Shattered - Leland Kermesse report

Not a good week at work. Major layoffs announced on Tuesday. Those affected informed on Friday. I survived, but I guess the stress got to me. Woke up on Saturday morning feeling absolutely shattered. Eyes were like beetroots, took me an hour to roll out of bed, weird. Not much enthusiasm for racing, but I feel all road races deserve support. Grabbed some brekkie, loaded car and made it to Leland for noon - 30 minutes before the Cat 4 start time.

Just enough time to register, pin on number and spin round the parking lot before rolling up to the line. I was scared to try any hard efforts because I didn't want to know how lousy I felt. Hoped that the first lap would be nice and slow in the 20+mph wind so I could get a chance to warm up. It was not to be.

I was astonished to see Ben Popper start in the Cat 4s. He has a UCI license, places in the top 20 in UCI CX races, and has an ftp in 5 w/kg range. I know he's not done much road racing but this is a bit ridiculous. Signs were ominous and i didn't heed them

We rolled out of the parking lot for the neutral start and this is where the race was already lost. With a ferocious crosswind and very high humidity all I wanted to do was hide and hang on. Not something Sean would do. In hindsight, I should have just swallowed the extra effort and booted it towards the front at the first opportunity, not caring too much about the wind. Instead I was so obsessed with positioning to the leeward side that I forgot about how far from the front I was. Riders were hugging the margin to prevent being forced into the wind by riders sneaking in and several people ended up riding in the dirt because of this. Soon as we hit the crosswind the race started to come apart, the first 10 or so riders bunched up and then it was a long line of guttered fools trying to eke out a little draft. A rider would let a gap form, I'd close it, rinse, repeat etc multiple times. The race shattered in the first 3 miles. My quads burnt like never before and with about half a mile before the turn out of the wind I had to let the gap go. Maintained a steady pace but was about 40 yards behind as we hit the turn into the tailwind. One guy was sheltering on my wheel and then a huge gap to the next guy and about half of the field spread behind him. I felt totally destroyed.

Hitting the turn I saw that Ben and a Venezuelan guy were ring off the front, a group of about 6 desperately chasing with another 10 or so in a varying state of disarray trying to close a gap.

The big Team Pegasus guy on my wheel came around and set a 30 mph pace with the tailwind. I was able to hold his wheel and recover somewhat. We mopped up a few stragglers, started up a paceline with a XXX rider and began to motor, blowing a couple of guys out the back in the process. I started to feel good and would make good progress leading into the wind while Pegasus really laid down some speed in other sections. it turned out to be a really fun course, with lots of high speed corners and twists to test your echeloning skills and wind-sheltering savvy. We were motoring along really well, the first group were out of contact but we were only 10 seconds or so behind the second large bunch of chasers and I felt confident we would catch them and end up fighting it out for some top 10 placings.

There were quite a few potholes and scattered gravel on the road, nothing that wasn't hard to avoid, but about a mile before the dirt section my rear wheel went flat and I had to pull over. What would Kelly do? Fix that flat and finish his race of course. Giving up and facing a lifetime of 6 am cow-milking to survive is not an option to be considered. Replaced the pinch-flatted tube in a couple of minutes (being passed by the rest of the Cat 4s, 5s and 123s) and proceeded to pump it up. Got some air in but it refused to pump up any more - the valve core had come off and lodged in the pump head. Lousy Performance tubes! That was the end of my race. Hitched a lift back to the start (Thanks Bob) and hung around to watch a couple of laps. First ever flat in a road race and first DNF.

The biggest surprise was that there was a cat 4 racer even stronger than Ben. They worked together and by the end of lap 2 had built up an enormous lead over the rest of the field. The Venezuelan guy had a bit more in the tank and took the win in the end. I think that both of these guys would have easily won the 123 race as well. My little chase group never latched on to the group we were chasing and the three remaining members rode the rest of the race by themselves. That's fortitude - I'm truly sorry that I wasn't there to work with them.

Incidents of note were a postal carrier pickup that nearly took out most of the 123 field by cutting the turn onto the dirt road at speed - no brakes, no indicator, nothing - showing total and dangerous disregard for anyone on a bike. I think some people may have gotten a photo of this and it deserves to be brought to the post office's attention.

The Dirt road was nothing - 2 relatively smooth clear lines. 23 mm tires would have been fine.
There was a terrific thundershower on the last lap that made things interesting. Props to everybody who finished out the race in it. True Hardmen/women.

Some very blatant illegal drafting going on as well. One cat 4 (in a blue/white kit) rode most of the race in the main 123 chase group - not cool.

There were also a huge amount of flats and DNFs. Circuit races and rough weather are conducive to this - abandonment is very appealing, but it seemed to be disproportionately high. The results aren't out yet so we'll have to see what the real numbers were.

All in all, it was a super race course with lots of challenging features. The exceptionally high winds and threatening conditions made life exceptionally hard, but there was some indefinable charm about the race that will draw everybody who did it back for years to come.

The early double-flat was a bummer but I still learned a lot. Be aggressive about getting to the front and expect the hammer to go down early when the conditions are windy. A good warm-up and keen concentration are essential. Already planning for next year.