Garden Creek Gap Road Race

Saturday, June 29^th, 2010

This was my first ever road race. The "Garden Creek Gap" is about an hour fifteen minutes south of Idaho Falls, just off the freeway at Arimo. If you drive past you can see the "Gap" in the hills where a river/creek cut its way through the rocky walls. The weather forecast called for rain.
In fact, 60-80% chance for rain…and wind. In Idaho Falls, it was raining, HARD with no signs of letting up. Darrell and JD decided that they didn't want to get their bikes wet so they backed out and stayed home. Barbara came with Melissa, Carter and Colton to watch me ride. Thankfully, my parents watched the other kids. We loaded up the car and headed out.

The course is a 25 mile loop (done twice) around Cedar Mountain, to the freeway, and back around through the "Gap". The road winds around through farmers fields. At this time of year, the fields and hills were quite green. The starting point is at the top of the hill providing for a quick downhill run to start with and an uphill battle to the finish line. The rest of the course is fairly flat to gentle rollers.

The hill between the gap is about 900 feet of elevation gain. Done twice that is a total of 1800 feet over the course. Last week, I rode twice that elevation gain in Idaho Falls…slowly. But this uphill wasn't going to be slow nor easy. At its highest it is about 9% grade. At that point in the hill every pedal stroke felt difficult.

The race for Cat 5 racers started at 2pm. Other riders had started around 10am. As we arrived, we were thrilled to see that the rain subsided and all that was left was an overcast sky. The mornings rain had brought snow on the hills that surrounded the "gap". And it was COLD…Colder than I was expecting. As we pulled up to the start line, we passed a few riders that had started earlier in the morning. I heard them saying, "That was the worst, coldest ride I have ever done". Most spectators had their winter coats on.

Because of the cold, I bundled up. In fact, I overdressed. That was my first rookie mistake. I took my winter riding jacket which quickly turned into a sauna after I started riding. I was way too hot! I unzipped my jacket a little and it turned into a parachute, making me work that much harder.

I started out with the group. I was in the middle of the group until everyone started yelling and stopping quickly. Turns out, a cow was in the middle of the road. With the whole group stopped, I looked around to enjoy the view. Before I realized it, the group was off and I just barely managed to hang on to the end. I stayed there for as long as I could.

Halfway through the first lap, my the winds picked up and my parachute jacket ballooned. To make matters worse, we hit the first set of rolling hills. I worked as hard as I could to stay with the group… I needed the benefit of "drafting" off others just to keep up. But alas, the group slowly pulled away, along with the motorcycle and support vehicles. I was alone. I looked down at my cycling computer… AVG 28 mph.

I rode the rest of the ride alone with the exception of a few miles where I was able to ride with another solo cyclist. My parachute jacket turned into a superman cape.

My favorite part of the next 30 miles was every time Melissa and my fans drove past me and waved or stopped to get out and cheer me on. It was wonderful.

The hill climbs were tough. But the winds were tougher. Without being able to draft off others, I was left alone to take the winds head on. The winds blew for the second half of each lap. At points I was slowing down to 10 mph. Not exactly race speeds. The winds didn't stop when I got to the hill. They tried to blow me back down the hill. I fought hard and won.

On the last lap, a rider came from behind trying to pass. I gave everything I had trying to stay in front, but at the gap he passed. As he passed, he said, "You're not going to let an old man on a steel frame bike beat you are you?" Yes, I was. As I crossed the finish line, I tried to muster a sprint across the finish line to impress my family who was cheering me on. I made it. And about 10 minutes later, the last rider came up the hill. I had won. At least I had beat one other rider. I came in 2^nd to last place in my division. I don't know how many riders, but I would say a total of 25-30.



Jed came up from Utah to race. I was glad to have the company. If only for a minute until he and the rest of the group dropped me.

And I owe big thanks to my cameramen, Carter and Colton…

Without them, I wouldn't have over 150 pictures of hay bales...

… and cows…

… and horses in trailers …

… and weeds in mud puddles ...

… and old buildings…

… and big rocks…

… and little rocks…

… from nearby mountains…

… to Garden Creek that formed the gap.

I had a wonderful time. Even though I was almost second to last place, I am happy with what I accomplished. I would love to try this race again next year.


Brian