Chainbuster’s 6hr Endurance Race Single Speed

May 5, 2012

Winder, GA- Fort Yargo State Park

So about a week ago John Newsom and I were debating on whether or not to go down and race the AMBS race in Mobile this weekend.  I have been aching to get back into MTB racing since I have been focusing so much on the road this year and this weekend was looking pretty good in the schedule, with my next road race not until May 19^th weekend.  John was wanting to get a good weekend in with a lot of miles and was thinking about doing the Chief Ladiga Trail so we ended up finding the Chainbuster’s 6hr Race going on in Winder, GA at Fort Yargo State Park and doing that. 

This was going to be John’s first endurance race and my first one since last fall so we were both a little on edge before the race not knowing what to expect.  The turnout was awesome and even though we showed up 2.5hr early, still had a hard time finding a parking spot and had to squeeze our pit in between several bigger tents under a tree but it all worked out.  Our pit setup was just basically some bottles, a toolbox, our food, an ice chest, and a couple chairs all lying on the ground.  Mike Soto came along to help out with everything and was great during every stop, getting us everything fast and doing exactly what we asked every lap. 

Race Summary:

The race started off with a parade lap, as all the Chainbuster’s races do, and with a field of I would guess 200 riders.  I saw there were over 400 registered but with most doing 2 man teams, 200 something at the start is probably a good estimate.  John and I started out well and being we were racing single speed, found ourselves mid way back of the field by the time we got to where we actually went into the woods due to the long 2 mile road parade lead out. 

The first lap was slow and I found myself running several of the climbs due to pile ups from the field but soon John and I broke free after passing 50-60 riders over the first lap and made it thought safely.  I kept telling John you are not going to win an endurance race in the first lap but you sure the hell can lose one if you don’t pay attention and that the goal was to get through it safely.  I could tell it was hard for him to go so slow, being he races so fast usually, but it paid off as we had no chance to pre-ride the course and allowed time for us to settle into the race and learn the trail. 

The first lap I skipped my pit and just pedaled through as I had still over ½ a bottle of water left and plenty of food still on me.  The second lap came fast and we were making up spaces fast as many of the other riders were starting to slow down now that we were over an hour into the race.  My pre-race goal was to get 5 laps in at 55 miles on the day but mid way through the second lap, John started asking if I thought he could get 6, or maybe 7 laps in.  I just smiled and said get through the first 3 hours, then start thinking about attacking.  Almost at the end of the second lap I dropped my chain on a smooth section about 4 miles from my pit, I told John to keep going and I would catch back up.  Luckily I was able to just spin my chain back on without taking my wheel off and within a minute was back on the trail.  I continued on and started trying to pull John back. 

Finally by the end of the 3^rd lap I was back in sight of John and eventually joined back on with him.  At this point we were about 30 miles into the race and I was feeling good even though I had hit it hard the last hour to catch back on.  By the time I reached John he was sitting in first and I was in second, but we still had 3 hours left to go.  We rode the rest of the 3rd lap together and most of the 4th lap then with about 2 hours left in the race, I told John if he wanted to still get a 7^th lap in he had to go now, we were turning about 55 minute laps and at this point but he needed two 45 minute laps to finish under 6 hours so he attacked.  Both of us also were under the impression there was still one single speeder in front of us so at the time it wasn’t a bad idea for him to go. 

I rode the last lap and half by myself and that’s when I began lapping a lot of riders, even other single speeders to my amazement, and even though they said they were a lap down, I didn’t trust anyone and would still attack until I didn’t see them behind me anyone. 

Overall I ended up in 2^nd with 6 laps at 66 miles in 5hr and 27 minutes and some change.  I was happy on the day with my result and glad that John was able to finish strong and grab 1^st in his first 6hr race.  Results can be found here.

Course:

The course was at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA and was an 11 mile loop with lap times in the mid 50’s for most people.  Here is a link to my Strava with elevation and gps data.

Nutrition:

My ride nutrition for the race was fairly simple.  I used Gu brand single shots with caffeine, taking one about every 45 mins.  For solid food I had several bananas, some Power Bars with protein, and some of John’s Rice Krispy treats.  For drinks I consumed water for the first 3 hours, then later I began drinking diluted Powerade, some whey protein mixed with Gatorade Zero, some Hammer Perpeteum, and a couple sips of Coke in the pit on laps 4 and 5.  But for the most part I raced on water as I don’t like a lot of sugary drinks when I ride normally.

