Renfrew Rás Road Race

Posted by Dan on 20. July 2009 03:52

On Sunday, hot off a triumphant ride in Emlenton, Lydia and I went down to Butler, PA for the Renfrew Rás, a new road race run around the Butler County Airport and the small borough of Renfrew. Butler was roughly 45 minutes away so it was yet another early morning. Today's race promised to be an interesting one. First, I was doing the Cat 4/5 race. Apparently, they don't have the numbers in PA to do separate 4 and 5 races so they frequently combine them. When I asked about this, I got a lot of confused stares. Second, the course had a nice descent starting right at the start/finish line and gentle rollers over most of the course. The killer was the climb starting immediately after a left turn and lasting about 1 km. The grade was oh-steep percent. A climb like this would quickly separate the field into neat little pockets of riders categorized by their willingness to vomit on their handlebars.



So the whistle blows and 37 or so riders take the course. An immediate descent leaves everyone feeling like this could be a good race. There was a lot of working to go downhill, which I found to be a bit curious, but whatever. I'm not from around here. I tucked in and began recovering from my killer warm-up. Heh. We make it to the first corner and suddenly we have to pedal to keep up. So far so good. The pack remains tight and only the slightest bit sketchy. This section of the road will go down a mile or so and end with a left turn in the middle of Renfrew. We've been warned to be sure to downshift before making that turn. Not being one ignore advice like that, I did. Good thing, too.

The pack immediately stood up and began working. You could FEEL the heart rates skyrocket and breathing become very audible. As predicted, the pack was strung out quite a bit. There's no telling how many fell off at this point. I stayed as close to the front as I could without actually being on it. I figured worse case scenario, I'll drift to the back and hang on until the top. This strategy works for the sprinters in France, right? Turns out I didn't need to drift at all. Decent pace going up and we made our way through the remaining turns and rollers to do it all over again. One (unattached) rider (in a plain white jersey) went off the front on climb #1 and Lydia reported he had 16 seconds on us when we made it to the KOM point. I replied that "he's got nuthin" but with a lot more spit. It was a hard climb.

The climb did its job very well. The lead group consisted of 12 riders. What was behind us is anyone's guess, but other race reports lead me to believe it was a lot of singles. They were also pulling riders that were about to be lapped.

The leader was left out there for the rest of the course until someone pointed out that he does have a good lead and he is a good climber. Yeah, yeah. Good point and all. Well, we're cat 4s and we don't let anything get away, right? So on to the front I go to bring him back. We caught him on the descent and setup for the next climb.

This time, another (unattached) rider (in a plain red jersey) went off the front. Again, we didn't let him get far. The climbs actually felt good. Maybe it was the shortened length as compared to Tucker County, WV or maybe the grade was shy of 20%. I don't know, but it they were getting to be fun.

The twelve of us worked through the rollers and made our third climb. Still intact after the final climb, we worked our double pace line until about 2.5 km to go. At that point, the organization began to crumble. Clearly the riders were trying to conserve for the big finish that was just a s-turn, a hard left and a small hill away. Seeing them yammering on about who was going to pull, I decided to go. I jumped out of the saddle and heard someone behind me grunt something that probably meant, "Hey, fellas! That guy is making a break for it! We should get our act together right quick and give chase before he crosses the line and takes our victory!" or something dumb like that.

So here's my story: I hit it hard, putting out roughly 1200 watts for 5 seconds, 1000+ for 15 seconds. A great leap for a 4/5 race. I then settled down to about 400 watts, not quite sure how much of an effort I should be putting out. I did the s-turn and looked back. Nice gap. Sweet. I approached the left turn and looked back. Still had a decent gap, but they were closing. Made the turn - fast - and went for the hill making sure I did not go too hard before I got there, knowing I'd need it to climb. I made it onto the hill and was immediately overtaken by the group. By the time I made it to the line, 9 of them had already passed me. I got 10th and that was that.



In retrospect, I could have taken two different approaches, both of which might have produced a better result. I could have sat in and attempted to sprint. I was not having a hard time getting to the front, but I had previously identified at least two riders that were looking very strong, even at the top of the third climb. I liked my chances taking a flyer better than waiting for the sprint. As Wick says, no one likes a sprinter. The other thing I could have done would have been to not hold back. Instead of trying to guess how many watts higher than my FTP I could go, I should have went all out and stood when I got to the hill. I'm fairly sure I'd have done much better, maybe even won.

I want to thank Pa. Elite Velo Club/Hershey Cancer institute/GPOA/Cannondale Cycling Team for promoting and organizing this event. This was one of the best run races I've been to. They even had a shuttle bus to take spectators from the start/finish line to the KOM point. I was initially annoyed that Cat 4s didn't get their own race, but in the end, it didn't matter. The first climb took care of slower and sketchier riders. Plus the purse would have been limited if there weren't enough riders (not that it made a difference in MY wallet). I also would have liked to see our race at least as long as the women's race and I think we should have had our own KOM competition. There were no points for the 4/5s at the top of that hill, but there were for nearly all other races.

Those issues aside, it was a great race and I will make it a point to attend next year's. I highly recommend you do the same, if only so I can get more prize money.