Just the wind howling in my left ear. “It’s just you and me now cowboy!” I said to him. Him is referring to Ben Doom and we had just blown the remnants of our group apart in what I thought (foreshadowing) were fierce crosswinds. We were at roughly mile 41, not quite halfway and we had eliminated everyone.
I was excited and also annoyed with myself. “Way to go man...You did all that work to shell all your help...I hope you have a plan for what’s next, cause this dude is the REAL DEAL...you must have something brilliant up your sleeve...” The logical part of my conscious tends to be ripe with sarcasm during races...it can be extremely annoying.
My last gravel race of the season had started unlike any of the others this year. I was standing at the back of my Toyota Matrix. The car having never looked so small. I had been standing there for twenty minutes and I couldn’t make up my mind. What the hell am I going to wear???
The forecast had called for start-line temps to be in the low 30s and finish-line temps to be above 60, plus wind...a lot of wind. In the 30s, one wears completely different clothing than you would in the 60s...completely different. Also for the most part in the first 50 miles we were going to face either a stiff headwind or a strong crosswind. In the back of my car was nearly every piece of race clothing I owned, and I was desperately trying to make the right choice...and the weatherman had been right, my car said it was 31 degrees and the race would start in ten minutes.
I finally settled on a long sleeve thin base layer, arm and knee warmers and a cap for under my helmet...probably the most bizarre thing I did was shove a Holiday Station plastic bag under my jersey against my chest to protect from the wind.*
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| Freezing at the Start photo by Dirt Bag |
Thankfully, warmth came quickly. Typically, a race has a relaxed rollout and then the pace goes up. Not this time. No neutral rollout, so Doom blasted to the front like he had been fired from a cannon and within a minute our pace was well over 25 mph. Cold was no longer a concern and quickly we were a group of about 10. Early Selection.
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| Early Flying photo by Dirt Bag |
Around mile 30 we had been whittled down to a group of about six riders. Kyia Anderson, a super strong woman in our group, had just done a pull and swung off as we turned into a crosswind. I went to the front and pushed a steady tempo as we climbed. A mile later, I still felt really good so I kept grinding away as we turned into the headwind. When I finally swung off, Jim Bell asked if I was feeling good. I asked why and he said, “Holy Hannah that was a hard turn.” I realized I was riding better than I thought and by the looks on their faces, everyone other than Doom was starting to hurt.
The gravel in this part of the state was mostly hard packed, fast, and vastly different from what I’m used to. Near my house, the only hard-packed gravel you find is right next to someone’s house where the county has decided to oil the road to keep the dust down. Everywhere else it’s loose and if you are lucky, you might be able to find a single or double tracked path that is hard packed.
At mile 40 we turned west, now dealing with a crosswind again and entered the first gravel road that resembled familiarity in texture to me. It was washboarded and there was in the best case, only two lines to take. It was during that section that we entered this story. Kyia seemed to be having trouble dealing with the wind and the road conditions as was Jim Bell. Doom was on the front and riding away and so I swung to opposite side of the road in desperate search of a semi-good stretch of gravel. Once I found it I didn’t want to let up and soon it was Doom and I alone.
Ben and I didn’t really work together but we didn’t really oppose one another either. We just rode side by side for the next 20 miles. We had the wind at our backs and so we actually had some conversation. We discussed our families and kids, our work, trying to train and balance everything else in our lives (he is the owner of Revolution Ski and Cycles in St. Cloud) and we talked about events like Trans Iowa and Gravel Worlds. During that 20 mile stretch, the wind that was at our backs was increasing from 12-15 mph to 23-25 mph.**
The gears in my head were also spinning like crazy trying to think of a scenario in which I would be able to distance myself from Ben later in the race. He is arguably the best racer I had faced in the past year. He recently had finished 6th at Gravel Worlds and two weeks ago, he won Heck of the North.
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| Ben Doom and me 2 years ago |
If this had been a race with a lot of climbing, like the Woodchipper 100, which featured over 7,000 feet of climbing, I wouldn’t have been so worried. But this was the Dirt Bag and having looked at the profile, I knew we had little climbing from mile 64 onwards and a lot of crosswinds. Both factors favored Doom. Any attack I made on the flat, he was going to be able to pull back and so I decided my best move was to just hang with him as long as I could. Eventually he’d either tire out or would get tired of me and our partnership would end.
Our answer came quickly. We took a right hand turn onto Dellwood Rd. at mile 68. The road was pancake flat but the crosswind was unreal (now 23-25 mph) and I was doing everything I could to take shelter behind Doom’s big frame. I was riding so close to his left side that I almost forced him to have his arm around me. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t find enough shelter and he knew I was in trouble. He squeezed the trigger and a mile and a half later, I popped. I tried to manage my losses but he knew I was in trouble. He took one look back, stomped on the pedals and rode away. A mile later, he had put a minute into me and in another mile further, and he was out of sight.
At this point I sat up and decided to get myself back together. About ten miles left, don’t lose your mind here, make sure you still finish 2nd. I refueled, took off my arm warmers and Holiday Station wind-vest and got back to work.
The final 5 miles were pretty uncomfortable. I was worried about being caught and kept pushing as hard as I could, which was causing problems. This section was on pavement but super exposed to the crosswinds and I was dying a thousand deaths in cramp city.
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| Finished with this season |
1. Ben Doom 4:13
2. John Peter 4:16
3. Ian Hoogendam 4:25
We had averaged nearly 20 mph for the entire race. This had been an incredibly satisfying day in the saddle, racing with a guy whom I have respected and never seen as my equal since my first gravel event two years ago. I enjoyed some really quality post-race food, courtesy of the amazing event staff**** and then headed home where my oldest daughter informed me I needed to find one more race this fall.
“Why?” I asked her.
“Well your last three races, you were 4th, then 3rd and now 2nd. If you race again, you’ll get 1st!” she said.
“Ha ha! Thanks honey, I like your logic, but daddy’s all done for this year.”
*This trick worked like a dream and kept me surprisingly warm.
**This according to National Weather Service data.
***To only finish 3 minutes down was remarkable to me considering how much he opened things up in his initial attack.
****Special thanks to race director JJ Egbers for putting on a great event that had a great community feel to it.
Nice report John. Glad to have you join the Dirt Bag.
ReplyDeleteJohn, thank YOU again for hosting a great event.
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