Bakersfield RR
Posted on May 11, 2008
Left on saturday to get acquainted with the course. Packed my stuff and left SD pretty early. Mellow ride up and got there in time to meet everyone and hit the road at the planed time
First off, there were 1380ft of climbing in 31 miles. So everyone was of 
The climbing got me a little worried, but it was nearly as bad as i thought it could have been. What was really scary was the descent and if anyone might have gotten dropped, we thought it would be on the descent.
Race day and we get there pretty early, its nice and sunny and we get rolling. 40, 45 guys? Not sure. Very small field and maybe a hand full of guys that could win that race. The first 10 miles were so mellow and easy as I was enjoying the race.
We the the climb and the headwind saved my ass. If it wasn’t for that I would have been history. I tucked in behind the slipstream and I ket telling myself to hang in there until we hit mile 14 in the race. That was the crest of the major part of the climb. So bunch of us made it to the top together and now came the descent. The group behaved unbelievably well. No crashes, no twitching, nothing… nice long single file down the hill. Very nice.
A couple of guys tried to get away on the flats, but it was just not happening. In one instance there was a Platinum guy and another rider and they had a pretty good lead. Going through the start finish area the attacks started and we went up the slight incline at a pretty zippy pace. Some more guys got dropped and I was getting pretty close myself.
On the downhill things mellowed out and it was pretty easy. I went to the front to do my fat man float and I literally sat there for 5 or so minutes. I was going really slow, it was pretty bad.
We hit the climb a second time and I have a great position. Tucked behind in the slipstream, 5th man in line. Slowly guys pass me and the tempo was pretty steady until one big attack put me in the hurt lock. Maybe if we had kept it steady i would have faired better, but no, someone had to ring my bell and another 5 dudes’ bells. Well, I was having a hard time turning the gear and all I could think is if that this happens again I am out for sure.
They keep it mellow, but now guys are dropping back and closing gaps was getting really hard. I was hurting. With about 0.1 to the top I lost contact with the group and that was it. They started to ride away from me and that was sad. I tried catching them on the descent but it did not happen. I could see them 0.5 mile ahead of me the entire way, but I could just not close the gap.
A junior ended up flatting on the flatter part of the course and he came around me and wanted to work. I told him that if he had gone easier on the climb I would have had more energy I am sure he did not do it on purpose, but I was honestly cooked and it was in pat his fault.
So I go ahead and trade some pulls with him, but after 2 miles I tell him to go alone. He goes and I just try to get my shit together and as soon as I had some water and food ad a little bit of a break form the chasing, I started to feel better. I catch up to the fella and we start working again, but now I am putting him in a hurt lock.
We can see one guy up the road and I decide that I will tow this kid and make sure he finishes ahead of this guy. So I take a 4 mile pull, pass the guy and tell the kid to go for it. The look of pain on his face was just priceless. I knew we were fighting for no important position, so I just told him to go. He asked if it was OK and I said yes. I just wanted to make the other dude suffer some more
So I crossed the finish line in 22nd. Not sure how far from the lead group. It was a good race in the sense that I did put in the effort, my back held up alright, I did some work ad I think that I could not have gone any harder on that last climb.
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