Over the weekend the Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association (ABRA) put on the first race in their Appalachian Road Race Series, the Morgantown Road Race. The weather was beautiful, the course was amazing, and there were plenty of smiling faces at the start and the finish. I left Pathfinder around 10:45 and headed up to Mount Morris for a 12:00pm start time. When I got there I met up with Gary and Traci Rodosta, Matt Kettering, Marc Glass, and Kean Bird at the registration. Everyone was pretty excited for the first race of the season, and we were all ready to get things started. The Wednesday Night Ride for the last couple of weeks had been extremely positive, with a showing of around 20-25 people each week, so we all wanted to see how our legs would fair in a race. As we all lined up for our respective start lines I talked with the rest of Team Pathfinder (James Braswell, Scott Benson, Nate Annon, and Ryan Flesher). James, Nate, and Scott were in the Cat 4/5 race and they have all been training hard all season long. Scott and Nate even went to Georgia over a month ago to get some extra climbing training with a weeklong spring training camp. James has also been doing a fair amount of training and racing with the WVU Cycling Team this spring. Ryan and I were in the Cat 5 race, and just wanted to race hard and get an idea where we both stood. This was the first road race I have done in quite some time, I think the 2007 Barbour Detour was the last race I had competed in.
The course for the event was 47 miles long and featured 7 major climbs and a lot of undulating roads perfect for some great pace-lines. So the course started in Mount Morris and went North on Route 19 towards the Kirby Road intersection. It then took a left and went out Kirby Road for about 5 or 6 miles. Then the race took a left turn and went up the first climb of the day on Wades Run Road. The climb featured a long first accent, with a big switch back, and then a shorter steep section up to the chapel at the top of Big Shannon Road. Then the race dropped down Big Shannon Road until a right hand turn up Mile Climb. After Mile Climb the race would then descend down to Combat (Rudolph Run Road) and continue out till the climb up to Gump (intersection of Rudolph Run Road and Claughton Chapel Road). Then after a great descent the course took a right hand turn and went along Route 218 for roughly 5 miles. Then, just outside of Waynesburg, PA the race took a right onto Cook Street and preceded to climb up to the two major climbs of the day (Sugar Grove 1 and 2). Sugar Grove 1 is just under a mile long and is fairly gradual, where as Sugar Grove 2 is much shorter and steeper than its bigger brother. I believe the grade on Sugar Grove 1 is probably somewhere around 8 or 9, where as Sugar Grove 2 starts at around 10, then goes to 15, and then back down to around 12 before a steeper section just before the top around 15-16 percent grade. Easily put, it hurts. After Sugar Grove 2 there is a long descent back down onto the Kirby Road that lasts around 4 or 5 miles. Then the race turns left back onto Wades Run Road to repeat the first hill again. The race then finished with a descent down Big Shannon like before but then instead of turning right at Mile Climb the race continued on down Big Shannon Road for 4 or 5 miles until finishing just outside of Mount Morris.
At the start of the Cat 5 race around 50 people were ready to go, and the mood was very positive. We had a neutral roll out for about a mile until we reached Route 19 just outside Mount Morris. Soon after there were 5 guys on the front from the Evolution Cycling Team in DC. I managed to get in between them and sat around the 3rd wheel back. They had one guy on their team that made me look tiny, as he was probably 6'5 and around 200lbs. It was a nice change to sit on someone's wheel and catch a good draft. As we rolled along they elevated the pace and the race began to take some shape. Then going up the first minor climb on 19 Jack Ditty took off the front on his new Cannondale Super Six. It was his first road race, and he looked great with a big old smile on his face as he came around me. We caught up to him on the downhill into the Kirby Road intersection, and he moved back into the field. Then after several miles of pace-lining on Kirby Road we reached the first major climb. Several guys from Evolution moved to the front and elevated the pace again. As the grade got steeper there went Jack again with the same smile. The field surged and as we approached the switchback in the middle of the climb two guys from Evolution surged off the front and I went after them. Just as this happened I heard the unfortunate sound of wheels and metal on the ground. Going around the hairpin turn a rider had gone down right in the middle of the pack and took out several others around him. The Evolution guys saw this and took off again. By the top of the climb the three of us were away and grouped up to attack the descent. As we moved clear three others moved up to us and we formed a solid 6 person pace-line down towards Mile Climb. At the start of Mile Climb there were probably 10 of us at the front, with no other sight of the rest of the field. We all managed to stay together until the top of the climb when Jeremy Edwards (Evolution Cycling Team) drilled it off the front. No one could respond and that was the last time any of us saw him. I sat up an conserved my energy because the Combat road section was into the wind and false flat the wrong way. When I got to the bottom of the descent I caught up with James-Sebastian Byers (Artemis Cycling) and the two of us successfully took turns doing work for each other all the way up Gump and then down to 218 outside of Waynesburg. We were sitting in probably 5th and 6th when on Route 218 four riders caught up to us in a group that was setting a blistering pace. They flew by us and it was all that we could do for the next mile to catch back up to them and work as a unit. Now in the 6 person pace-line we sped along towards Waynesburg at around 30mph. It was ridiculous how fast we were going as several cars tried to pass us but had to ramp it up to have enough speed to get around. I should also mention that for the majority of the race there was a strong headwind and the temperatures on course were around 90 degrees.
Then we reached the Sugar Grove climbs. The first climb saw several of the riders move up and climb away from me. However on the descent I caught back up to them and then worked to catch the others up the road. By the top of the second Sugar Grove Climb I could see three riders that had moved off the front of our group. Now at this point I had gone through 4 water bottles and 4 Clif Shots, and I was pretty much tapped out as far as anything resembling energy or water was concerned. Thats when the man of the hour appeared at the top of the climb. There was this guy running along with an entire case of bottled water, handing it out to the riders. I lost it! As I screamed at him with a huge smile on my face he tossed me a bottle and I preceded to drink half of it and pour the rest of it down my jersey and all over my cramping legs. That did the trick and I surged, passed the three riders in front of me and began my descent down Kirby Road towards the last climb of the race. I stood up the entire time up the last climb to the Chapel and then drilled it down Big Shannon Road. I was surprised at how my legs felt although if I stopped spinning it was obvious that my hamstrings were on their way out. After passing several riders I moved into the outskirts of Mount Morris and into the last turn, up a short climb and into the finishing straight with a time of 2:35 in eighth place.
So for the first race of the season, everyone had a blast, Nate Annon grabbed 3rd Place in the Cat 4/5 Race, and Team Pathfinder had a great start to the season. I lot of thanks go out to the Petscos for putting on an amazing race, all of the volunteers that worked at corners and turns to make sure we were focused and upbeat, and to Gunnar, J.R., and their band of dust covered street sweepers that made it possible to do this race without the ever constant fear of cinders and flats.
Thanks for Reading and Congrats to Everyone on an Excellent Race!
-Andrew