Bike Setup:

As usual I raced on my Bianchi WUSS with 32x16 gearing at 52 gear inches.  The elevation for this course was around 1100 ft/ lap but none of the climbs were too steep nor were they very long so I was able to mash this gear without any problems.  Next time I will probably go with a 32x17 just to get a little higher cadence and save my back and knees a little more.  I ran my Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25’s front and rear with about 25psi in each with stan’s sealant.

Race Photos:  Photos courtesy of Mike Soto

Podium

 Pre-Race discussions

Getting ready to go warm up

 Coming through the lap checkpoint

 John and My elaborate pit area

 6 Hr Solo SS Podium

 Post race protein drink and soak in the lake, this is all I thought about the last hour of the race.

 2nd Place Swag plus a dry fit shirt I can't find

Foothills Road Race- Piedmont, AL

April 22, 2012

Well after a good night sleep and being one attack short on yesterday’s crit, I was eager to get out and race the road race today.  The weather was chilly, not getting much above low 60’s and winds upward of 10-15mph with gust in the 20’s.  John, David, and myself raced in the 4/5’s today with Alan, Mick, and Lynne doing the Cheaha Challenge at 102 miles. 

We got a good warm-up in and lined up to go.  The first several miles were smooth with a nice roll out then we hit the first climb at almost 2 miles and uphill the whole way, hitting 10%+ grade at spots.  This first test took the field from 57 down to 30 something really fast, shedding a lot of the field within the first 15 minutes of the race.  Once we got a gap we began to hit it and finally organized to work a rotating paceline around 12 miles in.  At 30+ riders this was long and inefficient at times, but it allowed for a safer race and gave me some time to recover the legs from the hard start. 

A group of 2 got away from the group and got a 2 minute gap on us and ended up holding on to the gap all day, which in the wind we had was very impressive to say the least.  We climbed through the rolling hills up toward Cheaha State Park with minimal attacks and relatively smooth riding for a race.  Once we hit the turn around~ 30 miles, the first attacks started coming and didn’t really let up, shedding more riders, at one point I was on the verge of puking and almost got shed, only to attack enough to make it back on the pack and stay.  Our speeds stayed in the mid 20’s most of the day with an overall average speed of over 22mph and 3.5k of climbing for 57 miles. 

As we made our way through the rollers, riders slowly kept dropping off and by the last big climb back over 8 miles out from the finish we were getting close to 20 or so left in our pack.  My pre-race goal was to be in the main group at the top of this last climb because it was a fast long decent onto a flat 3 miles, into a head wind it turned out, and put myself in a position to contest the sprint finish.  Well after all day staying on the pack and riding strong, 200m from the top of the last climb I began to fade, before I knew it there was a gap and about 12 guys were beginning to crest the summit.  I stood and gave chase but as they crested they opened up 200m on me, I had a gap on the rest of the few who were shed up the climb so I was stuck in no-man’s land, with close to a mile decent I leaned over the bars and got aero and tried to chase them down but with 10+ pacelining it down the hill I just watched the gap go from 50m to 400m.  Even though I was hitting speeds close to 40+mph, 1 just can’t catch 12.  By the time I hit the bottom of the hill, they were a good 1minute ahead of me and I began seeing a chase of 3 coming up behind me.  I sat up to wait for them then jumped on to try and bridge.  2 of the riders were useless and didn’t pull at all so we dropped them and moved on to start catching riders getting dropped from the front group of 12.  The head wind at this point only allowed us to go about 15mph and was just demoralizing after 55 miles in the saddle.  We picked off one rider who sat on for several minutes then attack the last 200 to take 13^th, I let up and gave 14^th to the rider who I was working with the last 3 miles because he was taking longer pulls and was the stronger rider and it was just the gentlemanly thing to do. 

Overall I ended up 15^th on the day and 1:30 off the front pack.  I can’t really complain about my finish because I accomplished my pre-race goal of staying with the pack until the last climb but once again I just didn’t have the legs to make it the last little bit. 

I’m looking forward to resting the next couple weeks and doing some mtb races.  The next road race is the state crit championships in Huntsville in 3 weeks and I look forward to going after another state champion’s medal.  

