A long yet peaceful ride to the area of Lake Sunapee was filled with clouds and a passing rain shower or two. The awaited Mount Sunappe resort sign finally greeted me. This would be the morning that I take on the Lake Sunapee Road Race. A race that I scoped out a year ago, but since starting my racing venture this spring, it was one that I had to do.
The night before I spent my evening going over mental checklists and packing more than enough of everything. A quick look at the forecast made me aware that extra food and kit could be necessary.
Coming into the race route as I drove closer to the start line, a Welcome to Sunapee sign greets me and I begin to feel those morning of the race butterflies in my stomach.
Rider check-in; done. Bib #888
A quick warm-up ride in the drizzle gave me a preview of what the last 5k would be like.
Then as I awaited my 9:20 start time standing in the Lot #2 listening to the sounds of bike tires and carbon rims along with the clicking of the cassettes from the other cyclists warming up, the anticipation just grows. I started to question myself; was my-warm up ride too early, too short, did I do too much? But as one of my teammates (Ben) says, "listen to your body." So, my body tells me the warm-up was just right and I'm ready to go.
The race whistle for the Pro 1/2/3 race blows and 80+ riders enter the course. Now my time draws near. Butterflies feel like hummingbirds at this point. A few other fields enter the course, and alas, now it's time for me to line up.
With the "nice to meet ya, where you from" chatter dies down, my start whistle goes off. The sounds of cleats clipping into their pedals begin to echo through the start line. The race is on.
The first lap quickly became a test to see who could answer each attack. There was one attack after another until the main field split.
Second lap; the diminished group stayed together for a majority of the 22 mile loop until the last 10k. After a couple small attacks from some older riders, I thought I'd try my hand at an attack on a small climb.
I launched my attack from four or five spots back and almost caught the pace car. I looked down to realized that there was no tire behind me. Then at that time hundreds of thoughts went through my head; "can I solo to victory, do I let them catch me?" I didn't have too much time to answer any of those thoughts when I started to hear the clicking of changing gears. They caught me, but not nearly as many that were in the group before I left. The group had split again.
A couple of us begin to pace each other to ensure that the others wouldn't catch us as we entered the traffic circle that leads to the very last climb to the finish.
The sound of clicking gears enter again, this time because the gradient increased and non-climbers begin to drop. Thinking I was good until a couple kids with cogs the size of dinner plates flew by me and I couldn't catch their wheels.
Finally getting to the finish line, I count 8 guys in front of me. 9th place. Ok. I can deal with that because I gave it my all. Should I have attacked later or earlier? I don't know. Maybe my next road race will try different tactics. Until then, I train.
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