlled the first five or six excursions. Six miles out and the wind became less of an obstacle as we headed back northeast toward town. For the first couple of miles with the wind it seemed that everybody was gathering themselves for the final push with all of the standard tightening of shoes, long draws from bottles (mine was already empty), etc. I stayed glued to Robert's left hip as we echeloned toward Hillsboro. Two miles from town, my earlier break partner from Purina put in a full on attack with one of the Labor Power guys in pursuit. Darren looked over at Robert and I, gave a nod and was off in full pursuit, dragging the entire remaining peleton in his wake at over 30 mph. Darren pulled the attack back just as we hit the first climb into Hillsboro through the now abandoned feed zone. I expected another counter and Robert and I waited for it as we went past Darren. I gave Darren a thankful tap on the shoulder as he said "I'm done."
Robert and I along with four others took the point past the first climb and got ready for the final assault of 'Mount Hillsboro.' Just as we hit the base of the final climb, one of Robbie Ventura's Vision Quest guys hit it full throttle with Robert in hot pursuit and me on Robert's wheel. Two thirds of the way up the climb, I could tell that the 25 miles that Robert had spent out in no-man's-land had hit him short of the summit and I accelerated past with one of the Labor Power guys chasing the Vision Quest climber. The three of us went over the top with a solid 20 meter gap on the rest of the field. I noticed that both of them were wearing blue numbers which told me that they were in the 50+ field and I didn't need to worry about finishing this last section on point so I stayed in their wake as we bombed towards the bricks with the peleton in pursuit. As we approached the next to last turn, which is tight and tricky especially going 35 mile per hour, the three of us took the corner with care and I could hear the field coming in hot and dangerous right behind us. I decided to trust my sprint and when two more blue numbers attacked with half a mile to go, I decided to be patient and watch for only red, 40+ race numbers to show themselves. A third, fourth, fifth blue number went past and I decided that I now had a solid leadout for the final 400 meters as we hit the final corner into the head wind to the finish line and I grabbed the wheel in front and waited for the 200 meter sign. Just as we came upon the 200 meter sign I saw one of my Chicago 40+ competitors, Henry Saha pull along my right and the Purina rider on my left and the sprint was on. I charged through the swarm of blue numbered riders in front of me and hammered in catching the two half mile break riders at the line and crossing right behind them for the 40+ field sprint, 8th overall and 5th in the 40+.
My legs ached for the next several hours but it was a good day, great training for the early season.
Fleck had dropped the break on the last circuit and had soloed the rest of the way for first overall and first 50+. Tim finished third overall/2nd-40+ to Dave Stone with Druber 3rd-40+ and a Met Life rider 4th-40+.
Stats: 67.3 miles / 3:04:45 / 21.86 mph ave / 45 mph max / 158 ave HR / 189 max HR
posted by Mack Daddy at 3:08 PM
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