I arrived home from North Carolina Friday evening shortly after 5:00. Andy and I burned up the road and we drove non-stop except for a quick pit stop for gas. After visiting my folks I came back home and unpacked a few things before hitting the rack fairly early. I wanted to get as good a night's sleep as possible to be ready for Sugar Grove.
Teamroll: was well represented today including Marco and me in the Masters race, Dan Tinderholt racing 5's, Pascal in the women's race and Iowa Josh Morrow in the 3-4's. As I arrived in Sugar Grove I noticed the traditional sprint finish through town was in terrible condition since they were doing quite a bit of work to the street. I was glad to hear that Tym decided to put the finish at the top of the climb to insure a safer race. Although it is tough, I love the hilltop finish and will always remember the talented young Mark Ames winning there in '03 when we were racing for Breakaway.
The Masters and the 3-4's raced together which was great because it was fun to race in a larger field. The weather was cloudy and the winds were strong and several times during the race it looked like we would see rain. But except for a few drops we were dry the whole race.
Several teams were present in our race including Stark Velo, Echelon, Inferno and Savage Hill - yes Savage Hill! It was great to see Savage Hill back in the peloton (on their home turf) and they rode strong today. We raced 5 laps (6 times up the climb) and for the most part the field was together except for 2 riders who got off the front and stayed clear. One of the riders was a Master (the same rider who dropped us in Yellow Springs) so I was racing for 2nd place in my group.
Gearing today was an 11-23 with a compact crankset - a combination that worked really well. My standard 23 cassette has a 12 tooth small cog but I swapped it out for an 11 and this really helped me keep up on the descents. The 23 gave me plenty of spin on the climbs.
In the past I have struggled to stay with the group through the fast descents on the other side of the climb but, as mentioned above, I was able to stay attached nicely today. Coming up the final climb to the finish I was maybe 20-30 feet off the small lead group and finished 2nd in Masters and Top 5 overall. A big "shout out" goes to Josh who rode a really strong race and was at the front of the field all day. I believe he finished 4th in the 3-4 race which is a great result on this tough course. It was great racing with him and I hope to do more of that as the season progresses.
Prior to the race both Tym and Don made a point to remind the field to obey the center line rule and stay on the right side of the road. Fortunately everyone heeded their request and we had a safe race. On one of the fast descents there was a truck in the oncoming lane coming through a blind curve and this could have been a dangerous situation if everyone wasn't riding smart.
New Zealand pro Hayden Godfrey was in the house today and he raced the pro 1-2 race. He is attached to the Inferno team for the remainder of this season so perhaps we will have an opportunity to see him again this season. I had the opportunity to meet Hayden a few years ago at Sugar Grove when he was racing with Health Net and he is a really nice guy. I'm sure he will be a huge addition to an already strong Inferno squad.
The Team Columbus Spring Series is winding down and we have 2 more races left: Mid Ohio and The Tour of Hocking Hills. These are both great courses and I hope there is a nice sized turnout for both of these events.
No comments:
Post a Comment