Tate's Hell of the North Recap

This last weekend I had the opportunity to race one of my most feared races “Hell of the North” in Salt Lake City, Utah. The course was designed in honor of Paris-Roubaix which by tradition is the Sunday following the race. My race was 50 miles long on a 4-cornered circuit where each lap has a 2-mile long section of pave. The race started with a neutral roll out at 18 mph, and as soon as we crossed the start/finish line the pace jumped to nearly 30 mph. I nor anyone else was expecting the increase in speed and as a result several riders were caught off guard. The turn before we hit the dirt section was insane everyone was jousting for position at the front of the peloton because it was the safest place due to everyone’s nerves and the pace at which we were traveling. After the first lap I sat up and relaxed that I was in a 3-man break away and we had a decent gap on the shattered peloton. Little did I know that my fellow companions in the break were none other than Tommy (a pro from team Bissell) and Chris Mckay (pro from team Competitive Cyclist). These guys were the real deal and made it very clear from the begging that if I wasn’t committed to the survival of this breakaway that I need to get off their wheel and ride with the peloton. I told them that not only was I committed but that I was willing to work and give the break all I had. We hammered the pace so hard that after each pull I had a hard time sitting in the draft. The pave was insane holding a line while bouncing over a dirt/gravel road at 25 mph is a nightmare. The race official on lap 5 of 10 rolled up next to our break and told us that we had opened the gap up to nearly 2.5 minutes. Thinking that this was a good sign I expected Tommy to sit up and tell us to ride hard but at steady state. I was wrong in fact the two pros said the opposite and dropped their heads and increased the pace drastically. I stayed with the breakaway for almost the entire race until lap 7 when I almost got bucked off my bike on the pave sector which caused me to slow down for a split second which way just enough room for a small gap to open up between me and my other two breakaway companions. I ended up soloing from then on until I crossed the white line. I finished 3^rd overall, with a time 1:45:16 we averaged over 25 mph. It was a great race super hard and intense and it made me have a greater appreciation for the cobbled classics.