Lowell 50 Race Recap

My first race of the season is in the books. It was quite a ride!

Matt got to my house early and we headed to meet Lisa in Otsego for breakfast. After fueling up we headed to Fallasburg Park in Lowell. Lowell is just East of Grand Rapids and it took us about an hour to get there. We found a place to park and picked up our packets. For this racing being in April, it was cold this morning. 

Unfortunately I didn't get a solid warmup, only a few minutes. But as time was running out, we headed to the start line. 2 minutes. Time to go. I lined up towards the rear of the wave because I didn't want to get run over. Well, not really. I knew it I would be one of the slowest riders, so I started at the back. The "controlled" roll out was at 20 mph. The group was together, but already starting to yo-yo in the early runnings. As we went thru the covered bridge the group bunched up, then exploded on the other side. 

We were not even to the first climb yet. We hit the first climb and the group got decimated. Well, I assume it was...because I was off the back. No worries as this was expected. It didn't stop me from pushing hard though. I crested the climb and was assessing the damage. The group was in sight, but they made a right hander...and the group was gone. I pressed on! About 5 miles in I was thinking...uh oh....I might need to ease up for I am toast. 

Myself, Lisa, and Matt

I was finally settling in and the miles were ticking away a a decent pace. I could see a few people up ahead of me, but I was alone for the most part. Eventually a rider caught me, and then another, and then a group. I tried to jump into the group, but it was on a climb and it just wasn't happening. I crested the climb and another group was coming past, so I tried again to tag along. I was able to reel in one guy and then the group opened the gap again. I found myself riding solo once again, but I didn't mind. I was just enjoying the ride.

At the Start (Photo courtesy of Julie B.)

I looked at the mileage on my Garmin and I was at 13 miles as the first hour passed. My goal was under 12.5 so I was doing well. I took a gel and kept moving. I was comfortable at the pace, but was starting to wonder about my endurance. (side note: you might think 13 mph is slow for a gravel race....and you're right...more on that later). Eventually I caught a younger guy. He was pushing a huge gear early in the race and when I caught him he was spinning easier. I pushed past him and started to hear music from the Freewheeler bus. B-52's. lol.

Another hill, and another. Then 2 guys went flying past me. I was maybe 24 miles. They were working together and I wasn't able to go with them. Coming into Smyrna I had them in sight and I felt like was closing the gap. I crested a hill and was surprised to see one of the guys struggling. The hill leading into town is nasty. There was a short section that reached 14% grade. Steep. I was gaining on them on the climb, then they started working together again and put a gap on me. One on of the corners I saw the guy on the niner stop and must have taken a gel, so I was able to close in on him....sorta.

I was chasing. I had the gap down to a bike length...and he looked over his shoulder. Not wanting to get caught he put his head down and buried me. I was left alone with my thoughts again. I realized that I had surpassed my longest ride of the year and was still holding a pretty good pace. My brain went directly to my goal time. Remember I set a goal of 2:45 or just under 12.5 mph. I was close to that average, but I was slowing down. Every turn I made put me directly into the wind. I kept waiting for a left hander to get me a tailwind, and it simply never happened. I would turn right, then back left and right again. ugh. I was starting to worry about my goal time because the hills were still coming and I was riding into the wind.....while running out of gas.

Then I saw the dude that passed me on the fatty, struggling up a hill. I closed in on him and caught him on the descent. Not wanting someone on my wheel I pressed harder to get away from him, only to have a huge hill again. I was about two thirds of the way up and I hear his voice. He was riding with me and we collectively were griping about "all these damn hills and wind". It was short lived though, because knowing there was only 3 miles to go I decided to it was time to go. I crested the hill, dropped a few gears...stood and mashed down the descent. Not wanting to look back I just kept going. 2 miles to go. I can't look, he has to be gone. 1 mile to go and I am giving all of my energy to the finish.

I dug as deep as I could. Over the last tough climb I could see there were a few rollers left. I pushed down the descent and stood to mash over the next rise. Carried my speed into the last hill and I see a strobes. Taking stock I realize the officer is standing at my LAST LEFT TURN. I put my head down and drove to the finish.

The segment above was shorter than the whole race for some reason

My finish time was.....2:40:00 exactly. This time was precisely 5 minutes under my goal time for the race. Average speed of 12.76 miles per hour. I am very happy with my time and how the race went. I made every climb and I was able to get away from a guy at the end....oh wait. Back to that for a minute. The guy on the fatty....he found me after he finished. He rode up and said "hey, that was an awesome finish....I couldn't stay with you". So that was a secondary accomplishment, a very strong finish. 

Overall, a great day of riding bikes on gravel roads!