Barry Roubaix Race Report

7th place Masters 40-50 category; 61.7 miles; 3:08:28 (19.7 mph)

Strava Data via Garmin Edge 500

Official Results

Barry Roubaix is part of the American Ultracross Series, it's the biggest gravel road race in America with nearly 3000 participants and it's only a 4 hour drive from home - This would be my 3rd time racing in 4 years.  The atmosphere of the race is unique, the whole town of Hastings gets into the spirit, the main street is closed with barriers just like a Tour de France finish.  There's a huge after party well lubricated by title sponsor Founders Brewing which reinforces the carnival atmosphere.

Hastings is a small Michigan town about 50 miles north east of Kalamazoo, at the start of March the weather conditions are unpredictable leading to big variations on course conditions between editions of the race - however the course has been largely the same for the last 3 years and consists of about 70% gravel roads over rolling terrain.  The long gravel segments are connected by short stretches of pavement (the inverse of the race namesake!).  This year because of a hard freeze leading up to the race, the Sager Road segment was included, this rutted double track "road" provided the most technical challenge on the course, it's less than a mile long but you definitely needed to be close to the front to avoid being delayed.  Sager Road is only 18 miles into the 62 mile course, a bit too early for a selection to be made, there are no real hills to create separations either so the finish has typically been a bunch sprint.

The nature of the course and the bunch finish really suits road racers who have the experience of "reading" the race from within a large group and are practiced at reserving their energy for the critical moments, and the finish.  I have none of these attributes!  I rarely race on the road, I lack the strategic experience to "sit in" at the right times, and I always seem too eager to work hard on the front.  Despite knowing all these things, and telling myself to sit in & be patient, I still think I failed to "race smart".

Me, not racing smart, off the front of the bunch!
Picture from Snowy Mountain Photography

This year, it was very cold (17 deg F) at the start.  I tried to get to the staging area as late as possible and had to sneak over a barrier to get a front row position, despite this I still chilled quickly.  I'm sure everyone else was the same, at the start the pace was high as everyone tried to warm up.  It didn't really feel like it slowed down much either, so the race was mostly neutralized.  After 60 miles of attrition, it all came down to the pavement run into town and who had the most left to kick on the last hill.  Then it came down to who could keep the power going through the crit style sequence of 90 degree bends around the high school.  The answer was Robbie Ventura.  He won last year as well, with years of pro racing experience and pro level power, he chose the right moment to go and rode away from the fast charging, but fatigued group of wannabes.  Even though I was found wanting in the final moments of the race, it was a great experience to see it unfold in front of me, knowing I could do nothing to respond.  It's still my best finish in the race and the points go towards the minimum number of races needed to qualify for the Ultracross championship.

I rode my Trek Boone in the same configuration as the Gravel Grovel - you can learn more about that in the Gravel Cyclist feature here (link)

Some details about the race (my race diary, probably not very interesting...)

17 deg F at the race start, 28 deg F at the finish.  Mostly sunny; rodes frozen in places; Hard pack gravel

Clothing:

North Face long sleeve thermal base; Bicycle Station jersey, Rapha Pro Team Soft Shell jacket (awesome); Bicycle Station gillet

Castelli thermal leg warmers under Bicycle Station thermal bib-knickers

Rapha merino socks, Bontrager RXL shoes, Garneau over-shoes

Nutrition:

Pre-ride

1 x Ugo cherry & cacao

1 x Macha & Lemons Skratch labs drink

On the ride:

4 x Orange & Caffeine Cliff shot bloks

1 x Hammer nutrition apple & cinamon gell

(too cold for Ugo bars!)

2 x Skratch labs hydration mix (Orange)

Post ride:

1 x Ugo Nutter bar

1 x Skratch labs hydration (Rasberry)

Check out UGo Bars for great gluten free, vegan, home made energy food

Check out Skratch Labs for great exercise hydration

Bike:

Boone Di2

CX0 tires @50 psi warm as I got them out of the car (figured they would lose ~5psi  as they cooled down to the 17 deg F ambient)

Brake pads need replacing

Gravel Grovel 2014 Race Report

First Place Overall, Masters 40+ winner (3 hours 31 mins)
Strava Data via Garmin Edge

The Very Cool Stone Winner's Trophy - A bit like Paris-Roubaix!

