... or is that the Classic d'Burgtroy Tour?
Anyway, three races this weekend, two at Troy and one at Miamisburg on Sunday. You understand why I might be a little confused.
First, I lined up for the 40+ Masters race at Troy. Our field was mixed with the 30+, and starting a minute behind us were the 50+. A few laps in, figuring out who was who required a little focus, and a few laps later, the race was over. Well, not quite, but at 12 laps, it was pretty short. Jamie from Abundance kept attacking and attacking -- I did my share of chasing him down, but was always too gassed to help form a break. Jeff Aufdencamp (Olympus) was a real engine in this race, driving the front and chasing down breaks. It came down to a sprint out of the roundabout -- a rider in front of me almost overcooked the turn and I lost some momentum. I got it going enough to finish 5th in the race and 3rd in my field. Oh, and I got a nice Bob Evans giftcard for a prime sprint that I have to admit went largely uncontested.
The 3/4 race a few hours later was a different story. Big field, lots of nervous energy, and for some reason riders who could easily navigate the nine corners in the course couldn't get through the roundabout without swinging too wide, or overlapping wheels, or whatever. A crashfest became carnage when it began to drizzle. The painted strawberries on the road took down a few riders, and after 8 laps (of 20) I came into the roundabout, saw a pileup ahead of me, tried to take evasive action, and before I knew it found myself skidding on my left hip. My bike was fine, I was fine, but I passed on the free lap and headed home. Brett and Chip, who both finished the race upright (nice work, gents!) told me later that the crashes continued, so I have no regrets about that DNF.
Plus, I wanted to turn my attention to Sunday morning's Cat 4 (or as all the promotional materials had it, Cat IV) state championship crit at the Tour d' Burg. This race was good -- I think I was a little focused on cornering after Saturday's crash, and a little uncertain how my body would react to going race-pace for the third separate time in 24 hours, so I wasn't as relaxed as I'd like to have been. It was a pretty tactical race, with a few guys making breaks for it. Mostly Dayton brought things back together for their sprinter Bo Sherman. I rode at or just off the front for a couple laps, partially to test the legs, partially to get the speed up, and partially to give myself the choice of lines in the corners.
With two to go the officials rang the bell for a prime (WTF? a prime with 2 to go? in the state championship race? really?). When we came through for the prime, the bell didn't ring for 1 to go, but I assumed that was because they were catching the prime winner's number. I should've looked at the lap card again, since it apparently still read 2. The next lap was confusion, with riders asking each other how many to go. I was in the "this is the last lap" camp (figuring it was better to sprint twice than not at all), and I got in good position for my sprint. I took off, and then my heart sank as I heard the bell this time around. Okay, do it again -- catch breath, move up, get in line, and be in position before the last two corners. On the backside, I rolled up the single file next to Shayne from Abundance, and nudged my way in front of him, figuring he might not mind being on my wheel and I wanted to be about where he was. Ready to go. Except now the Dayton train was one guy, and he was shot from pulling for two laps. Nobody else wanted to go to the front, certainly not me. So we came around the last corner into the straightaway at a pretty low speed. I expected to get swamped, but instead only Nate Grubbs (UC) went, and went early. Bo followed him, and I followed Bo (still too early I thought).
But it wasn't, and we picked up speed from the slo-mo start down the straightaway. I closed down some ground between myself and Bo, and he closed down ground between himself and Nate, but we hit the line before anything changed.
The family came up for the day: Eamon joined me on the podium, Mairin dominated the kids' parade in a breakaway, throwing elbows and resplendent in her facepaint, and Carole cheered loud and long for me. We caught Brett's Cat III race, which featured a big field and a fast pace -- he did a solid job finishing with the front group in the top 20.
In summary, then: two days, three races, one crash, two thirds, one of which was kind of a fifth, one Bob Evans prime, one state criterium championship bronze medal, no podium girl. (She was there for the earlier races, double-cheek kissing away. Harumph. We got the promoter, sans kisses, thankfully.)
Anyway, three races this weekend, two at Troy and one at Miamisburg on Sunday. You understand why I might be a little confused.