Here  is my strava from the race.

Sunny King Crit- Anniston, AL

April 21, 2012

Saturday I raced in my 3^rd crit at the Sunny King Crit in Anniston, AL.  This race is one of the best in the state and was a preseason must do on my list of races for this year so needless to say I was a little excited about racing.  This race attracts domestic Pro teams for the night race and is a first class venue being it is part of the NCC.  Not to mention they were televising all the races via velonews website.  Race time for the Cat 4’s was 2:05 and the weather was slightly windy and high 60’s. 

ST3 Cycling had a good turn out with Alan showing up early to get us a spot between turn 1 and 2.  Mike and Alan both raced in the Master’s race, James lined up for the 5’s, and myself, Alan, Reuben, and John all lined up for the 4’s with this being John’s first race after getting his upgrade last week.  Now for the good stuff.

I rolled up to the starting line and got a really bad position, all the way at the back of a 60+ deep field.  Luckily the course was wide and fast so I was able to attack from the line and get to the front 15 by turn 2 on the first lap.  From the start it was all out, my average speed for the race was right at 25 mph, almost 2 mph faster than my other two crits this year so far.  This was a fast course, 4 left turns one block wide and 3 blocks long with the back side a slight downhill and the finishing side a slight uphill. 

One rider from Absolute Racing went off the front several laps in and then one rider chased, they were able to hold off the chase for the rest of the race and kept the pace hard.  This lead to a frustrating race for me as Absolute did a good job controlling the front of the chase, not letting anything go too far and chasing every attack down.  I knew I didn’t have the legs to bridge to the leaders so I settled down in the top 5 and maintained a good pace and staying out of trouble.  Luckily there were no wrecks in our race but the fast speed and tight corners caused for a good amount of wheel and elbow rubbing.  I began my attacks with 18 minutes left, going off the front for ¾ of a lap and trying to get something going but no one was biting.  Went again with 8 minutes left and went hard this time.  I hammered down the back stretch and hard into turn 3, carried my speed through turn 4 and then let the group pull though at the finish line, this time the tempo stayed up for several laps but anticipating a sprint finish everyone settled down with 4 to go.  I knew I was feeling strong but knew I didn’t have the top end to contest a 200m uphill sprint so I attacked with 3 to go.  This time I wasn’t bluffing.  As I rolled through the finish line and heard “3 to go” I got out of the pace line and moved to the outside and stood to go.  Hit turn 1 wide and carried as much speed as possible and had the lead into turn 2, I got a gap and didn’t let up down the back stretch and railed turn 3 and 4 and then got caught leading up to the finish line, “2 to go.” Well I was feeling it bad in the legs and only had one or two matches left to burn so I let others pull through, and one attack later then the field set up, conservatively resting for the final ½ lap.  We get around and hear “1 to go 1 to go 1 to go” now the pho attacks come with everyone wanting to be upfront but not in the wind, I managed to hold my line in the pack top 5 down the stretch and into turn 3, lost a spot at turn 4 and then lost 5 more spots up the final straight away to the finish.  I finished strong but the legs just didn’t go when I asked them to one more time. 

Overall I finished 12^th and was happy on my race day.  The team showed great support and all raced smart and safe.  

Here is my strava from the race and some pictures of the race.

 Photos courtesy of Carol Roark York

  Photos courtesy of Carol Roark York

  Photos courtesy of Billy Ritch

Sunny South Crit- Mobile, AL

Saturday April 7th

So being that I’m trying to watch Paris Roubaix while writing this race summary, I’m going to try and be as brief as possible and still give a good report of the weekends racing. 

Friday I traveled down to Fairhope, AL to spend the weekend with Katie and Joseph from Pro Cycle and Tri and race in the Sunny South Raceway Crit.  This was my first time down to their shop since they opened last spring and it was much overdue.  Pro Cycle and Tri is located at 510 Fairhope Ave, Fairhope, AL 36532 and is owned and run by Joseph and Katie Bolton.  You can find their website here. 

Saturday we traveled 45 minutes north to Mobile where I raced. The race length was set for 45 minutes.  The field was around 20 deep and the course was a quarter mile raceway that exited the racetrack onto the parking lot to make a swooping teardrop turn and then back into the racetrack.  Race laps were around 1 minute in length and wind was negligible.  The raceway was a quarter mile track and had banked turns.  It reminded me of what a velodrome would look like without the lines.  

