Bike the Bluff Race Report

Bike the Bluff Criterium

Event:	Bike the Bluff Omnium
Date(s):	June 15-16, 2013
Road Race:	59 miles, 2,200 ft elevation change [Strava segment]
Criterium:	30 minutes, 0.7 mile square [Strava segment]

It's a bit late, but recent El Tour race reports have encouraged me to post this.

Road Race

The pace was pretty light in the beginning, with some surges here and there on the rolling hills and some wind to deal with. I did well moving around in the group, able to close gaps and shift around to find good positions out of the wind. Scenery was great, weather was great, and I felt strong. There was one crash that happened behind me. It sounded pretty gnarly but I talked to the guy afterward and he was alright (just some cuts and road rash). About half way I was already into my second water bottle and was starting to feel a slight cramp in my calf. Hmm, not good. I had thought about taking a 3rd bottle in my jersey pocket but decided against it. Big mistake. With ~30 miles left I only had half a bottle left and a few hill surges later I had cramping in both calves. I pushed on and stayed with the group, fighting the cramps and hoping for the best. The plan was to try to create/join a break around the 50-mile mark (final climb to the finish) with a buddy but he was cramping too and I knew that there was a good chance my legs would seize up if I tried to go too hard. I moved up into 2nd position and held my position there for a mile or so, watching for any moves to jump on to (but sort of hoping no one would go). Then there came an aid station with guys holding out water bottles. Whew!

I moved over, grabbed a bottle, and in the process my legs started cramping bad -- enough so that I dropped back to ~15th place while trying to keep the legs moving and drinking some water. Other guys were in the same low-water situation as I so there were riders scrambling to grab bottles. In all that mess, about 10 guys had pushed forward hard on the climb and were getting some distance from the rest of us who were grabbing bottles. I stopped drinking and went after the front guys, my legs close to seizing up completely. I was able to grab the wheel of a guy and hung with him for a mile or so, getting some water in me and somewhat recovering from the effort to catch back on. The lead group of ~10 was still up ahead. The other guy and I traded pulls and worked hard to try to catch the front guys, but they were pulling away from us. Luckily though, we were pulling away from the rest of the field. We ended up catching a guy from the front group and then then 3 of us traded pulls. With 1 mile left I was starting to think about the final sprint and then one of the guys I was with went hard. It caught me off guard and a slight gap formed. I pushed hard to close the gap and my legs seizing up bad. Dang! I held on with them for the final turn, and even pushed in the sprint but my legs were so cramped up I couldn't put any power into the pedals and couldn't get past them at the line. 12th place. I was pretty bummed because I felt strong and know that I could have done better if I had taken more water. Interestingly, I was 1.5 minutes faster than the 1st place finisher last year... not that that means much though.

Map and Elevation profile for the BTB Road Race

Things I learned. The altitude in Show Low (roughly 6,500 feet) is high enough that dehydration is an issue. I tend to drink a lot of water throughout the day but I definitely needed more for this race. I needed to drink much more pre-race and I should have brought that third bottle in my jersey pocket. The first two-thirds of this race were pretty uneventful -- the action happened on the final climb to the finish (last 10 miles of the race). With wind being a factor it's unlikely early breaks will be successful, so the early part of this race is mostly just about sitting in and conserving energy. When the final climb starts, it's time to set a strong climbing pace (based on known personal power curve values) and hope to get away from the main field. The final couple miles are relatively flat. If solo, a hard time-trial effort to the finish is needed. If in a group, conserving energy for the sprint becomes necessary.

Criterium

My legs were pretty upset with me. My plan at this point was to simply hold on and finish with the main field. At the start whistle, a guy took off right away and no one followed him. I saw the move and thought, "way too early, it's super windy" so I stayed with the pack. He developed about a 30 second gap and stayed there. The pace wasn't super fast, but there were a few times it picked up (for primes) and the field strung out a bit. There was a couple times where I was just barely holding on. I moved around in the pack well and again did a good job of staying out of the wind. At some point the group split and I was able to stay in the front group. Amazingly, the guy that attacked at the start stayed away solo a half lap ahead of the field the entire race (finishing first). Turns out he was the same guy who got 1st place in the road race.

I wasn't feeling great but I wanted to do something. The wifey was watching and taking pictures near the start/finish so when I found myself in good position, the pack was somewhat lazy, and I had a nice opening I went for it. There were 3 laps to go at that point and I pretty much knew that the move wasn't going to stick but figured what the heck. I pushed hard through the start/finish area in a seated sprint and then went fast through corner 1, standing and sprinting hard out of the corner. I sat and pushed hard again, getting as aerodynamic as possible because it was into a strong headwind. I didn't know if anyone had gone with me or not, I was just focusing on putting 100% into the effort. I rounded turn 2, pushed really hard again and looked down under my armpit to see if anyone was with me. One guy went with and was directly on my wheel. Sweet! The wifey has video of part of this and you can hear the announcer say, "That was a quick way to close some time up right there but I do not think they're going to be able to close that gap." I wasn't really trying to reach the guy at the front, I was just trying to get/stay away from the pack.

It felt really good to escape the pack, even if it was just for a moment.

The start of my attack with 3 laps to go

I was pretty cooked at this point so as we came up to turn 3 I signaled for the guy who came with me to come around and take a pull. He did but as soon as I tucked in behind him I could tell he let up. I didn't have enough in the tank to go back around him yet, so I recovered for a minute and then heard the pack behind us. It was over before we even finished a lap. Bummer. I recovered and reintegrated into the group, trying to recover enough to have something left for the group sprint. In the final lap I tried to get in a good position but didn't have much left to move up sufficiently. My legs ached. I was in 7th spot coming into the final corner, couldn't get a good jump and got passed by the racer with the Fuji. 8th place. At least I wasn't cramping. I felt pretty good about my breakaway attempt and a couple guys said it was a strong attack -- that I had put a "hurt" on the rest of the pack. Of course, it put a major hurt on me too.

Things I learned. Pay closer attention to the strong riders. Know who placed well in the road race and watch them in the criterium. Mark guys who would benefit from a breakaway. When I attempted to break free of the pack with 3 laps to go I did so right before the corner turning into a headwind. With a headwind, the pack is at an advantage due to drafting, so it would have been better to attack during a crosswind or tailwind. I should have waited until after turn 2 to make my attack. Another good spot to attack would have been right after a prime (a sort of counter-attack).

I placed 6th overall in the Omnium, so that was pretty cool -- and I know I could have done better without the cramps. I'm very much looking forward to this race next year.

Cody, me, Ryan, and Evan