Bear Lake Road Race

Photo of my nifty Bear Lake Classic Tee taken with my web cam.

So..... for my first road race - other than Lotoja - I picked the Bear Lake road race on May 16. 51 miles around Bear Lake in a clockwise direction starting at Blue Water on the south west end. I heard about it yesterday and decided to drive over early this morning to see if I could get in. I didn't know if I wanted to ride Cat 5 with Jeff Shepherd and Ben Kofoed or Masters 45+. Turns out the Cat 5 race was full so the decision was made to race Masters. OUCH. I guess I should have been training the past few weeks instead of packing up the house and looking for a job.

I had heard from Tom and Jeff that most groups do a moderate to fast pace around the lake and then the last mile or so is a group sprint. Not so with Masters. I was in a group of about 25, dominated by 6-8 riders each from Bountiful Mazda, Canyon Cyclery (Draper based), Cole Sports and Ski Utah. I was flying the Sho-Air colors. The race started just like many of the pro races. At the gun 3 riders were off the front and for the next 20 miles I stayed near the front as we chased down at least a dozen break away attempts while letting several solo attempts go - but never more than 100 meters. At about mile 19, we turned along North Beach and I cramped just as another break attempt took off. I pulled up for a few seconds and let the last wheel get away. After a short chase, I sat up resigned to a 30 mile solo ride to the finish. I'm sure I'll see many of the same riders at Lotoja in 4 months. I'm not looking forward to that.

The Masters 35's caught me (they started 3 minutes back) along the east side of the lake. I hung on at the back for a couple of miles, but finally let them go on a hill not much bigger than a freeway over crossing. Something I now have in common with Bob Roll.

At the south end of the Lake the first group of Cat 5's caught and passed me and right behind them the Pro Women rolled by. I sat on the back of the Pro Women to the finish before sitting up to stay clear of their sprint.

Just after I finished, in came the second Cat 5 group. Ben Kofoed lead the group on the left had turn with a straight 500M run to the finish. Jeff Shepherd said he was third wheel at the turn. After Ben pulled over, Jeff powered by the last rider and won with ease sitting up while the rest of the group battled for 2nd. Way to go Jeff!!

I did get in a hard 50+ mile ride and a pastrami sandwich at LeBeau's so the day wasn't a total loss. Next year I'll be back and I'll be 55. Might be the only good thing about getting old is moving up to a new age division.

One of my favorite former Laker's took first and the former lead singer for the Doobie Brothers came it 8th. At least I made the top 25!!

Results below:

Bear Lake Road Race
5/16/2009
Masters 45+
Place Points Athlete Team
1 02:03:01.67 35 Michael Cooper Canyon Bicycles Draper
2 02:03:02.54 30 John McKone Cole Sport Racing
3 02:03:02.63 26 Gary Swain Bountiful Mazda
4 02:03:03.57 23 Andrew Lock Canyon Bicycles of Salt Lake
5 02:03:03.76 20 Bob Walker Bountiful Mazda
6 02:03:04.39 18 John Lauck Bountiful Mazda
7 02:03:04.77 16 Jeff Clawson Canyon Bicycles Draper
8 02:03:04.83 15 Michael MacDonald Bountiful Mazda
9 02:03:04.83 13 Jeff Ure Bountiful Mazda
10 02:03:05.37 12 Michael Loveland Unattached
11 02:03:05.52 10 Ken Yonemura Ski Utah Cycling/Utah Premier
12 02:03:05.87 9 Lorin Ronnow
13 02:03:06.01 7 Criag SORENSEN Unattached
14 02:03:08.46 6 Steven Lewis Canyon Bicycles of Salt Lake
15 02:03:08.55 4 Jerald Hunsaker Bountiful Mazda
16 02:03:09.00 3 Dirk Cowley FFKR Architects/SportsBaseOnline.Com p/b Tour of Utah
17 02:03:09.18 1 Michael PROFSKY Canyon Bicycles Draper
18 * 0 Jamie Longe Canyon Bicycles Draper
19 * 0 Scott Bales Bountiful Mazda
20 02:03:12.02 0 Bruce Bilodeau Canyon Bicycles Draper
21 02:03:22.20 0 Peter Barquin X-Men/Team Northwave
22 02:03:39.19 0 Mark Chrysler Unattached
23 02:03:39.19 0 Louis Riel Canyon Bicycles Draper
24 02:10:21.00 0 David Saurman
25 02:12:22.00 0 Robert EMMETT Sho-Air