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| Barry-Roubaix roads, Thursday before the race |
Most seasons (OK, all seasons) I'm not even thinking about racing for another month. Or several months. But being on a race team means, eventually, that you have to race. I picked the 36 mile route - 24 miles seemed too short, 62 miles and at least 4 hours out on the road in March sounded completely crazy.
The week before the race I had no idea what to expect on race morning. The route was mostly unpaved roads, which during March in Michigan means snow, ice, mud, gravel, and some other stuff. Early in the week, western Michigan was still getting lake effect snow, but the race day forecast was for sun and warmer temperatures. By mid-week, the race had been rerouted to avoid some roads that were impassible for support vehicles, and the organizers were paying Barry County to put down some extra sand on some of the other roads.
After a couple of test rides on dirt roads around home I decided to take the Anthem 29er, but on what tires? Nice fat mountain bike tires would probably be the ticket for mid-40s slop. Narrower CX tires probably work best on frozen dirt and the paved sections of the reroutes. But ice? Other stuff? No ideas there. Eventually laziness won out - it seemed like too much work to switch tires when I really didn't know if there would be any advantage with the CX tires.
Friday night before the race I stayed at the Roadhouse in Yankee Springs State Recreation Area, organized by one of the Greyhounds. Score one for being on a team - on my own I would have just got up early and drove out on Saturday morning, eating on the road. At the Roadhouse, there was coffee (!), a nice place to change, and no last minute rush to get to registration.
By 10am Saturday, it was looking like the best day of the week for a dirt road race - just below freezing, no sun, no wind. I did a few miles of warm up to get the blood flowing and test out the temperature, then got into my wave in the start queue.At almost 3000 riders, Barry-Roubaix was the biggest race I've ever started. Wave 8 started right on time at 10:21am, with about a 2 miles roll out on pavement through town before the first dirt road. As usual I started at the back of the wave, but unlike usual I stayed in the pack at the start and even passed some of the guys in my wave before we hit the first dirt road.
After a good start, the race went great! The Racing Ralphs were the perfect tire choice for me - no worries on the ice, not a huge penalty on the roads. The full suspension ate up any holes, washboards, etc on the road. The extra weight probably hurt me some on the hills, but it was worth it bombing through potholes and washboard. Every time I looked at the mileage, I was surprised how fast the race was going by, which is always a good sign.
After a couple of quick stops to put the chain back on (for some reason the chain came off a couple times when shifting onto the big ring), and one for a gel, I was back at the start, sprinting down the finishing chute for a time of 2:44:08, 131st of 199 registered riders. My target was between 2 1/2 and 3 hours, so mission accomplished. With all the riders, there was always someone to chase down which was fun and helped me stay focused on racing. At the beginning of the week I wouldn't have guessed it, but it was actually a lot of fun and I'll probably sign up again next year.
After the race, another plus for being on a team. The trailer was right at the start/finish, with a place to change into warm, dry clothes. And there was food, even some really good, warm, jambalaya. And a bunch of Hounds to talk with about what we just finished. It was a lot more fun than the usual lone wolf thing.
Next up, the team points series time trial on April 14, then Pontiac Lake on April 28 to kick off the mountain bike season!
