Sometimes racing conditions are not all sunshine and warm temperatures, but when things are at their worst, the true competitors rise to the challenge, and not just show up, but also excel. Ryan Rochford, James Summers, Donavon Hottman, Bill Mason and Bill Wells came out to race Perry when most of their competitors took one step outside and decided to go back to bed.

The weather was fine for the early races, until about noon. “The Bill’s and I got dressing in our new kits and we did look awesome! No points earned for looking good! It started to rain about 12:35. Race Started at 1:00 sharp w/about 10 riders,” Said Hottman of his Master 60+ race. At the KOM lap he got third place, but the two leaders got off the front and were able to hold their lead. Hottman worked hard to hold his third place but was just nipped at the finish. “At the finish I stopped and talked to Ryan for a bit as they were getting ready to race. Thats when my body started to shake and I realized my fingers were numb. I was soaked to the bone. Now it really started to pour. Glad I was done.” Hottman had to ride his race alone since the Bills both flatted.

Rochford fared a little better but his teammate, Summers, was taken out early with a flat in a race that saw the heaviest rain, wind and cold temperatures. Here’s Ryan’s account:

“Skittles and I went back to Perry, KS for a little more fun at the lake. What a miserable day it ended up being. We had been watching the weather for a couple days and every time a new forecast came out, it was worse than the one before. We got to the course with plenty of time to register and warm up. We registered, watched the Masters finish, and then warmed up. By warm up, I mean we sat in the car with the heat on, wishing the rain would go away. The temperature was in the low 50’s and just before our start time, the heavier bands of rain had moved in. We kitted out and put some of our new Chamois Butt’r embrocation on our legs. With 10 minutes to go before our start time, we hopped out of the car, toweled off our saddles, and rolled up to the line. There were about 9 Cat 3’s lined up. The officials went over some rules, did the whole roll call thing, and told us we were only doing 6 laps today due to the weather and the fact that nobody really wanted to be there. At this point, our field had grown to about 15 riders. I guess some people were taking their sweet time getting out of their warm cars. Lined up along side us was the guy who had taken the KOM points and finished 2nd last week, and a bunch of other people who were below James and I in points (we were sitting 3rd and 4th in points after last weekend).

The whistle blew and we headed down the hill toward the dam. I checked my brakes as we went down the hill, and as I figured, they didn’t work very well…at all. Carbon braking surfaces are notoriously unpredictable and annoying in the wet, and today was no exception to that. Oh well, it was unlikely I’d be using the brakes much anyway. As we headed across the dam, the pace was quite high on the first lap. I was feeling fine and didn’t mind the high pace. James sat on the front for a bit and then wised up and headed back into the pack for a bit. At the end of the dam, we were closing in on the women’s field very quickly. A few guys decided that a wet corner was a great place to pass the girls and then launch an attack. It was, in fact, pretty irresponsible and didn’t work anyway but everybody passed the women safely. I think everything was mostly together the first time up the hill. I had no intention of doing any work I didn’t have to since I was not leading in the points. I let the points leader’s team (Central Plains Cycling or CPC) sit on the front to do all the pace setting. Peter Oien from their team seemed pretty content to lead us up the climb, and he looked very strong doing so. I held onto his wheel and felt less than great, but not terrible. As we crested the hill, the officials rang the bell for the KOM lap.

