Lost River Classic

Posted by Dan on 27. July 2009 05:01

Photo poached from Joseph Breenskag

After a hectic few weeks, I was looking forward to an easy weekend with only one TT on Sunday. Maybe I'd finally get the "lawn" manicured so the neighbors can sell the house they've been earnestly trying to offload for quite some time. Then Wick calls and says, "Hey, let's do Lost River." And with that we were off to Mathias, WV for more fun in the sun.

We departed Friday afternoon with Wick feeling a like he got in a fight with a Budweiser truck. We stayed at the Lost River Grill and Motel. I chose it because a) it was cheap and b) it read TERRIBLE reviews so I wouldn't be disappointed. Turns out it was fine except our room smelled like it had been submerged in pond water for the two or three months immediately preceding our arrival.

Saturday morning we woke up and grabbed breakfast at the Grill part of the Lost River Grill and Motel. Good food, but it made it to the table about an hour and a half before the start of our race. Probably too late to be eating a heavy meal just before doing a morning of high-speed climbing.

Registration and parking were about 5 miles down the road. We had plenty of time to change, setup the bikes, get our numbers and phone in a warm-up before lining up for our start. I even bought the gamjams socks just in case I won. The extra $100 would have covered the motel and most of the gas. The masters race rolled off down the road and we made a hole for a sweet red Porsche Cayman pace car. The boys in France may have helicopters, but they don't have Porsche pace cars. A few minutes and a "get out the vote" announcement later and our Cat 4 race commenced with a neutral roll-out.

The first quarter-lap was done at a nice 18 mph. We made a right turn over a little bridge and the first climb began. The pace picked up, but not too high. We still had 20-some miles to go and no one wanted to blow up on the first lap. That climb was a fairly good one with a couple kicks that incited heavy breathing. The descent following the summit was flat out breathtaking. Imagine a road barely a lane and a half wide composed of pressed gravel, full of potholes and maybe a little roadkill. The road conditions left a bit to be desired, but that didn't stop us for charging off down the hill as fast as gravity would pull us. At the bottom was a right turn followed soon by another right turn where the second climb began immediately.



The second climb was worse. It went on forever and was much steeper. When the grade gets up around 15%, your front wheel starts lifting off the ground with each downstroke. The descent following that climb was perfect for eating and drinking and gapping. Unfortunately, that's what happened to Wick - the gapping part. The wheel he was on allowed a gap to open up and by the time Wick realized the rider couldn't close it, it was too late for him. And with that we have lap 1.

On lap two, the lead grouped shelled out all other non-contenders. There were 12 of us left when we started the climb to start/finish and we'd remain intact until the end. The rest were strung out all over West Virginia and assumed pulled.

On the final climb of the final lap, the group got restless. An attack with 200+ meters to go was answered by a few and the rest of us held on for dear life. I finished 9th with the same time as the top 3 - roughly 1:19:00 for 33.5 miles. Not too shabby.

Later that night, I watched stage 20 of le Tour and thought I was experiencing deja vu, except our climb was probably longer. A few less spectators, though.

This was another great race. I couldn't be happier with the quality of road races I've seen this summer. The quantity, on the other hand...

Thanks to National Capital Velo Club, all the sponsors, including gamjams.net, and all of the officials and volunteers for providing an exciting and safe race.

I'll add more pictures if I can poach some.