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This is my account of the Ganter Race the Lake 2014
I have been excited to do this race ever since my cousin told me about it back in April, although it took quite some time to actually convince myself to do it. I finally went online just the Tuesday before and signed up for it. So now I have committed to it, I'm going, no matter what! Hooray! I did have trouble trying to decide what starting wave to sign up for. When I have gone out on my own to do a ride over 90 miles my average speed is usually in the 17mph range, my shorter rides have been getting up into the 19's now. I didn't want to go in wave 10 (17mph), wave 9 (18mph), or wave 8 (19mph) simply because I know that in a group I can draft and go faster. (Special thanks to Carl for teaching me how to!) When doing the group rides in Watertown we have had average speeds in the 20 - 22mph range recently, so that is where I thought I would like to be, but we never had a ride anywhere close to this distance. I was thinking that wave 7 (20mph) would be best for me, but there was something about wave 6 (21 mph) that was calling me. I ended up signing up for wave 6. I immediately started thinking that I am in way over my head, how can I ever expect to hold that pace for this distance? My official goal was to maintain pace with the wave 6 peloton as long as I could. I figured that I shouldn't have any problem with the first half of the race due to the lack of any climbing, and the second half just try to do the best I can.
I had the alarm set for 3:30am, but I woke up before that. Left home here at 4:11 and got into Fond du Lac about 5. I parked, walked over and picked up my number and timing chip before getting the bike ready. Just did a real short, slow warm up, only slightly over a mile. Then I went and found the wave 6 staging area. Now waiting just waiting for the race to actually start, I really don't like to wait. I was looking around at the other people, that is always interesting. It is easy to pick out the ones who are the regular racers, the ones who are just regular cyclists who enjoy going fast on the bike, and the ones that I couldn't figure out what they were doing in 21 mph wave. Still, my biggest worry was maintaining that pace.
So, I'm standing there looking around and the guy next to me says something to somebody else, and I immediately think to myself, that voice sounds familiar. I looked at his name on the bib number and here it was the father of my best friend from high school. What are the odds? We ended up talking until the race actually started.
Now we are up to the starting line, and we are off. I wanted to be close to front, so I started moving up. I had gotten to be about 30 or so off the front, it seemed like a nice comfortable place to be, I was close enough that I could see the front, but where I didn't need to worry about having to pull. We were moving at a nice steady pace which I had no problems maintaining.
Then we got into Oshkosh, for whatever reason, unknown to me, there was a lot of speeding up and slowing down. That drives me crazy. We were starting to get a little spread out anyways. I would do a little sprint to catch up, but then instead of braking to stay behind them, I would just pass them. There is someone up ahead, so another little sprint to catch up to them, but once again didn't feel like braking, so pass them too. I kept doing that until I came up to 2 riders and I did brake when I realized that no one was in front of them.
So here I am leaving Oshkosh being third from the front, this is not where I want to be. If the front rider drops back, and the second, which was his son, then I would be expected to pull. I can't do that, not at this pace. He stayed out front though. Certainly he was one strong rider. I could see his son sometimes struggling to hold that pace, but he kept up, also certainly one tough kid.
At the 30 mile mark I checked the average speed on my computer, it was at 21.7 mph. Still feeling good, I was having no trouble keeping this pace, but there was still no way I was going to attempt to pull the group. I was still uncertain how long I would be able to maintain this.
After going through Neenah & Menasha we turned to the east, and was now heading into the wind. That was some tough going, the pace slowed considerably. A few riders came up from further back in the pack, I had no problem letting them in before me, and they started switching off pulling.
I'm not sure exactly, but it was somewhere in here I started to think "I'm not standing up enough" Despite wearing my most comfortable pair of shorts, I have been sitting this whole time, and my seat was starting to get a little sore. On my usual bike rides this is something that I do to get going after stopping at a stop sign, or climbing short hills, or bumps, I like to call them. It was been flat this whole time, and there wasn't any stopping because this was a race!
I checked the average speed again at the 45 mile mark, it had fallen to 21.1mph. We were still moving good, and I was still feeling good.
Then we got to the big climb in High Cliff State Park, this is actually where I feared getting dropped. I shifted down into my small chain ring as soon as I dropped below 20 mph, and focused on my cadence. Apparently there weren't any strong climbers in our leading group because I marched right past the guys in front of me, and up the hill I went. I got to where the the road made a sharp left turn, and leveled out by the rock ledge, I looked back and the other riders were still behind, but there was a considerable gap. I kept going up the hill at my own pace. This climb was the fist time my heart rate got into zone 5 for the race. I'm past the mid way point now, it was certainly time to start pushing myself more. Up and over the top I went by myself. I looked back, and there was no one to be seen.
I was now the lone breakaway leader from the wave 6 starters. As exciting as this was, this wasn't where I wanted to be. I really didn't want to ride the next 40+ miles by myself. There was no way I could maintain the pace I had enjoyed so far by myself. I sure wasn't going to drop back and let anyone catch me on purpose, and the dropped riders from the earlier waves were going much slower then I wanted to go, so I just kept plugging away on what I considered to be a comfortable pace.