6 Years of race entry plates & the original event poster

The Gravel Grovel is held every year the weekend after Thanksgiving in my "backyard", the Hoosier National Forest, I've participated in all 6 editions.  This year, it was also the final round of the American Ultra Cross series of 8 gravel road races which spans almost the entire year from February (Southern Cross) to November.  It was a big race for me this year, having won the event in 2013, I wanted to defend my title and there was a deeper field of local riders including Ryan Knapp as well as visitors from further afield such as Garth Prosser and Mike Simonson who race most of the Ultracross series and are all tough competitors.

I've split this report into 3 sections - a brief recap of the race as it happened to me - some data analysis comparing 2013 and 2014 - and finally some details about the bike setup I used.

Also check out Jayson O'Mahoney's Gravel Cyclist page with Race Report and Race Video

Race Summary

I wrote lots of words about the race but figured it needed to be more succinct so here's the race in 5 Tweet like phases:

• Follow Knapp - Ryan was a marked man at the start, no one wanted to work hard and everyone wanted Ryan's wheel, so the road race "dance" began.
• Where's Knapp? - Ryan cut his tire only 15 miles into the race, when we emerged from the Combs road segment, he was already heading home.
• Then there were 6 - After the new segment of the course, there were more losses, leaving only 6 in the lead group (Atwell, Simonson, Hauber, Golas, Keck, Proctor)
• The bold attack - after I effectively neutralized the Nebo single track by taking the lead & setting a steady tempo, Jonathan Atwell attacked on the Mt Baldy climb gaining about a minute - I thought this was the winning move as we struggled to pull him back.
• The final attack - to our surprise we did regroup, catching Atwell in the final trail segment.  I made an all-out effort in the 5 minute long final climb to the Fire Tower.  At the top, with 10 miles to the finish, I was on my own.  I kept the pressure on and solo'd to the finish for my second win.

Lead Group on Trail 21

Data Analysis

The table shows the race broken down into 15 segments (not actual Strava segments) and a comparison of my times in the 2013 and 2014 editions of the race.  The final column is the difference in time (in seconds) - red means I was slower this year than last, green means faster than 2013.

• Despite what felt to me like anxiety in the bunch about finding & holding Ryan Knapp's wheel and the surge / coast effect, we were actually faster through segment 2 to the top of the fire tower after the "neutralized" start.
• Segment 3 was definitely slower with soft ground making for harder work and a larger bunch definitely meant there were times when we all sat up (last year, Andy Messer was just drilling it all the way to Combs).
• Through Combs we were significantly faster, I think I lost time time in 2013 with a couple of force dismounts as riders ahead of me stopped.  This year I was closer to the front & had no issues.
• Section 5 is where the two courses are different - so comparison isn't valid
• Over Nebo trail (segment 6) I'm amazed at how consistent the time is, within 5 secs.  This was a hard tempo pace, not all-out, it's not a place to win the race (with nearly 40 miles still to go) but it was important to ensure that the lead group of 6 stayed away from any chasers.
• The faster gravel & pavement section 7 from the top of Nebo to the start of the Mt Baldy climb is very exposed and we had a head wind this year.  Mike Simonson was pushing the effort the year, but we were still slower than 2013, my guess is that the wind was the main factor.
• The next section (8) covers two sustained gravel climbs.  The first (Mt Baldy) is where Jonathan Atwell attacked the group & went clear.  We tried to counter on the short pavement section between the climbs but he stayed away.  The attack & chase made us faster than the race in 2013 when we largely stayed together (no serious attacks).
• The same is true for the next section - on the pavement, Mike Simonson, Nathan Keck and I worked pretty well in rotation trying to close the gap on Atwell.  This increased the speed over 2013.
• Trail 21 (segment 10) was much harder going than last year - soft ground made the climbs much harder work, last year there was still some frozen sections.  We dropped a lot of time here, half a minute in only a 5 minute segment.
• Segment 11 was also different between the 2013 and 2014 races - the same roads, but direction was reversed.  I personlly think that the Polk Patch road ascent in this years route is harder than the climb towards Hickory ridge that we took last year - however the time was faster in 2014 so maybe it's just perception on my part.
• Segment 12 - Trail 20 - the final section of trail had us visibly catching Atwell.  Simonson kept the pressure on and we closed the gap before emerging on to Fire Tower road.  This trail is mostly wooded, not exposed like Trail 21 so the ground condition was better and having a rabbit to chase down I'm sure influenced our time which was faster than 2013.
• Climb to the Fire Tower - this is where I attacked in both years, the actual climb only takes about 5 minutes, this segment includes some rolling terrain before the real climb.  The road was softer than in 2013 making it slower going, but I was also more fatigued.  We'd all worked hard in the group trying to catch Atwell and I could feel the efforts in my legs when I decided to attack.  Last year, I felt confident I would ride away from the group, this year I really didn't know - I was all-in and if anyone stuck with me to the top, I knew I would not be able to counter.  The ground condition & fatigue all show in the 70 secs (nearly 9%) slower time this year.
• From the top of the Fire Tower climb to the finish is about 10 miles (Segment 14).  This is split between 5 miles of rolling loose gravel roads that sap your strength and morale and then 5 miles of fast hard pack mostly downhill to the finish.  I think that the road was in about the same condition as last year, but I was still slower by 45 secs through this segment - with a clear lead, I wanted to stay out of sight of chasers, so tried to sustain as much power as possible but I was definitely not as strong over this section as I was last year.

