My first experience riding on the roads around Laramie came in the mid 1970’s when I was a student at the U of W. In those days my riding and running was mostly training to help stay fit for rock climbing, my first true love. After all it was climbing that brought me to Wyoming but riding my “10 speed” was still fun and in those days a fairly unique adventure for SE Wyoming.
Unlike the people in the front range of Colorado where I live now, the cowboys in their pickups, older couples in their “tuna boats” and everyone else were all just curious and wondering what in the heck you would be riding a bike out in the prairie and wind for! No one ever tried to run me off the road, no one ever yelled, honked or gave me a hard time. The one time someone did stop me, I was riding up the hill towards Happy Jack (off I-70), was because he rarely saw another rider around Laramie and wanted to know if I would be interested in buying his rollers for training? After all winters in Laramie never allow riding of any kind, unless you’re on a snowmobile.
While I did not bike race during those years I do know it was much later the Dead Dog was created. When I did begin to race in 2009 I definitely wanted to race in the Snowy Range west of Laramie. The Snowies hold great memories for me: rock climbs by full moon only to have it cloud up so we could not see and of course we did not bring a headlamp. When we did top out on the “Red Spot” route Peter and I sat to enjoy the view as the clouds broke up and the moon came out. Just off our shoulders near the top of the ridgeline we saw movement. As our eyes focused we realized it was a mountain lion. Brief stares between us and the cat and then it was gone.
So you can see there are lots of reasons why I like coming back to Laramie to race and this year was no exception. What was different was the heat. Close to 80degs at 8:30 in the morning at race start in Albany at 8500ft, you know you are in for it. The wind was howling as well (but this is Wyoming after all) a good 25mph steady out of the west and south west, made for a slower and very dehydrating race. Even with the neutral water feed 2/3 the way up the hill climb I was dry to the bone long before race end.
We started with 66 riders from the 35+3, 45+ and 55+ categories. Since the first 11 miles are mostly downhill (Dread! We have to come back up that at the end when it is hotter, the wind is in your face and of course you are tired.) The group stays together, lots of anxious over caffeinated bodies wanting to go faster but not wanted to work yet. The turn west towards Centennial is always a little shock as the wind is now head on. Flat with little hills you can feel the pace picking up, people start jockeying for position and that right before the town everyone is keyed up.
As soon as the hill climbing starts the race explodes. The first mile is steep and fast, pretenders drop off quickly and as the hill gradient lessens we were down to 12 or so riders. A mile of up but not steep then drops off for a short downhill section before the 6-7% long grind begins. This lasts for about 5 miles all the way to the feed zone with neutral water. Three of us from my team, Chris, Bill and I were part of the group as was our main rival, Kim (who won the race last year), but the younger riders soon pushed the pace into the red zone for Bill and I. Chris was able to stay with the lead group and Kim was in between us with 3 others.
The race to the summit at 10, 570ft brought few changes to the racers positions but once we hit the turn around and headed downhill Bill and I were able to catch both Kim and one of our team mates who was in the 45+ race (Bill S). The four of us rode together through the flats and turned south towards Albany. This was the beginning of the longest 11 miles any of us had ridden in years. Not only was it hot and windy, but since our team mate Chris was in the lead group the rest of us refused to help Kim and made him do all the work. If he wanted to catch Chris we were not going to help.
In the end the front group had over 3 minutes on us and it came down to a sprint for the finish line. Trouble is after 55 miles and over 3600 ft of climbing the last 2/3 of a mile to the finish is the steepest climbing of the day. If you stopped riding you go backwards very quickly. So it was not exactly a sprint, more of a faster version of the slow uphill pace, but at least for a few seconds we spun our wheels quickly and moved the bikes forward, at least until our hearts caught up with us and began to burst.
Kim beat me by a few spokes of the front wheel. Bill K had enough and came in 20seconds back, Bill S stayed out of it as he was racing a different category. We all were glad that was over and ran for the table with bottles of water laid out. Congrats all around and discussions about the racing tomorrow already began.
I am really not sure how long it took to get hydrated enough to be able to pee, but I had driven back to town and was at the motel trying to recover to be ready for the criterium and time trail the next day.
But that will be another story.