I think I was on my own for something like 10 miles, but I really am not sure. Suddenly, I noticed that there was someone behind me. It was the guy who had been pulling after Oshkosh and his son, plus a half dozen or so others that had been leading the wave 6 riders. I pulled out and fell to the back of the group, I was due for some rest time. We had a good pace line going for a while after that, finally I was comfortable getting in the mix. It sure beats going it on my own!
I checked my average speed again at the 61 mile marker, I had 21.3mph. Feeling really good at this point, much better then I had hoped for!
Shortly after we ended up turning east, right into the wind again. That was some slow going. The pace line kept going, but every pull got shorter and shorter. Riders kept getting dropped from our little group, until there was only 3 of us left. We kept taking turns pulling, but it was clear no one wanted to pull anymore. We kept plugging away, mile after mile.
I was pulling when these 3 guys came cruising up behind us, and I made a point of latching on to the back of that group. The other 2 guys that had been with me did not follow. Soon after we turned to the south, no more going into the wind! After turning south I started rotating with these guys taking turns pulling. They were really cruising! I looked at their bib numbers, one guy was from wave 1, one was from wave 7, and the other I didn't get a good look at his number, but he was possibly also from wave 7.
Eventually I couldn't pull for them any more, their pace was almost unbelievable. I stuck with them a couple for miles, but eventually I couldn't keep up with them anymore. I could see them for long enough to see that the guy from wave also had gotten dropped. There was about 10 miles to go at that point, so it didn't bother me none, I had no fears of being able to punch it in on my own.
Now with the wind at my back, and only a small amount of climbing left to do I just kept going at the best pace I thought I could maintain for the last little bit.
The last 15 or so miles I was passing a lot of dropped riders from the earlier waves, been passing some for most of the day, but now it was lots of them! It was especially fun blowing by the guys on their TT bikes! Here I always thought those guys were supposed to be fast! I know, I know, don't be hard on them, I'm sure in a 15 mile time trial they could toast me and have plenty of time left over to get a nice dinner, but I'm cruising by them today! Small victories! Ha!
I caught back up to the one guy from the fast trio that I had gotten dropped from a few miles earlier. He latched onto my wheel, and we started long fast decent down into Fond du Lac. After crossing hwy 151 I let him by, and I stuck on his wheel through town, until we turned onto Harbor View Drive, then I was heading for the finish line as fast as I could.
I made it! I finished, and did so a lot faster then I expected!
So now I'm just coasting down the road and they flag me over to the table where they collect the timing chips. I tell them be careful, I might fall over. A little old lady grabs my shoulder to steady me as I stopped. Good thing I didn't fall over, I probably would have taken her with me. She took my timing chip off, and then another volunteer gave me my Race the Lake finisher metal. I grabbed a bottle of water, and watched the other racers come across the line for a little bit. Then it was off to get my spaghetti dinner!
Now for the results! Overall, I finished 313th out of 1284 finishers, I was 28th of 86 in my age category. My time was 4:05:17 and I had an average speed of 21.5mph! I was also the first finisher from the wave 6 starters, while not being recognized in any way, it is something I am very proud of! Here I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them, and in the end, it turned out that they couldn't keep up with me! Maybe, just maybe, I am a little stronger rider then I thought I was. At any rate, it was an excellent race, and a good day!
I haven't done many races, I only started this year. This one being only my 7th race, I haven't much basis for comparison. But this one don't compare to any of the others that I have been in, it was by far the most exciting. I think this race gives a taste of what a pro race feels like. I can't say I know for sure why that it. Maybe it is the cheering people who are out on their lawns as we went by. Maybe it was the exceeding well beyond what I thought I could do. Maybe it was the fact that this race was much longer then any others. Maybe it was the consistently fast speeds we were going at. Maybe it was the soreness from being in the saddle for over 4 hours without even a single stop. I don't know, maybe it is just a little bit of everything! I finally feel like a real bike racer! My only complaint is that I have to wait a whole year to do it again......
Page Views: | 1003 |
Departed: | 17 aug 2014 06:18 |
Starts in: | Fond du Lac, WI, US |
Distance: | 88,0 mi. |
Selected distance: | 88,0 mi. |
Elevation: | + 1957 / - 1958 ft |
Max Grade: | |
Avg Grade | |
Cat | |
FIETS | |
VAM | |
Ascent time | |
Descent time | |
Total Duration: | 04:08:53 |
Selection Duration: | 14933 |
Moving Time: | 04:05:39 |
Selection Moving Time: | 04:05:39 |
Stopped Time: | 00:03:14 |
Calories: | 4247 |
Max Watts: | |
Avg Watts: | 230 |
WR Power | |
Work | |
Max Speed: | 35,8 mph |
Avg Speed: | 21,5 mph |
Pace: | 00:02:49 |
Moving Pace: | 00:02:47 |
Max Cadence: | 126 rpm |
Min Cadence: | rpm |
Avg Cadence: | 86 rpm |
Max HR: | 166 bpm |
Avg HR: | 142 bpm |
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How do you think this route would hold up if not in a race? Headed to Oshkosh and interested in getting in an 80 mile ride but would rather not be battling lots of traffic the entire way.