Sweet Open Blog

Catskill Epic Cat 4 Race Report

Saturday’s race was the 51.7 mile Catskill Epic over a hilly course in upstate New York with just under 5000ft. The race started off at a fairly pedestrian pace with a small break dangling off the front of the field. Things remained the same through the day’s big descent, which only resulted in the catch of the break.

That’s when all hell broke loose. While flying down a short descent, the pack rounded a turn to find 5 riders on horseback in the middle of the road. Somehow, the pace car had disappeared off the front with a small group of riders who decided it would be fun to attack through the horses. The field was forced to come to a complete stop.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured by the spooked horses, although there were some close calls. The field decided to neutralize itself so all the riders could make it past the horses safely, and then racing resumed about a mile before the big climb of the day.

I decided it would be a good idea to attack up the first pitch, and proceeded to blow up and get dropped, leading to a miserable rest of the day. I completely cracked and managed to finish in 40^th, 11 minutes in change back with another rider who was kind enough to pull me the last few mile.

Jake had a great race finishing 10^th. He managed to maintain a steady pace on the day’s major climb and took some big pulls in his chase group, which eventually caught the first chase group with 3 miles to go. Only 2 guys who were part of the attack through the horses group managed to stay away.

Darrell finished a few minutes behind me after stopping to help a cramping rider who was also out of contention. Hopefully, the 60 mile road race Sunday will yield some more results for the team.