Season goals were: podium at Appalachian Road Race Series in masters 40+ category, get some points at Friday Night at the Track fixed gear racing, and do a few other events as they come up. These were high marks, but....
First, though, any recap of this season has to begin with the final event of last season: the Dirty Dozen. The Dirty Dozen held annually by RAAM winner Danny Chew for the past three decades, usually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is something to behold: fifty miles in a Tour-sized peloton of 180 riders with a run up the 13 steepest hills in Pittsburgh plus a sprint through the Liberty Tubes, usually in foul, late November, Western Pennsylvania weather.
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| 2009 DD entering Pittsburgh before Sycamore St. ascent |
I’m grateful that my family came down to watch the carnage—The video here doesn't convey the steepness of Canton—it’s Everest-like steep (although not that long), and cobbled, with wet leaves in spots, that add to the shock that these hills deliver. Documentary proof that I made it up Canton is around 4:15.
Many—at least 50% of the field—cannot say that they made it up every hill. Here is another youtube clip, this one from hill ten, Bousted Street, giving a sense of the high number of riders who had to dismount. It was like this on most of the hills.
And the extreme steepness is the reason I begin with the Dirty Dozen as a recap for this season. Climbing these hills at a grind of 20-25 rpm gave me a severe case of tendonitis on the right knee—it basically put me onto a forced month’s long solid rest, and then, after a month, all I could do was about 45 minutes at low aerobic level for the rest of the winter. When spring weather showed up in March, the knee was almost cured, but the damage was done to my form. So I went into the season in catch-up mode -- with painful consequences.
APRRS # 1 Morgantown RR: April.
Here is where I paid the highest price for the winter lack of training. MRR runs the first weekend of April, and despite the name, all of it is held in PA from what I can tell, not in WV, much less in Morgantown, WV. But it feels like WV with the coal mine and the hill country. The field for this race is historically huge, and deep, too, with some strong riders coming out for an early season tune-up (In ’09, Jeremiah Bishop did it—of course, I didn’t see him on the road because I was so far back).
This year the course was revamped to cut out most of the busy, rolling Route 7 and the busier Route 218 running into Waynesburg, PA. The new course was nicer in my opinion. But, owing to my early-season zeal I went out on a 10 mile warm-up at LT. By the time I came back for the start, I realized I had burned about 2 of my 4 matches…then when the race started, I again foolishly rode in the red zone trying to stay with Gerry and Gunnar (very dumb to try and stay with those two...) burning the other two matches before the race was half over. Ack. End result: lanterne rouge -- 25 out of 25 finishers. But hey, I didn’t ride the broom wagon back in for DNF, plus I got one point because APRRS pays points out to 25th place…I needed that point by the end of the season.
APRRS # 2 New Martinsville RR. May.
Even though it starts in WV, only the first two miles are in WV. Here is the parcours from mapmyride. As soon as you cross the Ohio River, there's a hill that basically selects the outcome. If you can stay in contact, then you will be golden; if not, then you are on your own. We show up at the start line thinking the race distance was 31.5 miles, but some of the friskier 40+ men convinced the promoter that 31 miles was not long enough for the month of May. So he obliged and made our class do two loops for 63 miles total. Because of the wind, the hills, and the lack of form, I finished low again; but this race, fewer showed up in my class so I limped away with 20 points.
APRRS # 3 Tour of Tucker County RR (memorial day weekend).
The promoter, JR, advertises that this race was voted as one of the top ten toughest road races in the country. I didn’t see that top ten poll with my own eyes, but after two seasons of doing this race, I think it’s plausible that this race is one of the top ten toughest, at least on the east coast.
By now, the form was returning, but this course is so hilly that, the really lightweight climbers of the peloton excelled (except of course, for Gunnar and Gerry, who pwn any course). The race ends on the Sugarland climb, which is a five mile climb with a gain of 2,000 feet. A highlight of the race after climbing for these last five miles, and really a highlight for the season, too, was the sprint duel to the line between me and Daniel Manges. 13th place. But Dan got even with me every race after it, though….
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