That is what I keep asking myself about the Pescadero Road Race this coming Saturday. Originally I was not going to do this race, but signed up for it when I missed the Wente RR due to my broken thumb, figuring I should do one of the hilly road races this year. But the time off the bike due to the thumb compounded with the recovery from the Memorial Day crash has not given me a lot of time to prepare for this sufferfest. And to compound the problem, my right ankle which was rebuilt some 40 or so years ago has been locking up regularly for the past week. I may start a race on Saturday, but end up with a long training ride.
The Wife and I did wander over and do a pre-ride of the Pescadero course on Saturday morning, joining dozens of others taking a look at this beautiful but brutal course. The attached profile is a bit mis-leading; there is only one summit on each climb, but for Saturday’s little ride I tested my climbing legs on each hill then descended back down to find The Wife and then climbed back to the summit with her. And it is just a partial profile of what the race will look like since we will do about 1.7 laps, with the finish at the top of Haskins Hill, the biggest of the 3 climbs on this profile. 47 or so miles, 6 climbs, lots of suffering. It was such wonderful weather on Saturday, and the area so beautiful, it seemed like racing through it and not enjoying it would be almost criminal. Sunday may have been an even better day, but knowing that the Tour de Cure was passing through much of the course area made me want to avoid that traffic jam.
Sunday I did get out for a bit of a ride, mostly trying to work out the ankle. Often when the ankle locks like that riding helps to loosen it up. But not this time; it was locked and painful the entire ride. If it is still acting up like that on Saturday then even the training ride aspect will be abbreviated.
This week I will try to front-load my efforts, and relax a bit at the end of the week. I had an unplanned 24 mile ride to work this morning (CalTrain clogged, again), and will attempt the Tuesday Night Crit tomorrow and track racing on Wednesday. That should be enough before Saturday’s main event, though at least one person has suggested that I should do the Friday night track races, too.
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At least you can decend to the finish. That should make it interesting. The big climb is gradual, but it still has to suck.
As for the ankle, I have one word for you. Bionics. It is the newest thing. Check into it.
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Chris – you mis-read my post in part: “finish at the top of Haskins Hill“. So no descending to the finish. And the climb up Haskins Hill is not all that gradual; all the stuff from mile 10 to mile 18 or so on that plot is just getting to the hill, and that section is the “flat” part of this race. The climb is from just before mile 18 to about mile 20.25 on that plot, and it is about an 8% average grade for 2.5 miles.
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Nice course. I’d love to see photographs of the climbs. Glad to hear that the road rash is healing quick but shame about your ankle. I hope it won’t give you too much grief. Good luck with the race. Looking forward to reading about it.
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Groover – thanks. I will try to dig up some photos of those climbs. The two small ones are rather unspectacular, just nice steady grades through our local coastal scrublands. The larger climb is wonderful, a moderately steep climb through coastal redwood forest.
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