Bike set-up

Trek Boone

Shimano Di2 10 speed

Shimano Ultegra tubeless wheels

Bontrager CX0 34mm tires (tubeless with Stans) @ 45 psi

34 / 46 chain rings

11-28 Cassette

I only realized after the race that I had short changed myself on gearing.  Last year I rode a 38/46 (non-compact) chainring but used a SRAM WiFli rear mech with a 12-32 cassette.  My lowest gear in 2013 was 38/32 = 1.19; whereas this year I rode 34/28 = 1.21.  It's not even 2% different and to be honest, climbing Combs and Nebo were both OK with this gearing, I don't think I'd try to change it for anything lower.

Death Marched

The Sub-9 Death March is in it's 4th year as a slightly off beat cycling event / race.  The event is based at the Mid West Trailrider Center, just like the Sub-9 Gravel Grovel.  Unlike the Gravel Grovel, there is no route only a collection of pioneer era cemeteries spread throughout the Hoosier National forest which are used as checkpoints.  Teams of two have to plan their own route visiting cemeteries to collect time bonuses whilst including the 5 mandatory checkpoints declared by the event organizers, the lowest net time (ride time with time bonuses subtracted) wins.  This years event took place on Saturday March 8th.

My Death March was a very different experience than originally planned.  After much discussion, Angus, my 8 year old son and I had planned to ride in the Parent & Child category on our tandem:

However, the snow & ice prevented us getting in any training rides and the weather in the week ahead of the event still looked grim.  We made a last minute decision for Angus to stay at home and I was honored to take up Matt Battin's offer to ride with him as a last minute stand-in.  In one stroke this event went from a bit of fun to having the credentials of a serious contender.

The "serious contender" factor was diluted by the fact that neither Matt or I had trained for the ride, nor had we done any reconnaissance of potential routes.  Fortunately for us, the list of cemeteries hadn't changed since last year, so at least we knew where they all were.  Also, Matt had recently returned from a MTB trip to Sedona where he'd ridden every day for a week with many rides over 2 hours and I was (hopefully) carrying some form from Southern Cross, although since Feb 22nd, I had been running pretty much exclusively.

On race day, there was a great turn out and the weather was actually quite nice (only 6 days earlier we'd had freezing rain topped with a couple of inches of snow!).  The Bicycle Station was well represented with at least 4 teams representing and there were many other friends & acquaintances not seen since the Cyclocross season at the end of last year.  Our aspirations of a good performance were further buoyed by the absence of multiple winners, Don Galligher & Pawel Rutkowski from the entry list - scratch one team who might beat us off the list!

Bicycle Station Teams before the start

Waiting for the start

From the go, 3 of the 4 Bicycle Station teams headed away from the crowds, electing to ride the horse trail 90 from the start up to the Hickory Ridge fire road.  There's been much debate about this vs the road route - it's definitely shorter but the trail conditions can be variable although with still frozen ground conditions it seemed like a pretty fast ascent.  We were surprised (and a bit frustrated) to find two riders ahead of us as we emerged from the train onto the gravel road.  We caught up with Jeremiah Johnson and Craig Baker (Speedway Wheelmen) and they rode with us to the first cemetery at Hickory Grove.  It was clear that the road had been a couple of minutes quicker than our trail choice, a fact that gnawed at me for the rest of the ride and proved to be significant in the final results.

