Specialists Weekend

After another week full of training (no midweek races) and an increase of hours for me, we headed into a group of races for the "specialists." This being those specialists who can dance up the hills. This is not really my specialty, being from the flattest state in the union and only having handfuls of races over the past two years with any sort of climbing in them. Unfortunately France does not do "I can't" so it's sink or swim here, you have to show up and give everything you can.

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 Saturday's car ride was not too bad, since Bauge was only a little North-esque of Angers, this mean only about an hour and a half in the car. After grabbing our numbers from registration, I got my first look at the course ahead of us. It looked like quiet the day ahead of us for the the Tour de Bauge.

Our map showed a big loop of a little more than 100km before coming back into Bauge for 40km of local laps. Looking at the course profile was personally discouraging, the day had 9 categorized climbs ahead of us before coming into the local laps. Thankfully the only Cat. 1 climb was 30km into the loop, making for a pretty epic first hour of racing. 

As we got underway, we were headed out of Bauge neutral for the first 4km or so. This meant a nice little spin to get the legs moving before things got underway. As soon as we got out of the city limits, the attacks came from the gun. Being that a lot of teams had full squads, the race was pretty controlled and nothing threatening went up the road.

We maintained a steady pace up the first climb and as we headed into the one category 1 climb, the pace had become infernal. I had a feeling things were going to split eventually but I was unsure when. As the climb began it was in a strong crosswind, as predicted a group was able to get a gap on the field. Unfortunately we missed it. I was happy to just make it over the top in the group, but Stefan was off the map and assembled after the climb pretty upset that he missed the move. 

Being one of the only teams to not have a rider in the move, we spent most of the day at the front. I did as much work as possible, strung it out up one of the climbs and spent the next 10 minutes hanging on to the wheel infront of me, hoping to not pop. 

Finally as we were coming close back into Bauge, we came through a chicane and hit one of the steepest climbs I have ridden a bike up. Thankfully it was only about 1.5km long, because there were riders getting shot all over the place. Personally, I was peeling out up some of steeper areas trying to be out of the saddle and keep weight towards the end of my rig was easier said than done. 

I made it over, but the next 10 minutes we were single file. Coming into the city limits a rider about 5 places infront of me pulled the plug, leaving a huge gap in the crosswind. I did everything I could to close the gap, it just was not happening at that speed. I rode in the caravan to the local laps and called it a day. As the laps counted down, Stefan had a bit of bad luck with a touch of wheels. Thankfully he only had some minor scrapes. 

Everyone was pretty heated after the race. When the team leader has a bad day it sort of trickles down on everyone else. I felt pretty bad for not being able to help more and explained my regrets and hoped it was enough.

After coming home, we heard that Sunday's race was a three hour or so drive, so the cars would be arriving at 10am. This did not give the most optimal time for making dinner, stretching, foam rolling, showering, getting ready and most importantly sleeping. Thankfully, I was able to get my list taken care of and get into bed before midnight. 

As the morning came, I was feeling a little better than Saturday but still unsure about the course ahead of us. Kalvis informed me that at some point in the loop we had a long 4km climb. I was not really looking forward to that. 

In the car, we headed for our 3 hour jaunt. Our destination was Villaines la Juhel and as we got closer my nerves decided to turn things up to Mach One. We were definitely going to be in a very hilly region, there were going to be no flat sections of the race today. Also the weather was not our friend today, rain was coming down and it was a bit chilly. Today was going to be a race of the hard.

Before we started, Albert expressed his desire for me to race very aggressively today, so survival was not on the menu. I had not been this nervous before a race in a while.

After a wet warm up, the clouds parted for our depart and sun warmed things up for the first neutral kilometers. As we came from neutral, the attacks were more organized especially since it was more windy. I had a feeling things were going to be in pieces and I was not getting left behind. I hit it immediately. Making my way into the breakaway. We got organized, and had a great gap. I took my share of the work and shortly this attack became a field split. 

Our group came to about 40 riders and about 4 climbs later, Stefan attacked creating a break of 5 up the road. This meant that our job became following wheels. For the next 30km, I felt great. Over every climb, I was feeling better and better. With about 10km to go to the long climb of the course the E.Leclerc team was assembled at the front because they missed the move. They worked on bringing things back and keeping it strung out. This shredded what was left of the group, bringing us to about 25 or so riders. Midway up the climb riders began to attack to try and get across to Stefan, I marked two attacks and did my best to hang on to the group, but completely blew up with 500m to the top. 

I got the thumbs up from Albert as he passed in the caravan, so that was a plus. I was also gathered up by 3 riders from the E.Leclerc team. We rode together up the next two climbs, where they decided to pack it in at the top of the 2nd climb. This was not an option for me. As I descended on a road about as narrow as a bike path, I kept a steady pace and had a car come up and tell me a second group was about 2 minutes or so behind. 

Figuring that the group would catch me sooner or later, I soft pedaled until the group was with me. One of my teammates was in the group as well. It was really the first time that I saw him all day. We hit two more categorized climbs before heading into the local laps. I knew that the rest of the day was about fitness and got on the front as much as possible. As things closed down, I was able to get 4th in the uphill sprint for our group and 14th for the day, surprising since a lot of riders had pulled out. Stefan sealed the win, and Kalvis took 4th. Overall as a team we nabbed 2nd in the team competition as well. It was a good day for Team Bigot.

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 After the 120km, I was a little rough for ware. I missed two feeds doing the whole race with one bottle. We also braved rain, a little snow at the top of the big climb and some dirt roads.  It was definitely a good day for me personally, since I don't regard myself as a climber. Being able to ride in the group is great for me, being able to attack is even better. Thankfully next Saturday is something I am good at, CRITS!!! I am really looking forward to giving it full gas in my first European Criterium. This week is also a rest week too, after last week of nearly 400 miles of training the legs will enjoy shorter rides! Thanks for reading!