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What a week it has been. After my first win at Jeff Cup I was floating on cloud nine, first win in a bike race, meant a lot more than the three wins I had in triathlons, mainly because in tri's most are just competing for personal bests and not racing against the pack. With a good three hard weeks of training and almost 1000 miles for the month March I needed a recovery week, and my legs were telling me so as well. Every morning I went to start my commute my heart rate was low which was good, but my legs felt very tired, power numbers were low and legs felt like they needed a break. So a recovery week it was, although I wasn't planning on it lasting a whole week so I could get some spinning in before Morgantown on 4/3.

It seemed every morning the juice wasnt there, every afternoon the juice wasnt there, I had nothing and come Thursday afternoon I was getting a little concerned, I wanted to get something with some decent numbers in before the race to know I was good to go. Nothing, Friday morning nothing, but then like magic Friday afternoon everything clicked. I did about 4 or 5 90 second full out efforts getting my heart rate up and getting my climbing form down as Morgantown was going to be a beast of a race with 7 climbs.

Morgantown is about 4 hours away on the boarder of WV and PA, although the race is called the Morgantown Road Race it took place in PA, starting and finishing in small town called Mount Morris. Luis asked me about this about a month or so go, immediately I dismissed, too far away and on Easter weekend. But with some convincing and the approval from the better half I signed up. Luis and I knew this was going to be our type of race with all of the climbing, our third musketeer Tods was going with us as well to do anything could to help us. Also new member Jeff Eure joined us and this was his first race, and he picked a hell of to do, being a great sport he wanted to anything he could to help us get away and get the win. Also another teammate Luis was joining us there, we had not met before this but it was great to have 5 deep in Cat 5 race. Lots of support and with 4 of us having a strategy we had a great chance of doing well here.

Lots of planning went into this race, with 7 climbs of at least 400ft of climbing each most being about a mile long we knew could separate the field quickly and potentially get a group of good climbers to stick, but were concerned about the descent with people making up time. That concern ended up being unfounded as when we did scout the course the descents were very technical with lots of sharp turns especially at the bottom at the end of almost every descent.

The goal was to sit in the pack until the first climb and then start shredding them off one by one. We communicated a lot, Luis and I sitting there in the first few miles talking so everyone could hear us, keeping Tods informed as well as Jeff, we knew we had to do this to get anything to work. We werent worried about others over hearing as most were racing unattached or with no support from their team.

When the race started Luis and I stayed near the front, and if we ended up leading we just sat up and let some one else take over after having no warm up at all because of issues trying to scout the course we needed to go in easy and conserve energy. As we approached some rollers leaving town a couple guys tried to get away, no one was going after them because after a few minutes they were caught and spit out the back. We then asked Jeff to sacrifice himself and block the wind for us as no one else wanted to pull, he did so.

He got low and we lined up behind him as we approached the first hill, like most cyclist everyone wanted to attack it, sprinting up it but knowing we had 6 more i let them go, I knew I could catch them especially when the pitch went up and they were shot. And exactly that happened, about 1/3 mile in to the climb I just passed five by five they were falling off like crazy. Then in the hairpin turn when the pitch went up some one fell over, in what? who knows, how? who knows, rookie cat 5 move? most likely.

Well this separated the pack as he took 5 or 6 people with him. I didnt look just kept going. Luis leading the slaughter concerned I was near it, was yelling for me to make sure I was ok and didnt get caught up in the mess. I caught up to him shortly afterward and with two others, we agree to work to get something to stick. Then came the descent this one was particularly technical with two sets of S turns being very tight, but from my days of karting I knew how to hit the apex just perfectly and was even pulling away for the breakaway group so I had to slow it down some.

We were working together really well, rotating pace line we had a good rhythm going. Then came the second climb, obviously the group we had were probably the best climbers as we all stuck together on climbs and were putting even more time in to the main field. This climb being a little longer it was more my style and I had an excellent pace going, Luis telling me to slow down a couple times. Nick from WWVC was next to me, wanting to get to know a local team rider I started chatting with him, I was in Z2/3 not pushing too hard I began asking him questions about his racing, why he is a Cat 5 now, what other races he had done. In fact he raced at Vint Hill three weeks ago in the Cat 5 that we controlled most of and he took the win. So i knew he was a smart racer knowing when to sit in and when to attack. I then asked him about Wintergreen and TTs, to which he replied he had no desire to any type of TTs as they arent his thing.

Reading into this I knew this how to get rid of him. As the climb leveled out a bit and Luis still yelling for me slow down, I kept my pace going, upped it to Z4 power and kept going. Sorry Nick, I blew him up on the climb as I knew he didnt have the capacity to hold it with me as I continued to accelerate and the climb pitched up again, I broke away around minute 42 of the race. I saw him falling back, and Luis and the other guy catching him quickly, this is where my tri training comes in to play, ability to hold hard efforts for long periods of time.

