So the traveling circus known as the Appalachian Road Race Series returned to quaint Philippi, WV, after only a two week hiatus, for the annual Barbour de Tour road race.
Barbour de Tour is the longest running road race in West Virginia history, held every Fourth of July weekend dating back to 1996. This is my third year of doing the race.
I really like the parcour: it is 32 miles of sweeping and fast roads with a lot of flat to really hammer. It's a real bang bang course, covering miles quickly with a nice sprint finish on a closed section of road near the courthouse. My Garmin file was corrupted, so no Strava to show. But here is the course in MapMyRide.
The key to this race, though, is to stay with the group for the first 3 miles, which is all uphill out of the town.
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The 3 mile long climb out of Phillipi |
Easier said than done, however. Everyone knows that this is the selective hill, so the big guns try to nail it. I got shelled 4/5's of the way to the top--I almost made it! Once off the back with the wind and the flat road for the next dozen miles or so, it is hopeless to make up time. The intact group will go 3-4 miles per hour faster than a solo rider.
Last year I raced 28 miles of the 32 with the cat 4 champion, Tina. She and I worked together and ended up having a good race. She won her category that day. But this year, I rode 25 miles alone until the last 7 miles when I ran into a group of a junior, a woman, and a few cat 5s. We all worked together to the end, but my overall time was about 2 minutes slower than last year. Next year I will make a point to ride with the pack all the way up the first hill, Lord willing.
Ultimately tenth for 16 points. That puts me at 6th overall in the series points with two races to go.
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