Hi All! "De Vlees Huis Ronde"!!! What a great race! That's what my weekend was about. Left Saturday morning for Bakersfield with my friend Mark Palmer to get checked in to our hotel and go pre-ride the Vlees course. From the flyer, "We have found the course….come receive the challenge….
A classic European style 30 mile loop. Easy flats, steady climb, and lots of puncher climbs in between the flats back to the finish. Finish is after a steady uphill kick." Flats! Where? Puncher climbs! Where? I'm not complaining. The course was one of the finest I've ever raced. Saturday we arrived at the start/finish line and ran in to two riders from San Diego's Moment Cycles team that were also about to begin their pre-ride. The four of us took off not expecting to find anything that resembled a great course judging by the start/finish area. That all changed soon.
After a sharp, short descent almost immediately after the start line we hit a section a flat road that made its way passed an old vacant slaughterhouse. Almost vacant that is if you don't count the apparent squatters that seemed to have made a home there with an RV. Not long after that the road began to point upwards, and upwards, and upwards. The first climb was also the longest. Not steep, probably averaging 4-5%, but long. I'd say it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 miles. Eventually we reached the summit and as soon as we hit the top we hit another sharp, short descent. Right at the bottom of the descent there was the first of three turn-arounds. So of course right after the turn-around it was straight back up the hill which touched on 7%. Once at the top again, we were treated to another descent of about 2-miles. At that point we hung a sharp right-hand turn and kept descending from there. This section of course was either up or down, nothing in between. There was a second turn-around on this road, then you began climbing or descending your way back up this road. At the top another right-hand turn was made, (back on to the road we originally started on), then the big descent of 4-5 miles back to the flats (slaughterhouse), then the final uphill kick (touched on 8%), back to the start/finish line, which was also the third turn-around. Two times around the course for a total of 60-miles.
I finished 24th in the Cat 4 race. I rode it almost prefectly to my plan. The deciding point in the race was at the first turn-around at the bottom of the descent. I was a little too far back when we reached the turn-around, and of course traffic almost came to a stand still if you were that far back, and a group of about 12-15 guys hammered it as soon as they made their way around the turn-around. This split the group, and I found myself in a chase group of about 10 guys. That's how the rest of the day played out, right up until the last kilometer, when we reached the uphill kicker to the finish line. Someone attacked as expected, and when I stood to respond, both of my inner thighs cramped bad! Without that happening, I would of wrapped up a top twenty for sure. Not bad considering I've been sick (and still am) for the last week. Mark finished 15th in the Masters 45+ 1-4 race! An excellent finish in that group of fast guys.
Next up, the Devil's Punchbowl, April 24th. If I can kick this cough and phlegm before then, I hope for a high finish. Hope all is well! Until next time...
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