Through the wood chipper at Chippewa Creek

So today's race was the Chippewa Creek Road Race in Brecksville, OH, just a little south of Cleveland.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive for me, and I got there with a decent amount of time to register and warm up.  At 10:30 they lined us up at the start/finish line, there were about 35-40 riders, and then we were off.

The course was very nice, a meandering road through a shaded park with short rolling hills and sweeping turns.  The only real factor in the course was a long gradual hill with a section that kicks up a bit, about three miles into the four mile loop.  At the top of the hill was the finish line.

We rolled through the park, and I made sure to stay at the front of the pack. I'm typically not a good climber with my 185 pound carcass, so to make sure I had a good position by the time we got to the top of the hill, I started it first to make sure that as people passed me, I would still be with the pack by the top. Unfortunately my plan fell completely apart.

I was doing alright until we hit the steeper section of the hill and then my legs just seized up. They felt like the were just filled with cement. I found myself being passed by more and more guys. Crap! I tried to dig as deep as I could to hold on, but the more I dug the more I just hit stone. Couldn't dig any deeper.

By the time we were at the top of the climb I was behind the pack with a few stragglers behind me. I could see the pack that just dropped me. They were strung out in a line with other guys just barely hanging on. Once the road flattened out again I put all I had into rejoining the group, all the while my legs were bloated with lactic acid pain and my sciatic nerve was shooting through my back, hip and right leg. I had to ride through it, I had no choice.

As soon as I was about to rejoin the group I found myself at the foot of the long hill again.  See ya group! They rode away from me, never to be seen again.  During the rest of the race I caught up to some stragglers, some I was able to drop and some stayed with me, eventually riding away from me too on the last climb up that stupid hill. I finished the race, but nowhere near where I wanted to be.

For the following two and half hours on the drive home, I contemplated what went wrong. Did I not warm up enough (it was extra chilly in the shade)? Am I not doing enough hill work in training? Did I not eat enough breakfast. I mean I know I'm not a good climber, but I can climb much better than the crap I did today. A bunch of questions. I'll learn from this, get it sorted out, put it behind me and be ready for the next one.