Changing Gears: Hanging On

Phil Gaimon is a young racer from Atlanta who dreams of making it in the professional cycling world. Last weekend, he raced at the Redlands Cycling Classic. How did he fare against the pros?

The last 10 kilometers of the Redlands Cycling Classic were all downhill, but they still felt like an eternity, as my race started going downhill a little earlier than that. The stage race was definitely the hardest in my four years of racing, with tough courses and unbelievable competition.

The opening prologue was 5 kilometers or so, mostly uphill. My powermeter shows my best 10 minutes in a long time, and near perfect pacing. I placed 61st out of almost 200.

I made the front groups in the next two stages, and started the last road race in 42nd place. It began with 2 laps of a crit course in downtown Redlands with sprint points on each lap, and then turned off toward a 5-mile climb. That means huge efforts right from the gun, and nervous positioning for the climb. It also means crashes. In the first ten miles, I fought my way to the front just in time to hear the sound of crunching carbon and exploding tires in the back of the field, taking 50 riders out of the front group in two separate crashes.

I hung on to the front group of 70 or so riders that made it to the twelve laps on the infamous "Sunset circuits." On this 10-kilometer lap, you're either climbing or trying not to crash in the narrow, twisty descents. Rock Racing rode at the front for their race leader, so they set a steady, comfortable pace for the first nine or ten laps. I felt good, climbing in the top ten to fifteen riders, and eating and drinking at every opportunity.

Then, with two laps to go, disaster struck: the top bolt of my bottle cage came out, and the cage swung to the side (into my pedal stroke). Unable to break it off with my hand or foot, I found myself off the back waiting for the support car and an allen wrench.

I came through the feed zone a minute down, and the main group finally exploded ahead of me. As I tried to catch on, dropped and quitting riders shot backwards like shrapnel. I caught a group of ten pros who still wanted to finish and rode in with them, 4 minutes down on the leaders, good for 36th overall.

I accomplished my goal of finishing in the top 50, but it's hard to be satisfied when the legs had more in them. It's respectable, but 36th place doesn't get the attention of the pro teams (even though I beat most of them), and you only get so many chances for good results. I suppose there's nothing to do but hope for better luck next time. And check my bottle cage bolts more often.