Had a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Henderson Harbor on the shores of Lake Ontario for today's fifty-mile race. Fortunately, the ride didn't start until 9 AM so didn't have to get up too early or even drive in the dark. Didn't have much confidence in my ability today although I have done well on this course in the past. My goal was to hang onto the front group as long as possible and then either time trial or tour over the rest of the ride. Turnout was sparse with probably less than thirty riders for the long course. This was very foreboding as probably won't be too many packs and more than likely like a front group and then individual riders scattered over the course as they were shed. Had to take a detour that cost me warm up time so went into the start with heavy legs. Race starts out with a very short climb then a slight downhill before hitting the first of three or maybe four climbs over the course. First half of the ride is nearly all uphill with the final half correspondingly downgrade. Things fell apart immediately at the start as just held on to the front group of ten or twelve over the first uphill and got dropped in the first mile. Had some severe chest pains that felt like a Voodoo priest had my heart in his or her fist and was squeezing it. Not sure whether my heart was misfiring, had a severe case of heartburn or just severe anxiety. Whatever the cause I was not having a good time. Pedaled slowly up the first half mile climb and gave serious thought about dropping out. Could still see the front group already a half mile up the road and they were still trucking along at a good clip. The group had shed three riders with a group of two and then a solo young rider. Plan B was to just try to catch the rider ahead so hopefully won't have to ride the entire route alone. Focused on maintaining a solid pace while trying to outlast the chest tightness. It hasn't ever been this severe and usually fades as my body warms up and gets into a rhythm. Wasn't gaining any ground when I was passed by another rider that looked fairly strong. Hopped into his draft and wheel sucked for nearly a mile. Finally decided to go around him and try to take a pull but after doing so he got dropped. I really wasn't going any faster than his pace so wasn't sure whether he blew up or just wanted to ride alone. Never saw him again but still was losing ground on the solo rider up the road. Soon was passed by another rider that flew by me, and I wasn't able to grab his wheel. As the first few miles went by, I maintained the gap of that rider but wasn't able to close. We hit a pair of very short climbs, and I closed over the first and was able to pass him over the second by coming out of the saddle as he sat and spun. He then proceeded to wheel suck me for a couple of miles and didn't seem willing or able to work together. Decided to pull off the road for a nature break hoping it might relieve some of my discomfort. He went by and didn't ask what the problem was and continued chugging away up the road. I wasn't too concerned about catching him as we were nearing the halfway point with a final mile long climb with a good steep quarter mile section at the bottom. I was able to roll up on him before the climb and he finally talked and said unless we turned there was a nasty climb ahead. I had done this version of the course two years ago and remembered the climb. I went out of the saddle when the climb arrived and remained up for a good part of the steep section. I looked back and saw that I had opened up at least a minute on him as he was still sitting. Figured unless I cracked again, I wouldn't be seeing him for the rest of the course as it was mostly downhill. After well over an hour the chest pain loosened a bit although it didn't entirely subside. I was able to finally start putting out some watts and got the speed at least into the twenties. Caught another rider over the top and it was one of the pair of riders that I had seen shed after the first climb. He looked totally beat and made no attempt to catch my wheel. That was about it for the ride- time trialed the last twenty miles and didn't even catch a glimpse of any more fifty-milers. Did see one rider ahead near the end and worked to catch up, but it turned out to be a rider from one of the shorter courses. Ended up finishing above eighteen miles an hour which wasn't too bad considering my depleted fitness. My best-case scenario had me finishing above nineteen with a speed boost from riding with a group for a few miles. With the horrendous start I didn't feel too bad with my performance considering my non-cycling produced pain. Since this was a race delayed form earlier in the year, I had already entered a metric century deep in PA tomorrow. Plan was to drive home take a shower and then drive south for three hours afterward. Got home though and broke the shower handle so took that as a bad sign. Also, my body battery was again very low and took that as another sign to bag tomorrow's ride. Felt disappointed overall as had been finally improving a little during my stay in VA.
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