Memorial Day weekend saw myself, Jonathan Woody, and his wife Gabrielle Woody heading up to Georgetown, KY to ride in the Horsey Hundred. The weather was perfect for a long ride in horse farm country. We set out around 8am and set a comfortable pace that we could sustain all day. The route was different from the 2009 version in that most of the climbing around the river valleys was left until the second half. That didn’t mean the first half was flat, just not what most would consider “climbing”. The steady rolling terrain slowly added fatigue to our legs as we ticked away the miles.
Gabrielle found a riding partner from Lexington to ride with, allowing Jonathan and I to stretch our legs a bit in the first half. Although Gabrielle has only been on a handful of road rides since she got her bike last year, she consistently finishes centuries and long rides. By 60 miles in, Gabrielle’s riding partner turned off for the 75 mile route, and we proceeded as a group of three for the rest of the ride. Our pace slowed quite a bit over the last 40 miles since we wanted to stay mostly together. By the last few miles, I started to pull ahead and decided that it wasn’t worth regrouping when we were so close to Georgetown College. Hot, slightly dehydrated, and hungry, we all devoured a plate of barbecue provided for the riders before heading back to my parent’s house to shower and rest for a bit.
We rolled back into Nashville around 1am Sunday morning, still fatigued from riding 102 miles and driving for 3 hours. None of us would get much more than 4 hours of sleep that night as we all had to regroup in Maryland Farms for the Gatorade Criterium the next morning.
By 6:00am that morning I was in the parking lot behind the Brentwood Publix helping set up the race course. I had no intention of racing on so little sleep, especially after riding for as long as we did the day before. We got the last of the hay bales set up in the corners with only ten minutes to spare before the first race (Cat 5 men’s race) and my teammates convinced me to at least kit up and start the race with them. I figured I had nothing to lose, and would at least last a few laps before blowing up and heading back to the pit to help coordinate the rest of the day’s races. Turns out I had more in m than I thought.
I was gapped off the back in the first lap due to a poor start, and spent the lap after that cranking hard to catch back on. By the beginning of lap 3 I was back in the main field and feeling warmed up (typically you start a crit race by warming up – no such luck today). As we rounded the pinch point onto Maryland Way, I found myself on the outside of the field with enough momentum that I shot to the front. Still figuring I might not make it through the entire race, I decided to push it a little. Ten strong kicks and I was away from the front. I held a gap for a full lap, then knew that I was losing my break halfway through the next lap. I was caught soon after and dropped back into the field to recover. A few laps later I was feeling good again, so I did the same thing. The second break didn’t last as long as I was getting gassed pretty quickly, so I dropped back behind the leaders to recover again. Four laps to go, then three, and I was still in the mix. Harpeth had 8 racers start this race, and we had someone at or off the front for the entire duration, which was great to see and be a part of. I crossed the line at the front as they rang the bell for one lap to go and the pace immediately picked up. I was able to hold on until the hill before the final straight, but I didn’t lose much position and gave a half-hearted sprint at the line for 11th place.
We finished the day with several beers at the Cross Corner pub talking about how much fun the race was, how well our team rode together, and how tired we all were. The perfect ending to the weekend was that most of us had Monday off to recover.
