.....was one of the first thoughts that went through my mind after getting popped on the KOM climb at the Housatonic Hills Road Race.. Actually, it wasn't one of my first thoughts. Part of getting popped means your heart is now beating at approximately 105% of it's maximum and there is an elephant standing on your chest, carrying its entire elephant family, making it feel as though you can't get air into your lungs.. In fact, the problem isn't that you can't get air, it's just that you've driven your body to the point that there just isn't enough air in the world to continue the effort. It's excruciating. Easily the most painful thing I've ever willingly put my body through. So my first thoughts weren't about how much I could get for my bike. I don't actually remember what my first thoughts were, other than how much it sucked to watch about 30 riders ride away from me. On the bright side, this meant there were still about 20 behind me since the field was close to 50 for the day.
Housatonic Hills Road Race is a 52 mile race with 5200 ft of elevation gain. It's the hardest road race I've ever done, with vicious sustained climbs that last miles and climb hundreds of feet at a time.
My goal, as usual in a long hilly road race with the 35+ masters, is to stay with the main field. Last time I raced Housatonic was a nightmare so I was hoping to improve on that showing. To be honest, I felt early on that I was going to be able to do it this time around. I had really good legs, was conserving energy wherever I could and I was hanging in through the first major climbs without going into the red. And then we hit the nastiest climb of the day which is a 4 tiered climb that lasts about 4 miles and climbs a total of about 700 feet, the last piece of it is a mile long at an avg grade of about 7 or 8%.. And I was right there until the last bit, way into the red, dangling by a thread on the back of the field. The field was way stretched out at this point and I barely lost contact. I was thinking it was over for me at this point but a few guys came up from behind and we got into a really good rotation and put in a huge effort to chase down the main field. After about 2 miles of mad downhill chasing we finally made contact. The elation of catching back on was quickly snuffed when I realized we had caught back on just as the KOM climb was beginning. A 1km climb that gains 200ft in elevation. Needless to say, while 4 of us were chasing our asses off at our limits, the main field was enjoying the downhill leading into the KOM climb where the strongest would fight it out for the polka-dot jersey. I was with the field for about the first 500m of the climb before I completely exploded. It was all I could do to recover, turning the pedals so slowly I almost tipped over. I spent the better part of the rest of the race working with 4 other racers, catching other masters guys that got flung out the back of the field on the last lap.. I finished the day 25th. Not where I wanted to be, but I'll take it.
