Belterra Circuit Race P/1/2 2011

This race was mostly an exercise in futility for me.  Preparing for the Coldspring Road Race, I had done 1 week of taper.  Then after the race, I was gone for 2 weeks on a business trip to Colorado and eastern Utah.  I tried my best to keep some fitness with running, but without specific bike workouts, I was not feeling confident about where my top-end fitness was coming back after effectively 3 weeks off.

Belterra is an awesome race though!  It is one of my favorites of the year.  Run as a circuit race/ criterium, Belterra is a longer loop that is in the shape of a big L.  The course loops around the L, making two U-Turns.  There are two steep hills on the long sections of the L.  This means that you are either going up or down and makes for a demanding race.

Going into it, I knew I was probably getting dropped, especially with competition like Heath Blackgrove ( Elbowz), Wally Groda( Bike Barn), SuperSquadra team, and Lawson Craddock (Trek Livestrong U23), and Andrew Dahlheim (Bissel).  They would split the race up, cause selections on the hills and have no mercy for the 2′s.

As predicted, a break went immediately started by Phil Wilkoff of SuperSquadra.  Two followed (Andrew Dahlheim and Logan Hutchings?).  By the end of one lap, they already had 35 seconds.  The peloton started to respond and slowly the pace increased.  After 4-5 laps, I was really hurting, and soon I found myself off the back struggling to stay with the group.  I made a last ditch effort to catch the main group on the downhill, but the pace was too high.  I was frustrated knowing that I could have kept that pace 2 weeks ago.  For the rest of my race, I kept a sustainable but high pace and rode around until I got lapped by Phil Wilkoff and Andrew Dalheim.

By the end of the race, everyone except for around 12-15 people were pulled from the race or dropped out, including me.  After getting pulled, I stayed around to watch an  exciting race.

Lawson Craddock and Heath Blackgrove were left in the main group, and were the main chasers of the 3-man breakaway.  With a teammate in the break,  David Wenger of SuperSquadra sat in waiting to attack or sprint at the end of the race.  The fast pace meant that the main peloton slowly became smaller and smaller, with only elite 1′s and pro’s left.

In an amazing feat, Heath Blackgrove attacked the main peloton with about 4 laps (5 miles) to go, and bridged up to the breakaway. He and Logan then attacked the breakaway to stay away for one and two.  Phil Wilkoff took the breakaway sprint to finish out the podium.

I ended up last out of the finishers, which meant 28th out of about 34.  LOL.  I probably should have not raced, but considering how much I love the course, I felt compelled.