The Korienek Clan represented with some sweet results and I got to chase Keegan through the woods. I believe he is claiming I said I would run him over if he touched his brakes on the downhills. At his point in time I will not confirm or deny such allegations. You can find my report of how things went here if you would like.
-GBK
A training update from “the road,” so to speak. It’s my spring break from teaching, and my friend James and I decided to set up a training camp in Raleigh, NC, where our other friend Jordan lives.
Throughout the week, we’ve enjoyed sunny skies and temperautres that have been consistently in the 80’s…even a few 90’s.
The terrain around Raleigh is low elevation, but it’s anything but flat. Constant rollers are found throughout the area, so it’s a great spot to train once you get out of the city limits.
On Wednesday 4/7, we took the car ride west to Boone, NC to spend a day in the mountains. Although it was only 56 miles, it was one of the most exhausting days on the bike I’ve ever experienced.
We parked at a hotel in Boone, and climbed very gradually a couple miles to get out of town. Our reward was a long relatively straight descent of about 500 vertical feet. We finally got a chance to turn off the main road and did some true climbing – apx. 5 miles and 1200 feet – headed to Banner Elk. the road was never straight nor flat, with curves and switchbacks as far as could be seen. Following a brief descent into Banner Elk, we passed Lees McRae College, noted for their successful cycling program, and the alma-mater of local pro Brent Bookwalter. Shortly thereafter, we turned right onto Beech Mountain Parkway. This road turned out to be the steepest 3 miles of pavement ANY of us had ever done, including my experience with climbs in the Sierra, and Jordan’s experience with Brasstown Bald. The average was 9%, with many sections above 12%. Seated climbing was not an option!
We regrouped at the top, and descended back into Banner Elk, where we refueled at a gas station. From there, we climbed a bit more to the Eastern Continental divide (apx. 4000 feet), then did a huge descent to a road called Schulls Mills, which was a quiet gentle climb of about 5 miles – not nearly as steep as Beech. We decided to descend and climb it again, since we all agreed it was the best part of the ride, summitting at the Blue Ridge Pkwy.
Following some helpful directions from some locals, we found our route back to Boone, accompanied by some extra unexpected climbing.
Going to have to cut this post rather abruptly, since my laptop battery is almost dead. Below is a link to the route. We did about 56 miles, with 5300+ feet of climbing.
Awesome day in the saddle!
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nc/boone/135127069433518750
It was an awesome race. The start/finish line is right in the middle of the 2.5 miles of gravel. We did a neutral roll out on the gravel and the racing began once we hit pavement. As expected the games began right away and lasted the whole race. It was one attack after another. I stayed pretty hidden as I chased only a few times in the first few laps. About half way through I began to try and get in a break, but everything was being chased down. On the forth lap there was a series of attacks that was putting a hurtin on most of the pack. I had just put in a good move and was about to hook on to another attack when we were ordered to slow down and let the stupid Pro 1,2 guys pass. (It was pretty impressive to see 2 teamates roll by with a few minutes on the rest of their group.) I really think that we were about to lose the pack when we were asked to slow down. We did a neutral roll through the gravel and then the racing started back
up, but all momentum was lost. I just hung around the front and waited for the finish after that. The last lap was pretty intense as the pace rivaled some of the fastest laps at Grattan. On one of the long straights a couple guys went off the front and their teamates covered the front, so guess who had to chase them down. I finally caught them and was pretty tired, but I had about 2 miles to the gravel to recover. I stayed toward the front and was ready for the finish. Chasing had taken a lot out of me, so the glory move was out of the question. As we hit the gravel the pace quickened considerably and I was around 15th. As we continued guys came shooting back, as we were flying. When the finsh was in site I began to hammer and was picking tons of guys off. I really thought I was going to get it, but came up just short in 4th place. Once again lesson learned as I had quite a bit left, but ran out of road. Florida racing is
pretty sweet and they have a ton of good racers. My race had around 50 guys and their was even more masters classes. They had 45+, 55+, and even a 65+.
Dan K
On Sunday, January 17, 2010, Geoff, Dan K, Jimmi, Scott, Mark, and I met at the Georgetown Ice Arena for a group ride to Grand Haven and back. The weather was 35 degrees, overcast, and just a hint of wind out of the south/southwest. It doesn’t get much better than this in Michigan in January. We rolled out shortly after 1:00pm.
I have been thinking about winning this race since finishing 4th place last year. The weather was awesome and it made for an extremely fast race. As I lined up at the front of the expert clydesdale group I went through my race plan one last time. At the start, I immediately went to the front and pulled very hard almost all the way to the trail. As we entered the trail I was in 4th place and already had a gap on the rest of the field. Ray Dybowski was in front and was putting up a good pace. Ray and I took turns pulling and after about 20 minutes Ray and I had seperated ourselves from everyone else. We weaved our way around many of the other slower racers and about 30 minutes into the race I lost Ray on one of the hills. I rode alone for several minutes and assumed I was going to ride alone the rest of the race. Then out of nowhere, here comes Ray passing me and pushing the pace some more. We would ride the rest of the race together taking turns with the pulls. I was able to get ahead at every hill and knew that I could win the race by waiting for the last hill. The only problem was that I didn’t know where the last hill was as I had prerode the coarse but didn’t know the exact route toward the end. Every hill toward the end I took it like it was my last. I went balls out to the top, dropping Ray in the process only to have him bridge back up to me. As I got to the top of the last hill the 2nd place SS passed me and I was able to get on his wheel and ride it to the finish line. I ended up beating Ray by 6 seconds and we were 4 minutes ahead of the 3rd place. This was one of the most exciting races for me. Ray and I battled back and forth through the entire race in the end I was thankful to have the extra push up the hills. I am already looking forward to next years race and defending my win!
Dan K