UCLA's Road Race at Devil's Punchbowl

Yesterday I ended my ten year hiatus away from USCF racing at the UCLA hosted road race near Devil's Punchbowl. The day began at 3:30 AM with light breakfast, packing the car, and heading up to meet with the rest of UCLA's cycling team to caravan up to the race. We ended up with a surplus of cars and I was able to jump into another car as a passenger. After a quick detour to drop the Camry off at home and transfer my gear to Rachel's car, we headed out of Los Angeles and up to the race.

From UCLA Devil's Punch Bowl Road Race

We pulled into the race site around 6 AM and gaped and the "balmy" 26 degree weather and snow covered terrain. Fortunately, the course was clear of snow so the race could go. I spent the next 60 minutes running around to get ready for the race, including digging my new UCLA kit out of Alex's car, layering jerseys in an attempt to not freeze to death, and (thank goodness!) letting myself get talked into using Brian's knee warmers.

At 7:10 AM the men's Ds were called to the line. Shaking in the cold we listened to the rules (don't cross the center line) and course updates (watch for the big ice patch after the first turn). Then the whistle and we were off.

From UCLA Devil's Punch Bowl Road Race

The course is a beast:

• Mile 0 - 1: Very slight uphill grade
• Mile 1 - 3: Climb over 900 feet of elevation
• Mile 3 - 4: Very small rollers
• Mile 4 - 9: Big, broad, banked turns as you drop over 1500 feet of elevation
• Mile 9 - 11: Start climbing back up 250 feet
• Mile 11 - 12: Climb an additional 350 feet to what will be the finish line on your last loop
• Mile 12 - 12.4: Flat stretch back to the start of the loop

Rinse, lather, and repeat. Those of us in the Ds were lucky with only two laps in our race. More advanced riders got to make this loop up to 6 times. Here's a more detailed course map.

About two miles into the race I dropped off the end of the main pack. At this same time a friendly voice from the sidelines briefly explained what would happen if I didn't catch the pack before the descent. I stepped it up a few notches and managed to get within about 3 meters before the descent started. But three meters is not close enough to catch a good draft and I had to watch the pack pull away and out of site on the descent.

Despite losing the pack, I had a great time descending miles 4 - 9. I'm still a bit twitchy after my crash from the fall so I enjoyed having the road mostly to myself. Other than the cold, it really is a great trip down with enough turns to keep you thinking but nothing sharp enough to cause too much trouble.

I spent the next 12 miles with just two other riders. As newbs not thinking strait we spent most of the time attacking each other rather than working together in pace line. While not efficient, it was kind of fun to joky around for position in our on little mini-race.

From UCLA Devil's Punch Bowl Road Race

Around mile 20 as I was finishing my second time on the descent I heard a familiar voice behind shouting for me to jump on the "Pain Train". Seconds later I saw Andrew pulling a group of a few other stragglers down the descent. Andrew should have been up at the front of the Ds, but a technical problem off the starting line forced him off his bike for a quick on course repair and then spending the rest of the race battling to catch up. But his misfortune was my fortune and I jumped onto the back of the pace line.

Miles 21 - 24 were a blast as the motley collection of riders in the pain train (Stanford, CalPolySlo, UCLA, UCLA, Berkley, and USC) worked together in a pace line to pick up, or at least pick off, other stragglers.

With a bit over 1.5 miles to go we finally broke apart for the finish of the race at mile 24. I managed to fight for and hold a finish behind Andrew in the middle of our small pack of stragglers. I ended the race in position 29 out of 49 starters (47 finishers).

From UCLA Devil's Punch Bowl Road Race

I would have liked to perform a little better, especially looking back on the strength when I peaked this past fall. Despite that, I had a great time racing. I also learned a few important lessons to take to my next race. I'd bet that if I'd been more focused before the race I'd have held the pack into the descent. As it was the only food I had before racing was half a bowl of cereal at 3:30 AM with a cup of OJ meaning I started the race without to much sugar ready to go in my system. That doubled up with a poor warm up of only about 5 minutes of broken riding, rather than a good 20 minutes or more of spinning to get blood flowing and my legs ready for the adventure ahead.

I spent the rest of the day helping with the race including a couple hours at registration, taking care of lunch for the officials, and making my first appearance at UCLA's feed station. I managed to see some great finishes from the Men's Pro race and the Masters race. Amazing to watch the power of some of those riders! We finished the day around 5 PM with races done and the course cleaned up. Those of us left headed out for a relaxed pasta and pizza dinner before driving back to LA.

I'm stoked to see what happens at our next road race when I'll have a few more weeks of solid training under my belt, am more concious about my diet the morning of the race, and make the time for a solid warm up. The other Ds better be training hard because I'm coming after them.