I lined up and off we went.  I was able to get a great start, clipping in immediately as soon as I made contact with the pedal and the gearing I had chosen was right on for the first turn.  I mashed hard and pushed taking first through the first turn.  I went hard and noticed I had a gap and one rider had come with me, so I said to him, “Let’s go.”  We both pushed and attacked hard for about 8 laps~ 8 minutes, and had almost a half lap open up on the chase group but weren’t able to hold them off.  Once I got caught the pack reformed and sat up for a lap or two, several riders had already been pulled and most were still hurting from the first 10 minutes, including me.  Then one rider started to open a gap and another followed.  I was on the front and didn’t have the legs to chase so I let them go thinking we would pull them back.  The two riders, one from Desire and Dustin from Fairhope Cycling, got 50 yards then began to hammer, and that’s went another rider from Desire went to bridge to them.  Once they had 3 they opened up the gap and began trying to lap the field.  At this point I had started to chase but no one wanted to pull through and it became a game of cat and mouse.  Then as I pulled off my teammate Reuban attacks and no one goes with him.  Reuban chased the break solo for the rest of the day and finished off with a 4^th place.  I sat up on the front and chased down any attacks that tried to pull Reuban back only to find out after the race that the 3 guys I was chasing down the whole time were the 3 leaders who had already lapped the field, usually when you lap the field you don’t do work but these guys were possessed and riding hard! 

I managed to just suck wheels and draft the rest of the race, not letting anyone go off and chase my teammate so I ended up taking home 5^th place on the day.  Overall I really enjoyed the race course and the thrill of racing in a speedway with banked turns, definitely a different experience than racing around city blocks.  

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Me working to hold the initial break.  Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

Tour of Tuscaloosa-Road Race (State Championship)

Sunday March 25, 2012

This morning I rolled up to race the Tour of Tuscaloosa road race, which was just made last week the state championship race for Alabama, in less than great form, cough cough.  It’s tough to complain with my results so I won’t but you could say I was feeling a little fatigued.  The course was a 4 lap 10 mile loop with very little climbing except for the last 2k to the finish.

However the weather was awesome with mid 70’s and sunny skies and plenty of racers.  I think the field today was near 70 and with the motorcycle cops being extremely strict on center line, a hard race to make spots in.  I rolled from the start sitting mid pack and quickly found myself 15 or so rows back of 4 wide riders.  The first two laps I found myself just trying to make up spots and get to the front of the group.  Riders were packed 3,4 and several times 5 wide and it was just a nightmare trying to squeeze a line, needless to say there was a lot of pushing and rubbing those first two laps. 

Once I was able to make my way to the front 20, where I joined up with Alan, he was able to pull me up to the front 8 where we stayed most of the 3^rd lap.  A break of 3 had gone early in the race and had a minute plus on the field and no one would work to pull them back.  So in the end they were able to hold off because of this.  I got on the front, even thought Alan told me not too, and began pushing the pace for several miles trying to close down the gap but when I realized no one would work or pull through it became moot and I said screw that and dropped back to around 10^th wheel.  I sat nicely the rest of the 3^rd lap and when we passed for the final bell lap the field finally kicked up the pace.  Well for half a lap and we were able to spread out to a single pace line and push the pace until we approached the last 5 miles where I think we honestly averaged less than 15 mph.  It was crap but no one would work and the teams with numbers up front just sat up waiting for attacks.  I got to the front and began pushing but not doing much work.  I just wanted a good position for the final 1k, which was all uphill.  I rounded the last turn at the bottom of the hill with about 2.5k to go sitting 3^rd wheel and slowly we spread out and made 4 wide on the front as not to let an attack through.  I was able to catch my wind and prepare for the attack, but it came too soon.  Dude on my right got up and kicked at 500m and I chased, bad idea for me.  I held his wheel for about 250m then began to get dropped slowly.  As I watched him ride away I just looked down at my front hub and strained to put as much power down as possible.  He got about 10m on me and I stood to attack knowing I was only 200m out but just didn’t have it.  At 150m to go I got passed by several riders and inside 100m I lost a couple more spots.  I ended up 13^th on the day and 3^rd place for Alabama so I got the Bronze medal for the state championship but lost out by one spot for the money.  Like I said it’s tough to complain when I got a medal on the day but eh. 

