Bo Takes on Patterson Pass

Patterson Pass RR
Sunday Aug. 9, 2009
P 1/2
Teammates: Parnes, Billy, Gomez, Thomas
Placing: 18th of 40ish

I had not planned on doing this race due to the fact that it is probably the cruelest race on the calender. When I thought about it during the week I used positive thinking and said that is my favorite kind of race, a long race with long steep climbs that you just need to grind out!

I rode my bike from the parking lot to registration (500 ft) I looked at my tire only to see a goat head in my tubular. What! When I removed it I could tell it had gone in deep. I spit on the tire and there was no bubbles to be seen, how lucky is that? Surely a good sign of things to come, I love tubulars.

We lined up at 8am and the field seemed to be twice as large as in previous years. All the usual suspects were there, lots of Berrys, Zzzz etc.

I was happy to see four of my teammates willing to suffer along with me, Billy, Ryan P, Greg G. and Thomas

My goal was to see Parnes ride off into the sunrise and so I could just survive the four laps of hell.

I very strategically place myself at the back of the pack to avoid the brutal winds of Altamont pass (anyone notice all the windmills spinning?)

The race started out a manageable pace up the main climb. At the right hand corner leading to the next significant but smaller climb I noticed a surge in the pack. This must be the escape trying their first move of the day I thought. Later I found out it was Parnes trying to make a move only to blow himself up. After that things settle down again for the remainder of the climb. When we started the decent towards 580 I saw that there was a group that had a gap. The peleton kept the escape pretty much in sight for the remainder of the lap.

The second time up Patterson Pass the peleton fell apart. I now started to realize it was getting freaken hot. With most of the pack now in front

of me I decided to just take it easy and get in a group. I saw Billy up the road and yelled at him to hold up a second. Billy was having mechanical problems and was not able to get into the big ring. While this was not so much a problem on Patterson Pass, there was no point in getting over climb for him so he called it a day. I joined up with three other riders on the descent and finished lap 2 with them.

Coming into the feed zone on lap 3 I was completely overheated. I actually stopped my bike and had Amy douse me with water before I continued. Two of the guys I was riding with quit right there.

I rode the third and fourth lap solo. With about 6 miles to go I came upon a guy who had been in the break and was so trashed I though he might die. I rode with him the remainder of the lap just to make sure he made it in okay.

Thanks for reading, Bo