Compared to the Gravel Grovel, our Death March route took in significantly more trail - despite this, Matt and I both elected to ride Cyclocross bikes with a view to the long gravel road sections.  Matt was riding his new Trek Boone and I was using my Trek Cronus - we were both amazed by how comfortable and confident we found these bikes on technical trails both descending & climbing, hopping logs and riding ruts.  It really didn't feel like we were giving up much compared to a mountain bike.

We made our way to Callahan, Cornett, Hanner, Thompson, Houston cemeteries.  90 mins into the ride, we arrived a Lutes, where Matt and I had dropped water bottles and some food - we also shed heavier gloves and jackets to be picked up on the way home later in the day.  Doubling back on ourselves, we saw Andy Messer and Jeff Fetterer, our Bicycle Station team mates heading towards Lutes for their water stop, only a few minutes behind us on the road.

The next section of the ride was quite a long drag to the mandatory checkpoint at Elkinsville - the choice being either a long pavement ride past Story or an extended trail ride on Nebo Ridge to connect with the singletrack section of Combs Road.  We chose the trail route, but rising temperatures meant the ground was no longer frozen and Combs Road was a muddy slop-fest.  There were a lot of teams heading in both directions on Combs Road and the gravel road out to Elkinsville, after our descent I was dreading the return leg on Combs however I found both strength and enough traction to ride the climb.

Once back on the gravel heading to Maumee bridge it was clear that Matt was going through his dark patch.  We were close to 3 hours into the ride and everyone goes through dips on long rides, this was Matt's.  We maintained a steady pace, but with tired legs at the Maumee bridge we made what turned out to be a critically flawed tactical decision to miss the short out & back to Fleetwood Cemetery.  Instead we pushed on to the mandatory Robertson cemetery and then climbed Fire Tower road with Matt suffering all the way.  We had to get off our bikes & walk the stairs to the top of the fire tower - this was a good time to fill up water bottles and eat some of the food we were carrying without being bounced around by the gravel, I had some caffeinated Shot Bloks which I gave to Matt.  With food, water and some caffeine on board his dark patch came to an end, we picked up pace and started to relish the thought of closing in on the finish with our final three cemeteries the sun even came out to warm our backs as we rode West towards 446 - that felt really good!

We hit Todd cemetery and the final two mandatory checkpoints, Hillenburg and Mitchell with Matt really hammering the final few miles - we arrived back at the finish as the first team back.  This was a good sign but we hadn't visited all the cemeteries, there were additional time bonuses available and it was possible that teams finishing after us with more time bonuses could beat us - so the waiting started.  Jeff and Andy rolled in about 15 minutes after us - they'd made some different choices on route and had also had to ride out their "dark patch".

Relieved that it's over - at the finish

Pretty soon there were multiple teams sitting out the wait for final results - we washed our very muddy bikes off and talked about all the things we'd do differently next time (like ride the road to Hickory Ridge instead of taking the trail....).  Fortunately Yats turned up to serve food for all the finishers and Upland Brewery turned up with beer for all the finishers - all of a sudden, the results seemed less important!

The results took some time - Tania from Sub-9 had to collate all the teams finish times and the cemeteries they'd visited to determine the net times which set the final positions.  Matt and I had to get back to Columbus for family commitments before the final announcements so it was disappointing when Jeff Fetterer called to tell us we'd ended up 2nd place, by only 3 minutes, from Tim Brown and Kirk Grynwald who had finished 52 mins after us but had three more cemeteries worth of time bonuses adding up to 55 mins.  Our trail vs road decision right at the start of the race probably impacted our time by about 3 mins, and in hindsight, even a slow ride out & back to Fleetwood would have improved our net time by 3-4 mins - two factors in our 4 hour ride which might have changed the outcome & got us the win...

It was a great event, a wonderful day to be out in the Hoosier National Forest and inspiring to see so many people out enjoying riding their bikes, especially the number of Parent / Child teams, a separate category for the first time this year.  For Matt and I, there is always next year - we'll be wiser and potentially better prepared!

