Shenandoah TT & Miller School RR - A long family weekend

Man that was a long weekend.  All four of us took to the road for a weekend in the Virginia mountains racing bikes (or as Loren would describe it, sitting in a ditch by the side of the road - yeah, that's it).  The Shenandoah Time Trial in Shenandoah, VA on Saturday and the Miller School Road Race out in the mountains by Charlottesville on Sunday, which would be the age graded champs for VA and MABRA.

Friday we left Arlington around 5:30 to drive out and spend the night in Luray so we could easily get to the Shenandoah TT on Saturday.  Packing 4 bikes and all our stuff in my car was tricky w/ 3 on top and one in the back. 

Mad packing skills

 We stayed at the Mayneview Bed & Breakfast, which was very nice.  Here's the view:

The view of the mountains from the Mayneview Inn

from the Shenandoah News

Up early Saturday morning for the Shenandoah Time Trial.  Liam would go first.  He's decided he wants to race more.  The Shenandoah TT is a fun course, with a decent amount of climbing and I was a little worried how long it would take him.  But he did great.  He did 35minutes which is 5 minutes faster than I'd guessed.  Here's a photo from the local paper

Jake started a few minutes later.  He's still trying to get used to his time trial bike and get the position dialed in.  He finished 4th just 7 seconds out of 3rd.  Not as good as he'd like.  His teammate Avery Wilson won decisively.

 Here's a photo by Jim Wilson

Jake takes the countdown (by Jim Wilson)

Finally I went off in the "Eddie Merckx" class, which means no aero equipment. 

I did this last year and it was painful.  40km.  This year my pacing was better and I felt like I was in a good rhythm. But I pushed too hard and with less than 1km to go I got cocky and took a hard right turn at full speed and overcooked it.  I touched the brakes with locked the wheel putting me in the grass and the next I know I'm slammed on the ground, hitting my head.  I hopped up quickly but my helmet was all askew and my glasses had come off.  I tried to get back on the bike but it was in the big ring and hardest cog and I couldn't get started up hill; I had to get off and shift while pedaling with my hand.  I got going and realized my prescription inserts had come out in the crash.  they would have to wait.  I finished, not full out but finished, then went back and got my inserts from the ditch.    With all that I beat last year's time by 2 minutes.  I'm sure I lost at least 1 minute which also made me lose 2 places at least.
A photo from the local paper (before I crashed)

My helmet was broken, taking the impact as it was designed to.  I was a bit battered and had a few bruises, but it was grass luckily.  We would have to get me a new one in Charlottesville before the Miller School Road Race on Sunday. 

Loren was a trooper, basically sitting in a chair in a ditch on the side of the road all morning.
It was a beautiful drive over the mountain to get to the Charlottesville side.
Saturday night we ate dinner at Jake's favorite dumpling place on the mall in Charlottesville.

Sunday up early again for my 9AM race.  64 miles (really? ouch).  I had no warm up and my body was not happy after the time trial and crash so I was dropped very early, but on the second and third laps I fell in with a 50+ group containing Gino Elysa of HPC.  So that was fun but then the officials told me to go do a 4th lap when they were finished after 3.  That was painful and lonely and I really needed to get back to help the boys.  Instead Loren had to handle it, which of course worked out fine.  But when I finished my long slog the officials weren't even at the finish anymore which pissed me off.

This would be Liam's first road race (non time trial).  We were concerned it would be too hard for him, but for the 10-14 they dropped the big climb and finishing climb.  Oh, did I mention that the National Champion in the 10-12 Road Race was in his race.  The plan was for me to drop Loren off at the feed zone to give Jake a bottle (his 15-18 group would go first) and I would follow Liam in the car to bring him back from the 10-14 finish area. 

Liam waiting for the start

Jake and HPC teammates

 So I dropped off Loren and went driving around the course to find Liam.  I got to a slow car and wait, it wasn't Liam, so I passed that kid went a minute or two then 2 more kids, also not Liam, passed them and drove a bit, another kid, not Liam, then drove a while and finally came upon Liam and another boy riding together being followed by the boy's dad in his car.  Liam was doing great. 

Liam and his companion climb together mid lap

Liam climbs away

 Liam rode strongly and then suddenly dropped the other boy on a downhill and started pulling away.  He pulled away and kept going, finishing strong.

He beat 5 or 6 kids and was 6th overall in the 10-12 group and 2nd in the 10-12 from MABRA

Podium boy junior

Jake's race was stacked.  His whole HPC team was there, including Justin Mauch fresh off winning the Cascades Classic Cat 2 omnium (and submitting for Cat 1 upgrad) and the Miller School brought Chris Keeling who is a Cat 2 and Sam James who won the Jeff Cup Cat 3 at age 16.  Loren said Jake was in a chase group the first time through the feed zone.  We watched as the lead group appeared with Justin sprinting with Jake King (I thought Justin was Shane, my bad).  Justin just got pipped for the win.  Jacob Miller and Matt Clements were right there.  This was the 17-18 strong men (w/ Sam James also)

Just a minute later a rider appeared and someone said "who's that" and I said "it's Jake" and there he was.  He had attacked the second group on the big climb several miles from the finish and held them off.

He was 8th(?) overall, but 2nd in the 15-16 behind Sam James for VA and MABRA, so he got some hardware

Bling

A very nice result on a hard course.  He likes hard, hilly courses.

Loren got to see life of the parents in the feed zone and was a big help getting lunch and taking care of the boys while I was off on my last lap adventure.  I know it wasn't her idea of a relaxing weekend in the country but I'm glad she came.  It was a long weekend and everyone is tired.