Sept. 4 - 6, 2004 by Phil Esempio
I hadn't planned on doing this race, but when I got tapped as a last minute-replacement for Bob Grimm and Josh Blubaugh for the Allied Decal 3/4 team at the Savage Hill Stage Race this past weekend - and by last minute, I mean Wednesday night! - I couldn't say no. So I had no preparation at all for this monster, but I was doing it so the rest of the 3/4 team (Angelo Catalano, Rob Tandy, and Jimmy Macdonald) could at least do it - without a fourth rider, they would have had to withdraw and lose their entry fees.
Stage 1 was brutal - a 6-turn crit, mostly on bricks. To add insult to injury, because of withdrawls and cancellations, the Masters and 3/4 fields were combined for all races, meaning that there were plenty of Cat 1 and 2 Masters racers out there. As a result, the crit was blazing fast. It was an hour plus 3 laps; I got pulled at about 30 minutes, and Rob Tandy shortly there after. The bricks pummeled me on my new aluminum bike - 'nuff said. The course description for this stage said something about "smooth brick" - yeah right. You didn't need a bike for this stage - just a lunar lander. And 80+ racers going around narrow side streets with uneven bricks was an ugly scene, which only got worse when someone with the bright idea to run carbon fiber handlebars during this stage found out what we materials engineers refer to as "catastrophic failure".
Stage 2 was the same day - the Team Time Trial. The course was changed due to road conditions, from the original 10 mile figure-8 course, to 2 laps of the Sugar Grove course run counter-clockwise, which I'd ridden before at the Baby Tour of Ohio (about 13 miles total). Unfortunately, I couldn't hang on to Angelo and Jimmy Mac over the big climb, and had to solo it home. Rob Tandy could barely hold on to them either - he finished with them (the time counts at the third rider), but he wasn't able to take very many pulls on the last lap. So, at least I didn't hurt them. I finished 4 minutes behind them solo (36 minutes vs. 32 minutes) - not bad, all considered.
Stage 3 was the infamous Chicken Coop stage. Alright, I have to admit it - this was the toughest stage of any race I've done all year. 3 laps of a 20 mile course, with 3 very major climbs. I got over with the field on the first climb - barely, but I did. But at the base of Savage Hill, they dropped me (and lots of others, too!), and I was working with a group of four most of the day. I got up Savage Hill and the 'Coop sucessfully, then solo rode most of the second lap. I pulled well ahead of the other three in the rollers, then we were back together on Savage Hill and the 'Coop, but I started to fade severely after that. And, it turns out, on my second trip up the 'Coop, one of my cleats shifted; about 5 miles later, I started to get a severe "hot spot" in the middle of my right foot. I couldn't hang on to the other three as my foot started to scream; I made it up the first climb OK, and then into the rollers, with the pain increasing each time I climbed. I even stopped once to readjust my straps; didn't help at all. Also, despite consuming 4 bottles, I was starting to dehydrate - it was 81° and very, very humid that day. Turning onto Savage Hill Road, I unclipped my right foot, and pedaled the entire approach to the grade with my left foot only. The broom wagon was right behind me at this point. As I got to the grade, I clipped back in, and stood to attack the hill...and the pain went off the scale. It felt, literally, as if someone was stabbing me through the ball of my foot with a long, sharp knife. This has happened to me before on this foot - for some reason, it is very sensitive to cleat placement - but never to this degree. I almost fell off the bike; the broom wagon driver helped off, and I called it a day at 52 miles. I was very disappointed, but there wasn't much I could do - I simply couldn't pedal anymore. Later, I would find the cleat had shifted forward about 3/16" of an inch. I rehydrated and cooled off in the broom wagon, hoping the next day would be better - it was a course I knew (the Sugar Grove course again, this time run clockwise).
But, because the TTT course had to be changed, Stage 4 was changed as well. They modified the TTT course, and made it a circuit race - 4 laps at 10 miles each, with one big climb up Fire Tower road each lap. I woke up feeling decent, and ready to go...until the first climb up Fire Tower. The GC leaders hit it very hard, and while I stayed on at the back of the field, I went into severe oxygen debt doing so. I may have eaten too much in the morning too, because I got hit with a wave of nausea on the descent. I spent the rest of the first lap solo, and my legs were so totally spent from the prior day that my HR refused to go above 138. I was considering quitting, but by the end of the lap, I felt somewhat recovered, and pushed on. I did another lap solo, this time with my legs somewhat cooperating, but I knew they were a ticking time bomb. At the end of lap 2 I called it a day...something Angelo and Denis had already done, so I didn't feel too bad. All in all, it was a very tough weekend, but I'm pleased with how I did, especially considering I did zero prep for this race. I treated the entire weekend as major training for the Fall Challenge. My quads are a bit sore today, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. And, my going allowed Jimmy Mac to have a fantastic weekend - 15th in the road race, and he finished in the field at the last stage, and I think he ended up in the top 15 in GC - pretty good for a 16-year-old Cat 4! So, on that basis alone, my going was a success.