The hills in the Barry Roubaix are like child birth, the skies were overcast but not raining and the day before, rain came down in buckets so all of the sand was nearly hard packed.
The gravel road route this year was a mile longer and included a devious little tract of sandy madness along Shaw Lake road. David had a chance to pre-ride it and updated us with the appropriate expectations…it was hard. It was also quite frustrating because riders would just get off of their bikes without trying to ride it and caused big back ups. But that is racing.
Well in advance of reaching Shaw Lake road though, was the beginning that went off without a hitch for Jim Gallagher and me. We rode around a crash at the mouth of the park that looked nasty, but then you never stop to see those or you get to be part of them! Jim and I were going to work together, but we lost each other in the beginning, and I never saw him again. I suspect we could have trimmed 5 minutes off of our times if we worked together as we both suffered by ourselves for the 36 miles.
The hills were hard, but this winter’s training and our recent training rides in the hills in Atlanta paid big dividends. That plus having my dad at the aid stations to cheer me on made it a new personal best with 10 minutes cut off of last years shorter race. (My dad is my good luck charm).
It was great to see a bunch of Team Active WSI jerseys at the race. Thanks to Charles for bringing the team tent and setting it up for us to hang around before and after the race. My final time was 2 hours and 18 minutes and, like I said, a new personal best for me. I finished 57 out of 119 , Men 44 to 49 years old.
Training works! (Losing 12 pounds did not hurt either….) Gonna do both even more.
Great to see everyone at the first big race of the year. GO TAR-WSI!
Jack Miner