Micah and I woke up pretty early the morning of the race to get a spin in (and good parking). We went out for roughly an hour and watched some of the guys finish the road race. Then just checked out the venues for a few hours and then it was warm up/race time. We arrived at the start finish and as always had to cram in as close as we could manage to the front of the race. We started and a national team member Grant Van Horn (going with me to europe) attacked straight from the gun. The main group of guys which after mile 1 was about half the size of the field caught him on the downhill and continued going hard. That first lap of the 2.1 mile circuit was completed in under 5 minutes and was by far the hardest lap of the entire race. Every lap afterward Grant attacked on the hill getting caught everytime on the downhill. Then with about 3 laps to go he launched another massive attack up the hill and widdled the field down to about 8 guys. Myself and two other racers tried to catch him back, and we got very close until Grant reached the hill when he launched ANOTHER attack. This time he was gone and took one of the major motion guys with him. For the last couple laps it was a mad chase to catch Grant, but we were unsuccessful. With one lap to go I told Micah to get to the front and empty his tank going over the hill and he surprised me by not only doing this but also by staying on the front until the hairpin before the finish. This is where things got nasty. During the race we had lapped one of the masters fields as well as the 15-16's and we were caught them again just before the finish. In the last sweeping turn before the finish I had about seven 15-16s infront of me, and when I saw a gap I launched and gained about 20 meters on the field and since they were not catching I just rolled into the finish infront of them. Three hours later at the podium I found out that I finished 4 seconds behind the leaders, but couldn't see them because of the 15-16s. It was a great race and I am glad that I didn't have to park out in the boonies.
Ben
1 comment:
Nice write up Ben. Way to go Micah (and Joel and Daniel)... it was great to see you flying the team colors at Sea Otter.
My Friday the 13th didn't go so well. For the first time in 20 years of bicycle racing I missed my start. I could blame it on registration moving or the long lines. Heck, they even thought Larry Nolan and Lawrence Nolan were two different people, but the honest truth is that I thought we started at 10:32, not 10:17. Short story- I jumped into my race one lap after it started. I didn't help Kevin when he launched his attack early in the race (2nd place in a 4 man break)... I didn't help Wayne when he launched his attack late in the race (6th place and then he lined up for the M50+ race)... and I didn't help Marco launch his attack shortly after Wayne (~10th place). BUT, I did get to do 13 hill repeats and I had great fun watching all these moves. I pulled out of the race before the finish line.
Yes, I plan to be on the start line much sooner next time. Lar
Post a Comment