This past Saturday was the River Gorge Road Race in Chattanooga, TN. The short course was 36 miles and ended with a 3.5 mile climb up Raccoon Mountain. The long course was 59 miles and included a 2.5 mile climb up Sand Mountain before finishing on the same Raccoon Mountain climb as the short course. Category 4 riders raced the short course and Category 3 riders raced the long course so being a Cat 4 I was planning to race the short course.
The weekend before the race I went down to Chattanooga with a couple Cat 3 racers and another Cat 4 racer to pre-ride and we decided to do the long course. I had a blast and especially enjoyed the climb up Sand Mountain so I decided to put in an upgrade request to Cat 3 prior to the race. I was fairly certain it would be approved, but I was still a little nervous until I actually received the approval (two other requests I made earlier in the year had been denied).
Going into the race I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect and if I would be able to stay with the lead group throughout the entire race. The race started out neutral for the first mile or so, but as soon as the neutral area was finished the pace quickly picked up. There were several attacks very early and it made the racing exciting. Someone told me before the race that the only difference between Cat 3 and 4 was the fast was faster, the slow was slower, and there more team tactics. I agree because I saw all that during the first part of the race. In fact, at one point I was on the front for what seemed like a couple miles and even though I was keeping an endurance pace, no one would go around me to take the lead. I decided to see how slow I could go before someone went around me and I made it to 12.5 mph before someone finally did.
I made it towards the front of the pack going into the Sand Mountain climb and was hoping I could stay with the main group (a breakaway of three guys had went clear earlier in the race). I concentrated on staying on the wheel of the guy in front of me and if I saw him letting a gap open, I moved up to get on the next wheel up. Halfway up the climb I looked back and realized the group had shattered behind me so that increased my incentive to hang on. When we got to the top we were about 10 people strong. Before the descent we picked up two more from the breakaway and by the time we got to the bottom a few more had caught our group. We ended with about 15 people. We were also told by the ref that a solo rider was off the front and had about a minute and a half gap on us. He was in the breakaway and soloed away halfway up Sand.
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful as everyone was waiting for the final climb up Raccoon. I wanted to hang on as long as possible and was really hoping for a top ten finish. The 3.5 mile climb is broken into two parts with a short descent coming about 3/4 of the way up. I was able to hang with the group until about 3/4 of the way up the first part of the climb and then got dropped off the back (by that time several other guys had also). I worked some with Will Montgomery (who won the Cat 3 TN Best Area Rider) to try and catch the group but he was also in the earlier breakaway and had worked a lot early in the race. The gap to the guy in front of me stayed the same (just a few seconds) but I wasn't ever able to bring him closer. I gave my last effort before the finish but still couldn't close it any. I ended up 11th overall out of 39 guys, 10th out of the group behind the solo winner. With it being my first Cat 3 race, I was very pleased with the result and can't wait for a full season racing Cat 3.
Also, after the weekend they posted the final Best Area Rider standings and I ended up in third place in Cat 4.
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