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Guntersville Training Race |
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Written by Admin
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Wednesday, 18 March 2009 02:34 |
Russell, Scott, Anthony and I all lined up for the B race. For the most part it was an SCC and RMW field with a pair of riders from 4 or 5 other teams represented. In total I believe the field size was right at 20.
Lap 1:
We rolled out easy enough no single team wanting to really take control of the race. The pace continued to be easy for oh….about ¾ of a mile. That happens to be the same point that Scott was feeling a little itch and hammered it off the front. A very nice attack if I do say so myself. This quickly put the other teams on the defensive. Scott stayed away for a little over a mile I believe. Myself and the rest of SCC had a very easy ride following wheels all the way to the first corner. Once we got back together the attacks started, SCC did a great job of marking the different groups headed up the road. I know several times when I tried to jump in a break I looked back only to see the entire field on my wheel after making the bridge. Apparently I make a huge hole in the wind. I know on one occasion I drilled it from 25 up to 35 pretty quickly and fully expected to have no one following, but I guess being a wide load I’m an easy wheel to follow.
Somewhere about 10 miles in a group of 5 got away and unfortunately no one from SCC was represented. Rather than hammer the chase immediately we sat in for about 2 miles to get a little rest. I hit out up the left side of the field. Russell and Anthony followed and about 200 yards into the chase I popped. Russ was able to make the bridge and that group stayed away for another few miles. I don’t know who all was comprised of the group, but it didn’t look like everyone was working too much in the group. In any case the field came back together with about 1.5 miles left in lap one.
RMW still had one guy off the front by about 50 yards. I decided to try once more to bridge up and get in a proper break, but full expected to drag the entire field with me so I put in a half an effort to get there. Grabbed his wheel and looked back, nobody followed me across???? That’s new. The RMW rider was Jason a triathlete and pretty strong rider. We talked and decided to work together and see if we could get away.
Lap 2:
My lap 2 began with Jason and I taking pulls to see if we could get the break to stick. We rolled very well on the flats but he was definitely a stronger rider on what hills existed. A couple times he had to let up so I could get back on his wheel. My legs finally decided to start working about 6 miles into lap 2 and didn’t get so strung out on the little hills as I was earlier. Nothing terribly excited to report about the lap, we started with about a 20 second gap and by ¾ through the lap probably had it out to about a minute. We were both really working hard to stay out front. When we hit the bridge (about 2 miles from the start finish line) the field had pulled back to probably 30 -40 seconds.
Lap 3:
The break we had stayed about for another 3 maybe 4 miles into lap 3. We realized at the start of the lap that we’d most likely get caught, but decided to make the field earn it. We did everything we could to stay away but alas it was not to be. I don’t know if a couple different folks chased or we just slowed way down after being out front for around 20 miles. I do know our average pace was about a mile an hour slower than it was the previous lap so I’m sure that had something to do with it. The field stayed together for the next few miles.
I could see that Rusell was doing a very good job of marking Joseph from RWM. Which was the right thing to do. At some point they got a little gap, which became a bigger gap and then became a much bigger gap. I believe there were 5 in the break, the 2 largest teams us and RWM weren’t going to chase so there were not a lot of riders looking to work. Several times in the field SCC and RWM ended up on the front setting a false tempo and no one bothered to come take control. So we sat in until the bridge on the final lap. We knew that the break was going to stay away at the point so we headed back to the front to lift the pace a bit and get the race over with! After a little jockeying for position I ended up 2nd wheel after the final right turn and had a clear shot to the line, but the legs just didn’t have enough to hold off everyone. I got passed by 2 just before the line and finished 8th overall.
Russ took a strong 2nd in the break. Apparently he and Joseph rode the legs off everyone else in the break and finished 1,2.
Overall it was a great day for racing, a great day for SCC and whole lot of fun. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 19 March 2009 03:01 |
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Written by Stephen Creel
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Wednesday, 25 February 2009 02:18 |
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We arrived with plenty of time to spare and watched Anthony represent SCC with a strong finish in the C race. I believe he was top 10 at least. Looked like a competitive field. Congratulations Anthony! As if Anthony did not have enough in the C race he decided to join us for the B race. We rolled with Dave, Russell, Anthony and Me. It was a HUGE field of 50-60 at the least. The usual teams were represented like Bike Link, CCR, RMW, GSMR and others from out of town. As usual I got stuck in the back at the start and, I'm not kidding, I could not even see the front of the group. Riding in the back and middle was like riding a CRIT. We would sprint for a minute and then hit the brakes. It was an awful, jumpy race from the back. Not sure about the speed because I did not have my computer. But the pace was not to bad. Couple no name riders got off the front on the first lap and we would never see them again. Dave went on a short break on the third lap. But I was so far back I could not really see. It was very interesting to watch the other teams NOT work together at ALL. They would not chase any breaks, attacked each other. On the Last lap Dave, Russell, and me kicked up the pace and shut down a Bike Link break and strung the field out. The was a crash on the last lap but luckily all SCC members were near the front. With about 1km to go SCC was all near the front as someone from RMW, I think it was Joseph, attacked and opened up a 25 meter gap. I put Russell on my wheel and kicked it hard trying to get him to 200 meters. I pulled off and let Russell do his thing. Problem is we were a little short and the field sprint passed us. We all ended up in the top 15 or so minus Anthony who bailed on lap 2. It was a pretty successful first race as far as I'm concerned. Good job to Dave, Russell, and Anthony. |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 February 2009 02:28 |
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