Lost River Road Race Report

The Race: Lost River Road Race

Where: Mathias, WV

The Course: 10.5-mile loop with two major climbs with insane gradients

The Finish: 13th out of 45

On Saturday I decided to escape the heat and humidity of the DMV and head out to the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia. I was going to tackle the Lost River Road Race. I have never done this race before, but from what I have heard it is absolutely brutal.

I did the cat. 4 race, which was 37 miles or three and a half laps. As my field was on the start line some guy looked at his Garmin and it said 104 degrees. We were all pretty sure it was off, but it was hot as hell. Looking around I saw District Velocity had a bunch of guys and they all looked skinny (Note: Skinny = Fit = Fast).

After the neutral zone, we rolled onto the course and I jumped away hoping someone would come with me. No one did so I sat up, I am sure glad I did. I didn’t really know the course and after the race I thought to myself that I probably looked like a real idiot jumping at the start. The first climb we hit was the climb up to the finish that was roughly 2 km long and kicked up to 14% at the end. The front of the field set a pretty hard tempo up the climb that shattered the field and as we crested the top the group was down to about 25 guys. We got on a nice long descent, which I used to move up. My descenting skills improved a lot when I went to Colorado and rode with Wayne “I go hard everyday” Stetina. After the descent, we hit a nice flat section before the next major climb on the course

Suffering like hell

The second climb was a stair stepping climb with two major sections both short but kicking up to 14%. Some District Velocity guy named this climb the “Punch in the Balls” climb because by the top you were sitting on the very edge of your saddle. After that painful experience you got another fast, long descent, before you turned onto a fast rolling road and then set-up for the finishing climb.

My legs felt absolutely awful and were blown to pieces on the first climb. I only survived in the front group by being somewhat in shape, lightweight, and penetrating my inner Jens Voight. SHUT UP LEGS!!!

As the laps ticked by no one attacked and the group whittled down slowly from brutality of the course and the crazy heat. My dad was in the feed zone for me and when I went to get a bottle he held it for someone that was six feet tall. I somehow reached up and snatched it.

Every time we hit the rollers after the second climb someone would drive the pace, and everybody would be on the limit single file. On the last lap the lead group was down to 14 with three guys from District Velocity and NCVC and then a mixture of people on random teams. A guy attacked on the “Punch in the Balls” climb and held a small gap on the descent and through the rollers.

As we began the final climb to the finish a District Velocity guy attacked and I went pop out the back. My legs hurt so much I couldn’t even stand. I pushed on hoping people in the group would pop from the fast pace early on the climb and sure enough they did. I passed a couple of people and used every last bit of energy to get to the finish. For the record I did stand up on the 14% kicker to the line and then proceeded to pass out in the grass after the line.

Passed out after the race

Overall it was a pretty disappointing race thinking about what could have been had I had the legs.