Race Report: Murad Road Race, Cat 3

Five of us NCVC guys lined up for the scorching 56-mile Cat 3 Murad Road Race: Dan (aka "Schlomo), Chris H., Karl A., Brad K., and me.

Before the race started, I drenched my hair and jersey with water to start off cool. I started with a bottle of sports drink and another of water in the cages (mostly for soaking myself), with an extra bottle of sports drink in my jersey, too. (Much thanks to the Kendalls who passed our team bottles in the feed zone throughout the race!)

Not much happened for the first pair of laps, a few mild attempts but everyone was happy to just get into the groove of racing in 90-degree weather. By the end of the second lap, a group of three had gotten off the front with a decent gap.

It took me the first two laps to move up into the sweet spot, when I saw Dan in the wind and said, "Get me up there." He dragged me up when the pack was single file, so I used him as a lead-out to launch a bridge. It took about a minute, but I made it clean.

Two of the guys break fizzled away and a few more guys bridged up - including Dan and Chris - but the gap shrank. We had a decent-sized group with good representation, but there was little cooperation. Dan, Chris, and I all pushed the pace for at least half a lap but it wasn't the right time. At least on Hughes we were able to get feeds easily while off the front.

Over laps 4-5-6 we lost Brad to a mechanical. A two-man break got away with a Bike Doctor and AABC. The pack let them hang out to dry for a while, but Tony A. (DVR/Bike Rack) and I weren't enjoying their 40-second gap. I told him, "I'll help if you will."

Him and I moved up to see a few R1V guys in the wind, and helped them try to drag the break back. The first Bike Doctor guy had dropped off the pace of AABC, but another guy countered. I followed but it was obvious we weren't getting help from some stragglers, and we had a fast-moving group behind us, too. No dice there.

On the last lap three guys got up the road early, but not by much. Again the pack let them hang out there. Eventually four more guys got up the road in between, yet neither group had more than 15 seconds turning onto Partnership Road. When the groups merged, riders cooperated well.

Unfortunately most of us NCVC guys were nowhere to be found up front. Dan was in the sweet spot as he had been basically the entire race patrolling the front, but now pinned on the right gutter. Karl, Chris, and I were all trying to move up (about 25 riders back I would guess) but had some trouble. Personally I just didn't have the guts to slip through the non-existent gaps or around the center-line. My instincts just wouldn't let me.

Every rider in the pack became a victim of the calm before the storm - the break gained some ground with great blocking from Bike Doctor and AABC again.

When I finally made it to the front, about halfway down River Road, I noticed there were a few guys in no-man's land. It was risky, but I figured I had had to try a last-minute bridge. At that time, Schlomo was right up front where he needed to be for the bunch sprint.

I jumped, looked back to see nobody chasing, and caught a DC Velo rider in no-man's land. We rotated twice, but then he didn't hold my wheel after he took a hard pull, so I TT'd it solo onto Hughes Road. I was gaining ground quickly between groups, but not quick enough.

I got to about 30 meters behind the breakaway (though I'm probably being optimistic) but then they started sprinting and it was too late. I looked back and had a comfortable gap on the field, though, so it wasn't for naught and I took 8th place. Dan was near the front of the bunch sprint, at least for a top-20 with Chris and Karl not too far back.

I had a good amount of trouble moving around the pack on the narrow course, mostly because I'm not savvy and brave enough to find tiny gaps. That sucked at the end because we missed the last-lap break, which was the only breakaway that mattered. C'est la vie. I won't complain about a top-10, but it would have been nice to put the stars and bars in the money.

Here's my Garmin data for the race. The first few spikes to 180 and 190 are bridging up to the gap on lap 3, and trying to make something happen (but not making anything happen). The spike around 1:30 is helping R1V bring back the two-man break, and then the final plateau shows nearly 3 painful minutes with my heart rate at 190+ for the final flyer trying to bridge up. That hurt.

Thanks for reading - and good luck to everyone racing Bunny Hop tomorrow.