Link to final results

Link to my Strava data for the ride

Bicycle Station Teams

Matt Battin & Tim Proctor - 2nd Male

Jeff Fetterer & Andy Messer - 4th Male

Blake Nolan & Randy Witte - 11th Male

Rob Serbent (Gnawbone Lefty) & Colorado Weliever - 12th Co-Ed

My bike set-up for this event (and the Gravel Grovel)

• Trek Cronus CX Ultimate
• Selle Italia SLR XC Saddle
• Shimano Ultegra Tubeless Wheels
• Bontrager CX3 tires @ 40 psi
• 11-32 Rear Cassette
• SRAM Force WiFli rear deraileur (32T compatible)
• 38/46 Chainrings on SRAM Force Cranks
• Avid Shorty Ultimate canti brakes

Southern Cross Race Summary

Back to Back wins for Tim Proctor & The Bicycle Station!  

Only 12 weeks after winning the local Gravel Grovel race, which was the final round of the 2013 American Ultracross series, The Bicycle Station racer, Tim Proctor, started the 2014 season with a win in the Masters 40+ Division, at the Southern Cross race in Dahlonega, GA

Southern Cross is a 50 mile gravel road race in the mountains of northern Georgia.  It is very different in nature to the Gravel Grovel which is held in the Hoosier National Forest.  The Georgia mountains make for long, sustained climbing efforts which can't be found in southern Indiana and the weather can be unpredictable.

The Course Topography

250 Racers lined up in the welcome spring sunshine and 50 deg temperatures at 10am on Saturday Feb 22nd.  The first mile took riders through a tough, winding cyclocross course in the grounds of the Montaluce winery which hosts the race.  The obstacles, soft ground and steep run-up made an early separation and a lead group of about 15 set off for the first climb.  Compared to the aggressive stop & go nature of the first mile, the rest of the race demanded careful pacing over the two main climbs.  After the first 7.5 mile long climb, the front of the race was broken up.  Eventual overall winner, Tom Turner had ridden away from everyone and held a 3 minute lead.  Tim Proctor was in 5th place riding with Mike Simonson (winner of the 2013 Ultracross series).  On the undulating roads at the top of the mountain and the long descent they closed the gap on riders in front, bringing a group of 5 together before the start of the 2nd climb, places 2 through 6 started the 9 mile ascent all together.  Trading turns to set the pace, this group stayed together to the summit and it was clear that it would come down to tactics on the remaining short, but sharp, climbs before the finish.  Mike Simonson put in a determined attack as soon as the road turned up again, a dropped chain caused Tim Proctor to lose contact with the group, eventually catching back up to the group by the end of the second short pitch had used up a lot of energy.  After a long and very bumpy descent on gravel roads, Mike Simonson, Nicholas Van Winkle and Chris Edmonds pushed the pace on the pavement as the race entered its final stages.  Already tired, and knowing that there were no competitors in the Masters 40+ category ahead, Tim Proctor chose to consolidate 5th place overall and a category win.  He dropped 6th place finisher, Jerry Dufour, with an attack on the final steep pavement climb.  Returning to the winery presented racers with a final mile of challenging cyclocross course, including a daunting run-up called "The Wall" - there were beer hand-ups on offer but none of the leaders availed themselves as the race for 2, 3, 4th places was still undecided.  After two creek crossings, jumping over a log and riding / running over the soft turf fields riders hit the final stretch of pavement with a sense of relief and powered the final quarter mile to the finish.

Tom Turner finished in 2 hours 58 mins winning the overall, Tim Proctor came home in 5th place overall, 6 mins behind Turner to take the Masters 40+ division victory.

"I think this is the first time I've ridden for more than two hours since New Year" said Proctor after the race.  "It's great to start the season with a win especially after the harsh weather has limited training.  The course was super hard with a soft layer of mud slowing us down in many places, there was no let-up even on the level sections."

Masters 40+ Podium

The Ultracross series next race is the super fast Barry-Roubaix in Michigan on March 22nd, however Tim Proctor will not be racing the event this year because of Spring Break commitments.  His next Ultracross event will be the Three Peaks race in North Carolina on September 28th, through the summer he will be focused on the DINO mountain bike race series.

Links:

http://www.55nine.com/southernx.html

http://www.ultracx.com/

Results >> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/104393597/2014SXResults.pdf

The Bicycle Station (@bicyclestation) >>

http://thebicyclestation.com/ ;  https://www.facebook.com/bicyclestation

Tim Proctor (@proctortim) >>

http://www.strava.com/athletes/proctortim