8/7/05 by Erol Aspromatis
My inaugural Road Race was The Zoar Road Race this past weekend. The Cat 5 citizens race was 60 riders strong, definitely the largest group of riders I've ever ridden with. The race was 20 miles long on a 10-mile loop. Each loop had two climbs, the first about 3 miles in and the second more substantial climb about 7 miles in. We all started in a small alley next to the parking lot and were crammed in like sardines. I lined up with Matt and Mark and we marveled at the size of our group. We would ride from here to the neutral start about 2 miles down the road. My first major concern was to get my feet clipped into my pedals without hesitation or loosing momentum, hence causing a pile-up even before the starting line.
I got clipped-in and going without a problem and we proceeded to the starting line and the pace was very comfortable. Then all of a sudden the pace picked up considerably. I had no idea that we had already gotten to the starting line, there was no sound-off or sign. Immediately I found myself at the back of the pack. There were probably 50 riders in front of me and I was very surprised that from mile one everyone wanted to be at the front of the pack. My goal for the first lap (10 miles) was just to hang in there and try and make it up the hills with everyone. So I did not panic and just decided I would just hang in the back, for now.
We got over the first climb and no real damage was done yet. The pace picked up a little more on the way to the second climb. We hit the base of the climb together, and the real work commenced. I knew I had to get up this hill with the pack or the race would be over for me. To my surprise I made it over with the main group. But our group was now cut into half.
We're now on our second and last lap with about 25 riders. We made it back to the familiar first climb and it was definitely harder going up this time around. I still managed to make it up with the main group. We were now down to about 15 riders and the pace actually started slowing a little. No one wanted to pull the group going into the last major climb. I found myself in the front of our pack, and feeling relatively good. I took a quick pull up front and rolled-off. But I was starting to get worried about our slower pace realizing that everyone was resting for the climb. I knew I probably did not stand a chance against these guys if they had fresh legs for the climb. So I decided what the heck and with about 1.5 miles to go before the last climb I initiated an attack. I came around from the left and just put the hammer down.
This move would prove to be unsuccessful. The attack was doomed to fail from the start. Just as I got a little gap and got going we ran into the back of the women's group. I was right behind our pace car and there was no way to get around. So I was forced to sit up. The group was now together again. In addition, about 10 more riders bridged to us so there were now about 20 of us going into the last climb.
Just as we started the last climb the Cat 1-2s came roaring through like a freight train. Some of the Cat 5 riders were able to hang with them for a little, but I had nothing left and found myself alone about ¾ the way up the hill. Around 15 riders of my group crested with a considerable gap and raced down the hill to the finish. There was a smaller group of about 5 cat 5s behind them and right in front of me when I crested and I tried to bridge to them on the downhill. I just time-trialed it and closed the gap a little but there was not enough time to catch them. I crossed the finish alone but happy knowing that I had given all I had and taken some risks. Overall I finished 19th, I was ecstatic to receive a ranking. I'm definitely hooked to racing and I'm looking forward to my next race.