Conrad and I drove out of Truckee at 3am to make my 7:30am start of the Pro 1/2 Berkeley Hills Road Race. 90 miles (5 laps) through the short steep hills surrounding the San Pablo Reservoir.
I was in a deep fatigue hole from the Tour of the Gila the week before, so I came up with a self-defeating plan. Sit in, don't work and eat. Then destroy the field for 40th to 75th place.
Lombardi Sports, Zteam, Webcor and Cal-Giant were well represented with riders. Most notably, crack addict reality-show-star turned international pro-cyclist Chad Gerlach was here racing again on American soil.
As soon as the referee blew the whistle to end our neutral roll out, Cal-Giant attacked, followed by Zteam, followed by Webcor, followed by Chad Gerlach, followed by about 10 other dudes. I knew as soon as it happened that it was the move to go with. My hesitation to react was tied to my pre-race plan of sucking.
But I tried to bridge anyways, and as it turned out I was about 30 seconds too late. I spent the next 3 laps trying in-vain to make it up to the breakaway. I was joined and/or followed wheels repeatedly of Lombardi Sports (who wasn't in the break) and Nate English of Zteam (who had teammates in the break, but seemed to by trying to catch them anyways). Cal-Giant wisely marked every move and we never made it more than the distance of a fart up the road.
I kept getting sensations of asthma on the backside of the course, and every time I would go anaerobic up the big climbs my whole lower body up through my abs and my arms would go tingly numb. While these crazy feelings didn't seem to hinder my performance, they certainly freaked the shit out of me.
After the 3rd lap, I didn't feel like racing anymore and watched the group ride away. DNF result for the day, but I am glad I quit early. The cumulative fatigue from training October though May coupled with hard efforts at Sea Otter and Gila have finally sunk in. Time to eat big, gain a little weight and enjoy a full week off.
Article was last edited on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 @ 1:28 AM
