2015 Bike the Bluff State Road Race Championship
Last year, 2014 I raced in the Bike the Bluff Road
race. Once that race was complete it was
on my radar for 2015. I wanted to go to
this race in tip top shape and stand on the podium (or at least top 10).
Preparation
As the 2015 edition of this race started to get closer started
to prepare for the race. I did not have
too many distractions so focusing on this ride was not hard to do. I was pretty excited because I felt that I was
regaining my fitness and form. I had
done something a little different in the weeks preceding the race; I had a “taper week” and a “peak week.” Normally I would have had a taper week in the
week just before the race. 
This year was also very exciting because my wife along with
some of my kids in tow decided to come to Show Low with me. Gary, one of my teammates, knew a firefighter
that had an awesome cabin up in Show Low which we were able to rent. It was very fun and the kids really enjoyed
the cabin. My wife and I had a great
time up mountain too. We even went on a
workout together while we were up there.
On the way to the race I had a special escort; Alan from Tolero was
behind us! In fact, he ended up being
behind us on the way home too…what a guy!
Race Day
On the day of the race I felt really good, except that my stomach was unhappy again and
I made several runs (no pun intended) to the bathroom. I got to the line along with my teammates and
we waited to be sent off. I was very
happy to have so many IC3 members (me, Ken, Greg, JJ, Eric and Michael was in the Cat 4's) in the race along with many JKG racers.
As we began the neutral start I felt pretty good. One racer came along side me and said, “Jimmy
Davis, Jr…when are you gonna move up to Cat 4, I’m tired of racing against
you!” I was glad to see folks that I had
raced against in the past. I felt pretty
comfortable.
As the lead car moved out of the way the race began. My
first goal was to get over the hill that I was dropped on last year. It is only about 10 miles into the race and I
did not want to spend an hour chasing like last year. I was able to stay with the group without any
real difficulty although I knew that we were moving at a pretty good clip.
During the race the only teammate that I saw was Greg. I was unsure where the other guys were in the
pack but hoped that they were doing well.
After getting over the hill that killed me last year I began to focus on
saving energy. I had a few rides earlier
in the month that had exposed a weakness and Buzz had counseled me on
minimizing the issue during a ride. The
group was big enough that there was plenty of shelter. In our race there was a break away that went
out fairly early. The breakaway had a
rider who had some teammates in the Peloton and those guys went to the front of
the pack at one point to slow down the Peloton, to which I was grateful. We caught these guys with about an hour left
in the race, however. My next goal was
to get through the little neighborhood that we had to negotiate. Fortunately, this year they did not take the
turns like a crit and we went through pretty safely.
This year I paid closer attention to eating and drinking on
the ride. A friend of mine had called me
prior to the race to remind me to drink plenty of water. I did feel a slight wiggle of the hammy at
one point but the cramps never materialized…I backed off a bit to keep the
cramps at by. Finally we came to the
turn that takes us to the final 3 climbs toward the finish line. I still felt pretty good but once the climbs
began I slowly started to fade. I began
to look at my power meter and try to ride at an output that I thought I could
maintain at that time. I ended up riding
near 3 other guys but we really did not work together. I waited for a guy coming behind me because
he looked like he had his second wind…he brought me up to two other
riders. However, one of them kept riding
away from our little group and we would catch him until he’d ride away
again…then we’d catch him (like a yoyo on a rope).
Finally the end was in sight! We had one right hand turn and then 200
meters to the finish. As I made the turn
I had decided not to sprint as we were together ( sort of) as we turned. But one of the guys started sprinting and so
did the others so I started to sprint and passed two of the guys. I was closing on the first sprinter but the
finish line came too soon. My family was
at the line and I was glad that I finished strong! I finished 34/57 which was not my goal but I'm happy with my results...I was about 20 minutes faster (less wind).
Final Thoughts
All in all this was a good fun race. I can’t wait to come back again next year, perhaps
as a Cat 4. After the race we went to
JJ’s cabin for some BBQ…it was fun. I
lost my wallet after the race somewhere so we did have a little fiasco for a
while but my family is happy, we didn’t crash during the race and everyone made
it home safe…I guess it was a good day!
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