Racoon Mountain 90km road race – Chattanooga, Tennessee

13 April 2003 – 75F, light winds and sunny

Joan, Rebecca and I rode out to the start of the Racoon Mountain road race and after a good hour of riding and a few wrong turns we eventually made it with about 40 minutes to spare.  Joan and I had left our race bags with our host family who said she would take them to the start/finish location for us.  With a little dismay we discovered that the finish line was not at the start line and we suddenly found ourselves without our race food.

Shawn, Anne and Emily dug around in their bags for extra food for us and Rebecca found a jersey for Joan.  We quickly pinned our numbers, topped up our bidons and rolled down to the start line.  I had eaten breakfast at 8am and it was now nearly 11.15am and I was feeling really hungry.  Most people I have met, quickly realise I have an amazing appetite and I was concerned about my hunger situation before the start of a 90km road race.  Typically I would have eaten a whole sandwich and a banana during that 3 hour period.  I opened an Extran juice box and sucked it down and hoped the 300 calories it contains would help me out.  Shawn had also given me a cliff bar which I threw in my pocket for later.

After a 3km neutral roll out to avoid some nasty potholes the race got underway.  We were completing 2 laps of a 44km undulating course.   There was a 7km steady climb about half way around the circuit, as well as a 2km climb up to the finish.

Anne instructed Rebecca to attack early to start softening up a few legs.  As she regrouped, Joan set a hard tempo up the climb and quickly strung out the field.  She yelled for me to counter her move and I went off solo for a few 100m before everything regrouped.  Joan attacked again hard with Genesis and Diet Rite working to stay with her.  The peloton regrouped again, and the pace slowed.  I saw an opportunity and attacked hard.  It felt like deja-vu with no-one following me, so I set off on in time trial mode to see what would happen.  I quickly opened up a 1 minute gap and then set about getting out of sight to discourage the chase from behind.

I time trialled for 2hrs and 15mins, covering nearly 80km.  I only had 1km to go but without adequate food, my glycogen stores were completely depleted and I was out of gas.  My pedal technique became irregular and I was just going through the motions.  I had run out of water and was unable to eat the Cliff bar because it was too dry to swallow.  With 400m to go, I could hear someone puffing hard and looked around to see Joan and Tina Mayola-Pic (Diet Rite) ride up beside me.  To be so close to the end, I was devastated to see them but I tried to put on a brave face.  I knew I was beaten and Joan gave me a sympathetic look as we climbed towards the line.  With 200m to go, Tina and Joan both picked up the tempo but I couldn’t stay with them.  I was out of gas.  Joan fought hard to stay with Tina but had to settle with 2^nd, while I rolled across in 3^rd.  Joan had wanted to offer me 2^nd but I was still 50m back so she took the place.

I crossed the line, congratulated Tina and then headed across to Joan who feeling lousy about the outcome.  We chatted for a few minute and decided that with a little food and water the result would most likely have been in my favour.  If I had known how close Tina was, I think I could have found a few more seconds to hold them off.  On a positive note, after having heavy tired legs that morning, I was happy that I survived so long in my solo break and the workout will certainly make me stronger for the more important races that are coming up.

Results:

2^nd Joan Wilson                       (TDS)
3^rd Helen Kelly                        (TDS)
5^th Shawn Heidgen                  (TDS)
6^th Anne Samplonius               (TDS)
7^th Emily Gloeckner                (TDS)