Keeping training camp in mind I kept applying good amounts of power into the descent and saw the distance growing and the lead car pass them and come up to get in front of me. From this point on I knew I was going to by myself for most of the race, and most likely get caught on the rollers to the finish line. The winds were strong, from the south, which is unusal but it made for a great help on the stretch of highway that we were on. It was a a TT effort, keeping it in Z2/3 I have no idea about speed, dont worry about it but I knew I was flying. I got as low as I got, chin on the handle bars and resting my arms on the bars, this type of riding aero is more important than power because I can save leg power if I stay aero than try and sit up and hammer out massive watts.

As I began attacking the rest of climbs it seemed as if there was a tail wind up most of them as I passed numerous riders from categories that started minutes before us. It was like being a tri all over again, do what you can to not get passed at all. I told Luis that in the planning phase of this race. I didnt draft any of them as I passed them quite quickly and mostly on the climbs. Lots of paper boy type riding up the hills. By myself I was able to ride my own pace up the climbs and didnt have to worry about Luis sprinting up them to kill everyone off, one good thing. Because I would try to keep up and then end up popping myself off.

The descent were technical and always had a lot of cross winds, and with 58mm deep wheels there were times where handling was very difficult and scary, especially since some hairpin turns had wire fencing and a good 100 foot drop to the road below. I tried to go quickly but also let the legs recover as much as possible. The weather hot and I was going through water a lot quicker than expected.

My first bottle was gone before an hour in, and I was keeping to a sip every five minutes, and I popped a gel about 1:20 in so I would be digested in time for the finish. This made me even more thirsty with the sugar. I just wanted my second bottle to last until two hours, I knew there wouldnt be much time after that and could survive back to the car. As the miles went on and on, I did get lonely wanted to sit up, but having no idea where any one was and the fear of getting caught in the rollers I knew I had to keep my pace moderate but still conserving just in case I got caught I could keep up with them.

With the last climb approaching I caught up to two teammates that started in the 45+ group I believe, they were shocked to see me and encouraged me to keep kicking ass and going hard. I did so, I got up like I was in the freaking tour and just danced up the hills, passing more and more, and they were getting younger, I was passing the Cat 4s which started 15+ minutes before us.

From driving the course I knew there was a mile marker sign and I was looking for it around every bend, having no idea on the course length I prayed for it to be soon, my quads were feeling it, and I was thirsty as hell and had no water left. I saw the sign. I upped the pace a bit, past more guys. Irritating part is they would draft me so I upped it even more to get them off my wheel. I kept my lead car insight and just kept pushing. Saw the 200m sign, I zipped up my jersey in case there was a photog there and just cruised in to the finish. I knew I had won, but by how much, no clue.

After the finish I was chatting with a cat 4 racer that finished behind me and he start asking about my riding and racing experience, not sure if he was implying I was sandbagging or not but thought it was annoying. Trust me if I could upgrade to the 4s and do this I would have no problems with it, I dont want to be a 5 but according to the rules everyone has to do it.

I went up to the car and then back down to the finish line to look for Luis and Tods finishing, I had no idea how far back they were. I caught up with Luke who did well finishing in what he thought was 4th earning even more points towards his Cat 3 upgrade, awesome job man. A few minutes later Luis finished, he came back to me to tell me he flatted out there. He hit a rock in the road and got a pinch flat in the rear tire.

When he pulled over he yelled for Jeff, Luis and Tods to stop and help him. He changed the tire very quickly and the team work Jeff, Luis and Tods did to get Luis back to the pack was amazing and he was able to catch all the back up to the two other breakaway guys and sprint for 3rd but ended up with 4th. That right there is an amazing effort by him and the team work by Jeff, Luis and Tods.

It took forever to get the results not the typical 20 - 30 minutes, I am talking over two hours. We were back to the car before 3pm and they didnt start handing out awards until 5:15 or so after a long protest period. Lets just say things were as organized as they could have been. Overall the race was awesome, I loved it, the terrain was perfect for my style and cant wait to race it again next year hopefully as a 3 or 2.

Here is the WKO+ data from the race:

Lap 1 (2:12:16.48):
Duration: 2:15:03
Work: 1852 kJ
TSS: 150.8 (intensity factor 0.819)
Norm Power: 000
VI: 1.13
Pw:HR: -1.92%
Pa:HR: 2.01%
Distance: 44.589 mi
Elevation Gain: 3374 ft
Elevation Loss: 3428 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-51 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 000 000 watts
Heart Rate: 125 190 171 bpm
Cadence: 40 162 93 rpm
Speed: 0.2 46.6 20.2 mph
Pace 1:17 321:52 2:58 min/mi
Altitude: 909 1466 1129 ft
Crank Torque: 0 000 000 lb-in

Regarding the title about the course, the organizer posted a new race course for the race and then updated it without posting anything on the website. We were able to drive about 2/3 of the course after going the wrong direction we turned around and drove it properly and got a really good look at the technicality of the descents and the turns that await us.

Again, awesome display of teamwork Jeff, Luis and Tods to get Luis back up to group and what an awesome effort Luis did to get all the way back and get 4th.

Thank you Heather and Christian for your continued support and encouragement.