During the next lap, not much happened. I did a little work at the front, but mostly was up there trying to make CPC get stuck on the front and get tired. My goal at this point in the race was to get them tired and get James in a good position for the KOM and the win. As we got near the hill, I wanted to be sitting around 3rd wheel with James right behind me and that’s exactly what happened. Peter Oien was on the front with a large non-climber behind him, and then me and James. As Peter kept the pace high up the hill, the large guy in front of me looked like he was hurting and kept letting little gaps go. He’d look around nervously to see who else was there and I knew he was about to pop so I pedaled a little harder to get around him and onto Peter’s wheel. James and I had talked on the way to the race about the best place to jump on that hill, and as we approached that point, I got ready to go. James was still sitting on my wheel and I planned to jump around Peter and drag James with me, giving him the KOM. That sort of worked. I jumped and I guess James had a lapse in concentration and didn’t come with me immediately. I easily got around Peter and took the KOM (and the 4 points that came with it). Peter took 2nd and James crossed the line in 3rd. As I crossed the line, I eased up to let the group catch back on. Peter passed by me and said “Let’s go, dude!” I looked back and realized that Peter and I had opened up a pretty substantial gap so I went with him. I was not excited about this because James wasn’t with me and if this was really how it was going to be, I was setting myself up for a ton of work for the next 4 laps. As Peter and I headed across the dam, we had a pretty decent gap on the field. I looked back and I could see James and one other guy (apparently the points leader from last week) attempting to bridge up to us. At the end of the dam, we didn’t really see them anymore and our gap was increasing.

Peter and I worked together around the next lap and up the hill. When we got to the top, somebody yelled to me something about a flat tire. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but I looked at my tires and everything seemed fine. Turns out it was James. He had flatted and was back at the start/finish spectating. It was a pretty frustrating and early end to the day’s race for him, but since Perry takes your best 2 results from the series, he is still sitting in a decent position going into next week.

The next time up the hill, I had some problems. Peter rode a steady, fast pace up the hill and I couldn’t maintain it. He dropped me at the second pitch up the hill. Now I had to either catch him or ride the next 2 laps by myself and hope to not get caught. I put in a big effort on the downhill to the dam and closed a tiny bit of the gap. As we crossed the dam, I got into as much of a TT position as I could manage and just buried myself to get back to him. It took me the entire length of the dam, but I finally made contact with him. Once I did, he looked at me, and apologized because he thought I was somebody else attempting to bridge up to him and he was trying to hold me off. I told him it was no problem, but that he was going to drop me on the hill every time at that pace. I told him that I’d agree not to attack him the last time up the hill if he’d just keep us together going over the hill and he agreed to that. (Could I have taken him on the last climb up the hill in a sprint? Possibly…but he could have dropped me the next time up the hill and stayed away for the win if he wanted so it was worth risking). So, there would be no dramatic finish in this race. Peter and I rounded the course together as the rain picked back up. There was one point where I tried to reach into my jersey pocket to get some energy gel out and my arm was so numb I could barely wrap it around my back. On top of that, my fingers were too numb to figure out where the pocket was, so I just gave up on eating. I took one sip from my bottle the entire race. It was super miserable. My legs, with the Chamois Butt’r embrocation, were toasty and comfortable. It was my first time using embrocation and I can say, the stuff really works.

Peter and I rounded the corner to the climb on the last lap together and as the pace picked up, I saw no point in hurting my legs more than necessary. I told him I’d see him at the finish and I dropped into the small ring to spin my way up the hill. I still closed the gap on some Cat 4’s in front of me while taking it easy, so that was nice. I looked back down the hill after I was about halfway up and I couldn’t see anybody behind me so I knew I had 2nd wrapped up. Peter had no points from last week and I beat him in the KOM today, so even though I finished behind him in the race, I beat him by a point for the day and moved into 2nd overall in the points for the series. The points leader from last week won the field sprint and finished 3rd, keeping his overall lead, and setting up a pretty interesting battle next week. James still has a shot at the podium, and I have a chance of winning the whole series if everything plays out right. The thing about this race is that it’s not suited for me. I’m most definitely not a climber and both of the guys from South Dakota seem to be. They have a good chance of taking the top two steps on the podium if they can take a bunch of points next weekend. I think the key for me is going to be to nab some KOM points and to keep a breakaway from forming with either of those guys in it. I feel like I can hold my own in a sprint up the hill, but you never know. What I do know is that I’m really excited for temperatures in the 70’s tomorrow. The uncontrollable shivering at the end of my race today was less than enjoyable.”

Wow! This is setting up to be dramatic finish next weekend in the Cat3’s. Thankfully the weather forecast looks better for the big finale.

Special thanks to Roger Harrison of Lanterne Rouge for providing the top image for this post. See the rest of his images on his Flickr site.