Auburn Cycling Classic

"Won't need this," I thought as I tossed my rain jacket aside while packing up for the Auburn Cycling Classic road trip. The forecast was calling for cool temperatures, bordering on COLD, but only a small chance of rain. I shoulda known, though.  Anyway, with weekend temperatures up in Auburn, Alabama looking like they could range from the upper 30s to the lower 60s, I had my race bag literally stuffed with a cornucopia of base layers, arm-warmers, gloves, caps, and basically one or two of everything I owned. I was in the "early" minivan, so Sean, Kaitlyn and I hit the road around 11 a.m., which made for a nice un-hurried 5+ hour drive. Somewhere slightly behind us were Dustin and Ross in a private vehicle. Later that night we were expecting the second minivan with Gavin, Julia, Arianna, and Josh.

Yeah, I wasn't really 2nd.

Saturday morning we were up early for a quick stop at the McDonald's across from the hotel before driving out to the road race course on Auburn Lakes road. It was cold, but I expected the lack of clouds would have things warmed up pretty well by the time my race started around 10:00. We got the first wave of races on the road around 8:00, so I had lots of time to make wardrobe decisions before my Masters race started.  As usual, I went for the "warm at the start, hot at the finish" option, wearing a long-sleeve base-layer underneath arm-warmers, complemented by knickers and double socks. I didn't really regret it. There were around 35 riders on the line for the start, which was great for this early-season road race because it meant I'd have lots of wheels to shelter behind, plus enough people to keep things under control. I'd done this same race twice before, and each time there were some team tactics afoot at the front over which I really had no control, or interest. This year would be no different. The race started out pretty fast, but eventually settled down a bit until about half-way through lap 3 of 5. After a few fairly sharp surges a small group of four went up the road. There must have been one or two teammates left in the pack who were blocking because after that it settled down considerably. I guess there were a few brief attacks here and there, but mostly the rest of the survivors remained together. With a few miles left in the short 40-mile race I started working my way closer to the front anticipating a big pack sprint that I definitely did not want to be behind. The last turn is about a kilo from the finish, after which it's just a long straight, slightly downhill drag race to the finish. I came around the last turn about 4th or 5th wheel and was a little surprised that there was a bit of hesitation before the front riders started to go. They always go early here because you can practically see the finish line from a kilometer out. I was on a pretty good wheel but I sensed as we got closer and closer to the finish line I was getting anxious that nobody had really jumped yet. Not wanting to risk being streamed from behind, I ended up jumping a little earlier than I'd have liked, with the result that two riders came past me before the finish, putting me in 7th overall and 3rd in the geriatric division of the master's race. Despite the chip-timing from TopView, they missed one of the riders ahead of me and initially placed me 2nd in the 45+, which wasn't corrected until after the podium pictures. Anyway, I was pretty happy with my ride since I had been mainly interested in doing a reasonably decent road sprint that day.

Meanwhile, the Tulane riders were all doing both collegiate and non-collegiate races, basically back-to-back, which was a great training opportunity. Collegiate A had a huge field of over 50 riders, where Gavin finished mid-pack. Sean, riding in his first ever road race, was in the Collegiate C race where he finished 7th, and then in the Cat. 4/5 race where he finished 24th out of 36. Julia was 19th of 29 in the collegiate A race and then 4th in the 4/5 race. Kaitlyn was 12th in the A race and 7th in the 4/5 race. Josh finished both of his races well off the back. Results are on TopView's website and still haven't posted to USAC.

By the time we left the road race the weather forecast for Sunday morning was looking worse and worse. It was definitely going to be wet and chilly, although at least it wouldn't be as cold as Saturday. I was already figuring that Dustin and I would end up skipping our non-collegiate races if it was still wet after the collegiate races ended since it would mean we'd all be there an extra three hours. That turned out to be the case. I was a little disappointed, though, because they were running the course backwards this year which created an ideal situation for me, at least under dry conditions. This course is a big rectangle with a rise up to the finish line on one long side and a brick road along the railroad tracks on the other. Turn 3 goes from the brick onto a very narrow uphill half-block road with a chunk of concrete on the outside of the turn. That's followed by a still uphill right turn and a very short, maybe 150 meters, sprint to the line. Assuming you didn't get gapped off on the long fast straights, the finish would be all about good positioning, bike handling, and acceleration. Oh well. Anyway, despite the wet roads and everything there were 49 Collegiate A riders on the line for Gavin's race in which he finished a somewhat disappointing 29th. Kaitlyn and Julia, however, had pretty good results. In the Collegiate A race Julia was 6th and Kaitlyn 16th despite Kaitlyn having to take a free lap for a flat and the official not letting me push her back in. Later, they both raced the Cat. 4/5 race where they took 1st and 2nd.  The drive back home was entirely in a light to moderate rain, but otherwise unremarkable. Since Dustin and I hadn't waited around to do the non-collegiate crits, we were back in New Orleans around 6:30 or 7:00, which was a pretty nice change from the usual midnight arrival time.