Bananas indeed

Almost didn’t race the Banana Belt series because of the hills. What convinced me was a conversation with Kristin about how it was possible to power over the hills. She was right.

My goal for BB#1, which ran clockwise, was simply to hang on to the pack and not get dropped – a ‘sit-in and see’ strategy. A last second derailleur adjustment lost me the use of the middle two gears – would have to make do with the high and low gears and the (compact) chainring.

We started with five HV riders, including Kolben, Lincoln, Keith and James R. As it happened, the pace was not that great and I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the peleton. The pack always slowed enough at the peak for everyone to get back on. The lack of a sustained pace surprised me because it is an opportunity to string out the pack. The only real technical part was the sharp RHer down the big hill just before the dam. The race was marred by a couple of crashes - one of these took out Keith.

The sprinters got a lucky break when the field was neutralized on the final hill before the finish, about 2 miles out. This changed the race completely and played right into the hands of the big sprinters. We all duly soft-pedaled at 10 MPH up the hill and reached the top as a group. Essentially it was a sprint to the end with way more down than up. In the final sprint was able to hang on for 9th place just behind the youngsters Lincoln and Kolben. I was delighted to: a) finish the race, and b) be in the mix at the end, and c) get a solitary upgrade point.

BB#2 was run anti-clockwise and, with the big hill to tackle four times and an uphill finish, was going to be a different story to BB#1. Though that final stretch was not as long nor as steep as the Cherry Pie finish it was clearly going to favor the strong lighter guys. We started with John G, Kolben, Ryan. Keith and James R. The plan was to stay near the front and then for me (and maybe John) to push the pace for the last half lap to stretch out the field for Kolben and James to go for a high place. The race was pretty uneventful. One particular rider would go off the front just before the dam and the big hill in an attempt to get away. He was always caught within about half a lap although on the last lap he was only caught about a mile before the line. The only hiccup for me was nearly getting dropped on the third lap when accessing and consuming Mountain Shmickle berry Hammer Gel – a birthday present from JT. I had to TT about 50 meters back to the pack. John G was heading backwards at this point and was done for the day after the previous day’s MTB epic.

As per the plan, I made my way to near the front on the final half lap alongside Kolben and James. The pace was pretty high at this stage and I was not able to go off the front. The 30-strong (or so) pack was closely bunched at the 1km mark and even by the 200M mark when the road widened, no-one had taken off. Then the bunch sprinted. From the back of the pack I gave myself plenty of room on the left and let ‘er rip. As the heart was pounding and legs screaming I managed to make up a few places and finished 19th, just head of James who was along-side me and Kolben who had drifted back slightly. Ryan was back another 10 places or so. Keith ran a fine race and recorded a 9th place. Working as a team proved to be hard and will take some time and a few races to sort out.

It was a tough finish. The only way to improve would have been to be closer to the front at the start of the sprint. Got to remember to do that. Being closer to the front would have also helped out Kolben and James a little more as well. Overall, I was pretty happy with the effort and finished higher that I imagined considering the uphill finish. All the winter work is paying off and I have been in the mix in all three road races this season.

The thought of the downhill finish at BB#3 has my heart pounding as I type this. Ok, need to have a cup of tea and a lie down now……