Barry-Roubaix

Barry-Roubaix is a gravel road race held the third Saturday of March.  This year was the fifth edition of the race.  I had started training January 1st for the race.  At one point I had decided that I was not going to do the race.  Then Michelle wanted to go scrapbooking on the same weekend as the race so I decided to register for the race.  I had done the race the first year they did it and had not been able to return since.

Due to our strange winter I did not get much training time outside until the last couple of weekends leading up to the race.  I did make good use of the couple decent days that I had and put in some good miles.  My longest ride was around 25 miles.

The bike and I ready for training.

 

I had been following the weather and reports on how the roads would be for race day.  It was looking like it could be a very muddy mess as the roads in Barry County were still covered in snow and ice.  Time would tell.

 

So on Friday I headed out for Grand Rapids and checked into my room at the Econo Lodge.  Very nice suite for a good price.  I then headed to Hastings High School for the packet pick up.

 

It was a half hour drive to Hastings and the packet pick up was very quick and easy.  I then called Kyle Stange, he stays in Grand Rapids and is going to college at Grand Valley State University.  I met Kyle at Founders Brewery for a beer and dinner.  We had a nice visit and I was then headed back to my room.

 

I got a good night sleep and woke up a little before the alarm went off.  I started packing up and getting ready for the race.  I had a very stuffed nose and a bit of a sinus headache.  I took a few motrin and that took care of the headache.  I was out the door and headed toward Hastings by 8:00am. 

 

When I arrived in Hastings I found a decent parking spot and started preparing for the race.  I had close to two hour before I started.  I got dressed and got the bike ready and started chatting with a guy that was parked by me.  He came up from Ohio for the race.  He was a really nice guy and he started two waves ahead of me.

 

The weather was cold and very light wind.  It never would reach the anticipated high and the sun stayed behind the clouds.  This made for a frozen and fast course.  I was racing in the single speed class with 13 other riders in the 24 mile race.  The start was fast and downhill.  It wasn't long and we were out of town and on the gravel.  The climbs started right away.  I was feeling good and really pushed myself right from the start.  My gearing allowed me to spin up to about 18 miles per hour before spinning out and still gave me a decent gear to climb with.  I didn't see many single speeds around me and was feeling that I could have a good result.  There were a lot of people along the route cheering all the riders on.  As I came back into town I settled in on the pavement and kept my speed up.  I crossed the finish in an hour and twenty eight seconds.  I went and checked my result on the computer and discovered that I finished 3rd in my class and averaged 16.3 mph.  After checking my Garmin I found that there was 1543 feet of climbing.  The course was 21.22 miles.  For my efforts I received a nice wooden medal and a jar of chamois cream.

 

I wanted to see the pros finish and missed them by a couple of minutes.  They were really flying.  Justin Lindine a pro cyclocross racer beat Mike Anderson by about 15 seconds.  Mike had won the race last year.

 

I had some Mongolian barbecue and after the awards had a couple beers in the beer tent.  I seen two guys that I had been talking with on the start line.  They were from Chicago and were up with 10 other guys.  Really nice group of guys.

 

All in all it was a great event and a lot of fun.  The only thing missing was my lovely wife.  We did a lot of texting this weekend.  Not sure what my next event will be, but I will continue to train and prepare.