First, I lined up for the 40+ Masters race at Troy. Our field was mixed with the 30+, and starting a minute behind us were the 50+. A few laps in, figuring out who was who required a little focus, and a few laps later, the race was over. Well, not quite, but at 12 laps, it was pretty short. Jamie from Abundance kept attacking and attacking -- I did my share of chasing him down, but was always too gassed to help form a break. Jeff Aufdencamp (Olympus) was a real engine in this race, driving the front and chasing down breaks. It came down to a sprint out of the roundabout -- a rider in front of me almost overcooked the turn and I lost some momentum. I got it going enough to finish 5th in the race and 3rd in my field. Oh, and I got a nice Bob Evans giftcard for a prime sprint that I have to admit went largely uncontested.
The 3/4 race a few hours later was a different story. Big field, lots of nervous energy, and for some reason riders who could easily navigate the nine corners in the course couldn't get through the roundabout without swinging too wide, or overlapping wheels, or whatever. A crashfest became carnage when it began to drizzle. The painted strawberries on the road took down a few riders, and after 8 laps (of 20) I came into the roundabout, saw a pileup ahead of me, tried to take evasive action, and before I knew it found myself skidding on my left hip. My bike was fine, I was fine, but I passed on the free lap and headed home. Brett and Chip, who both finished the race upright (nice work, gents!) told me later that the crashes continued, so I have no regrets about that DNF.
Plus, I wanted to turn my attention to Sunday morning's Cat 4 (or as all the promotional materials had it, Cat IV) state championship crit at the Tour d' Burg. This race was good -- I think I was a little focused on cornering after Saturday's crash, and a little uncertain how my body would react to going race-pace for the third separate time in 24 hours, so I wasn't as relaxed as I'd like to have been. It was a pretty tactical race, with a few guys making breaks for it. Mostly Dayton brought things back together for their sprinter Bo Sherman. I rode at or just off the front for a couple laps, partially to test the legs, partially to get the speed up, and partially to give myself the choice of lines in the corners.
With two to go the officials rang the bell for a prime (WTF? a prime with 2 to go? in the state championship race? really?). When we came through for the prime, the bell didn't ring for 1 to go, but I assumed that was because they were catching the prime winner's number. I should've looked at the lap card again, since it apparently still read 2. The next lap was confusion, with riders asking each other how many to go. I was in the "this is the last lap" camp (figuring it was better to sprint twice than not at all), and I got in good position for my sprint. I took off, and then my heart sank as I heard the bell this time around. Okay, do it again -- catch breath, move up, get in line, and be in position before the last two corners. On the backside, I rolled up the single file next to Shayne from Abundance, and nudged my way in front of him, figuring he might not mind being on my wheel and I wanted to be about where he was. Ready to go. Except now the Dayton train was one guy, and he was shot from pulling for two laps. Nobody else wanted to go to the front, certainly not me. So we came around the last corner into the straightaway at a pretty low speed. I expected to get swamped, but instead only Nate Grubbs (UC) went, and went early. Bo followed him, and I followed Bo (still too early I thought).
But it wasn't, and we picked up speed from the slo-mo start down the straightaway. I closed down some ground between myself and Bo, and he closed down ground between himself and Nate, but we hit the line before anything changed.
The family came up for the day: Eamon joined me on the podium, Mairin dominated the kids' parade in a breakaway, throwing elbows and resplendent in her facepaint, and Carole cheered loud and long for me. We caught Brett's Cat III race, which featured a big field and a fast pace -- he did a solid job finishing with the front group in the top 20.
In summary, then: two days, three races, one crash, two thirds, one of which was kind of a fifth, one Bob Evans prime, one state criterium championship bronze medal, no podium girl. (She was there for the earlier races, double-cheek kissing away. Harumph. We got the promoter, sans kisses, thankfully.)
[pictures at Jeffrey's site]
3 comments:
No podium girl! Oh that sucks... Did you at least get a pic of her?
I was in the same two races at Troy. 4th, and 22nd.
Hey Doug: glad to see you finished upright in the 3/4 @ Troy. And thanks for making the trek down from MI for some OH racing. Hope you all had a good time. --s.
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