Back to the Bricks

03.23.13  Hillsboro-Roubaix Road Race
Category 3 / 9th Place

I made the long drive down to Hillsboro on Friday night to stay in a cheap hotel with a couple of our elite team guys who I didn’t know very well.  Andy and Bryan were already there when I arrived and when I came in I remember thinking, “Why do you guys have it so damn hot in here??”  Our hotel room had to be 80 degrees and, in hindsight, I’m guessing all three of us were quietly wondering why the others weren’t opposed to the oppressive heat, yet not quite comfortable enough with each other yet to question it either.  For my part, I was guessing these elite-level racers knew something I didn’t about the benefits of sleeping in a pool of your own sweat the night before a race.  Bryan had raced in Belgium, after all, so I trusted I was gaining some age-old Euro-Pro wisdom.  Finally, Andy couldn’t take it anymore and gently asked, “So…Adam…what do you guys usually keep your thermostat at in your house?”  Normally that would be an odd question but under the circumstances it made perfect sense.  “I don’t know, like 70, but it’s pretty hot in here, right?”  There was a collective sigh of relief as we realized none of us wanted it even nearly that warm in our room.  Andy turned it way down, and we called it a night.

After a Denny’s breakfast of oatmeal and terrible coffee we made our way to the race.  We were a little late to the start so Konrad, David, Joe and I lined up at the back of the field.  However, as the only London Olympics gold medalist in the field, Joe got a call-up to the front (I suspect this won’t be his last call-up of the year).  Through the first 30-mile lap we made it our goal to move up to the front, which wasn’t too difficult given the smaller-than-usual field size of 50-ish riders.  As the attacks started I could see Joe already putting in a lot of work on the front – there’s no question he had his head in the wind as much as anyone in the race.  Shortly into the second lap David got a flat and pulled out.  For a brief moment I contemplated stopping with him with the thought that maybe the two of us together could chase back, but I quickly came to my senses realizing that I would probably barely finish the race as it was, without putting in a crazy effort right in the middle of it.  Figuring that Konrad would be our best hope in a sprint finish I went to the front to help Joe make sure we kept the race together to the end.  We managed to help squash a couple breakaway attempts and then I found Konrad and said, “If we’re still together over the final climb just say ‘I’m here’ and we’ll see what we can do.”  I still wasn’t sure at that point whether he or I would still be around to contest the finish because the whole race typically blows up on the hill leading into town. 

We were well positioned at the base of the climb and I made it up and over without any issues.  It almost caught me by surprise when I heard it: “Adam, I’m here.”  Holy crap, Konrad’s here and we’ve got a shot at this!  I hit the gas as hard as I could down the hill and onto the brick road toward the final turn.  I didn’t want to take the front because it’s still a long haul from the final corner but we were sitting perfect in the top ten.  Coming through the turn I went inside but Konrad got bumped wide and there wasn’t going to be time to regroup.  Konrad kicked hard and was able to grab 6^th place and I came through for 9^th without much of a sprint left.  All in all, a pretty solid day of racing and a good start to the season!