Nancy Morgenstern Memorial Bear Mountain Report

I can't actually give much of a race report today, as I got dropped on the first climb -- oh, I'd say about six miles into the 85 mile race. As you can imagine, I'm feeling less than pleased with my performance.

I'm going to chalk it up to a growing late season burnout, two hard rides I did toward the end of the week, and a lack of sleep on Saturday night. Also, my stomach felt awful all morning in the car down to Harriman State Park.

Let's see... Also, it was slightly warmer than my optimal racing temperature, I had a speck of dirt on my sunglasses, and thus couldn't see clearly, and I think the pressure gauge on my pump is mis-aligned, so I'm pretty sure my tires were under-inflated by about 3.6473 psi. So, basically, I had a lot going against me this morning.

The real problem was Dan Vaillancourt, of Colavita-Sutter Home, who attacked about two-thirds of the way up the longest climb on the course. David had been setting a solid tempo on the front (at least, it felt solid to me, as it was sustainable, yet not to easy) when Vaillancourt attacked. David and I both lost a few spots at the intial surge. Then someone else attacked, and Vaillancourt counter-attacked, and attacked again. I went into the red to try to stay on, but it was no use.

For the record, Vaillancourt must not have been quite the right rider to make Colavita's team for the Tour of Missouri, so he came to Bear instead. Clearly, this guy, along with a few others racing today, including some Kelly Benefit development riders who came out, are in a different league from guys like David and I. But really, I love being a 2.

So, we got dropped. We rode together with Kissena's J.P. Partland for a lap, and with some Empire riders and CCNS riders who were similarly dispatched from the peloton. No one really seemed eager to ride past the parking lot, but we kept on. As we went up the climb for the third time I wasn't able to keep the pace J.P. set, and fell off. I finished the lap, and rode one more on my own in which seemingly every cat 4 in the race passed me. This fall campaign is clearly going really well.

At least my legs look good, as evidenced here, by BVFer Jordan Jan.

I dropped out after the fourth lap, having been lapped -- on a 14-mile course -- by the leading trio of Vaillancourt, Roger Asphlom and a target training rider. It was really great. The ironic thing is that I thought today's race would be easy, becasue there were only about 30 in the field, and because I did well at Bear Mountain in the spring. Boy was I wrong. Mom asked me earlier if I regret going. I'm not sure if I regret it, but I think I'll consider more carefully the next time I want to drive that far to a race, especially if I'm in questionable condition.

David tells me that his two second power was 979 watts, or 15.23 watts/kg at the moment we got dropped. I don't know much about Watts, but that seems like a lot. By way of comparison, Nicki Sorrenson's maximum two second power in stage 8 of this year's Tour de France was 983 watts, or 15.4 watts/kg.

Word on the street, although I didn't wittness this myself, is that Anthem's Beth Miller won the women's race, and Vaillancourt eventually won the men's race.

The plan for this week is to re-group, and make one last bid for glory (and by glory, I obviously mean not imploding six miles in), at the Tour of the Catskills. Coach Scott and I had a heart-to-heart while I drove home for the race, and I'm confident that I can jump start my legs for this last stage race, but I think we'll be doing things differently next season. I'm so over 2009.