By Tyler Dibble

Preparation for the Spring Hill Road race started not on Sunday, but on Thursday, when reports that a huge storm would hit on Sunday began to filter through. Of course, when I say preparation, I began mentally preparing myself for a miserable day of pouring rain and cold temperatures. As the week progressed, the reports got worse and worse. Then, perhaps, just maybe, a hint of optimism – Saturday night the forecast seemed to get a little better: less rain, higher temperatures. Sweet! With this information in hand, I eagerly set out to Petaluma, CA for the Spring Hill Road Race. My upbeat demeanor would not last long.

Around 60 brave souls stood on the start line amid pouring rain and, after being advised to seek psychological help by the race officials, set out for 88 miles on a rolling course on the outskirts of Petaluma, CA. It was clear that today was going to be a rough day in the saddle.

Early in the race, a group of 12 riders left the peloton in search of glory. In this group were three Yahoo! Cycling Team riders: Dirk “Been-There-Done-That” Copeland, Patrick “Old-Man-Redwood” Briggs and myself. Copeland and Briggs put in huge efforts to whittle down the breakaway and extend our lead.

With the wind picking up, it was clear that sitting on the group was getting easier and easier. I looked around and decided to try to get rid of some of the riders with a better sprint on the second time through the main climb of the day, about 45 miles into the race. With a quick acceleration on the climb, I found myself with just Jesse Moore – perfect! We worked together for a few minutes and looked back to see Tim and Joseph just a short distance behind but closing fast. Fail! My effort had shed only two riders, one being my only teammate! All of the sudden I went from sitting pretty to isolated with a couple of good sprinters in tow – not a good place to be.

The group of four now on the front contained me, Jesse, Tim Farnham, and Joseph Iannarelli. Tim and Joseph both have good finish sprints, but we ended up just rolling through for the entire third lap. This turned out to be the most miserable lap of the race. The rain falling steadily and increasingly sideways, the efforts of the day setting in, and without hard efforts to warm me up, I got colder and colder.

Thankfully, the lap ended and we went through the finish climb at a good pace, bringing the feeling back to my legs. On the way up the pace proved too much for Tim – and then there were three. At this point we felt confident that we would maintain our lead to the finish as the peloton was nowhere in sight. The last lap was interesting, with a fair amount of joking around interspersed with nervous moments. Would Jesse attack early? Joe looks tired and on the rivet, but would I be able to get rid of him on the finish climb? Would I cramp or bonk on the last lap? Races always lend a certain amount of unpredictability, but when riders have been pushing hard through rain and wind, things can take a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye.

In the end, Joseph was on the rivet and we quickly left him behind on the 1K climb to the finish. Jesse tried in angst to shed me on the climb, accelerating once, twice and even a third time, but it was no use. On the level 200 meter section before the finish, I powered past Jesse to take the win.

Phil Mooney came in just behind Joseph to take 4th place from the decimated field. It was a long an miserable day, with more and more riders heading to the cars on each lap, but the Yahoo! Cycling Team prevailed with the help of great team tactics, excellent equipment, and clothing (of particular importance on a day like that) and some great help in the feed zone!