Next weekend I will be at Dothan Cityfest for their crit on Sunday, no road race but I’ve heard good things about the crit and look forward to racing there.  

Here is my Garmin from the race.

 Me on my trainer

 Max and Me getting ready to warm up

 Mick getting his warmup in on the rollers

 Alan getting in a quick stretch before the race

Tour of Tuscaloosa- Crit

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Today I raced in my first crit ever at Tour of Tuscaloosa.  I raced in the cat 4s and the field was 65 deep.  The course was a non crossing figure eight and was about 1.2 miles long with 2 up-hills that made things tougher than they should have been and one long downhill with speeds hitting mid 40’s every lap.  The wind was pretty bad for our race and kept the flags in fluttering squares every time I saw them. 

I was able to get a good start and get to the front 30 by the second turn on the first lap but from the start it was a hammerfest.  We hit the first lap hard and were running a double pace line for the first two laps with no respite.  On the 3^rd lap I was finally able to catch a breath but in just a few pedal strokes found myself off the back chasing to get back on.  Learned that lesson the hard way, there is not rest in a crit.  I got back on and made several attacks through the turns and worked back to top 20.  On laps 5 or 6 I got on the front and began looking to see who was up there and could contend and who was just sucking wheels.  I marked my guys to not let get away and began sitting in top 10-15^th, staying out of the wind and limiting my work at the front.  It was constant jockeying for position to stay in the top 20 because every time you would get a wheel, 3 or 4 guys would come around you then force themselves back in line.  So it was kinda like musical chairs, but in a 4 or 5 wide pace line at 24+mph 15 to 20 rows deep.  Needless to say I bumped a few handlebars and rubbed a couple wheels but no one was listening to anyone and everyone was racing way too aggressively to stay out of the wind so whatever.  No one went down but there sure were some squirrely riders in that pack. 

The first time I looked down at my computer to see where I was at in the race was at 25 mins in.  We were suppose to run 30 mins plus 3 laps but I think ended up running closer to 35 + 3 with an overall time of 42+ minutes.  I knew the 3 to go would be coming up soon and no one in our group was strong enough to ride away from the field in that wind so I sat in and tried to recover and save my legs for the last couple laps.  Then it came, 3 TO GO 3 TO GO 3 TO GO!

It was like clockwork, we passed the finish line and the first attack goes.  I was able to stay top 5 for lap 3, which was a mistake, I ended up doing too much work pushing the pace and fell off with 2 to go.  Most of the field had been pulled by that point with only about 40 riders remaining and I found myself with 1 and a half laps to go sitting about 30^th.  I attacked hard turns 4 and 5 and was able to get a couple spots back but was way in the red and we still hadn’t heard the bell for the last lap yet.  I held my bars as tight as I could, kept my cadence high, and just did not let myself get a gap from the riders in front of me.  I was able to hold that wheel until ½ a lap to go and that’s when I made my move.  I attacked on turns 5 and 6 this lap and moved to the top 10 and was chasing hard.  A gap had opened up and I had to real in about 25m on my own, which really hurt, keeping this PG by the way but it was very very painful.  My legs were burning, my hands were numb, my neck was cramping and I was seeing stars.  I caught his wheel just as I dove into the second to last turn which I railed at close to 30 mph.  I came out of it hard and got a couple spots and could see the leader about 10m in front of me.  I came hard into the last corner with the finish 150m away and swung wide to the outside, carrying every last ounce of momentum I had.  It was a mistake because I rode the last 150 in the wind by myself while the 3 guys I just jumped tucked in and pace lined it right past me to keep me out of the top 5.  8^th place on the day out of 65 and I was really pleased.  I stayed upright, had no mechanicals, and was able to get a top 10.  Those were my pre-race goals so nothing bad I can say about my results there. 

Overall on the day we had a great turnout of team members and a lot of support for the first race of the year.  I think Alan and Mick have put together a great group of guys racing for ST3 Cycling and I look forward to having a strong year with them. 

Here  is my Garmin from the race.

Here are some videos of the race John Soto managed to get for us.

Sumatanga Training Race #3 Race Summary

Sunday March 11, 2012

What a day, after riding hard yesterday and going in a break of 5 to hold off for a 2^nd place finish in the Ronde Von Grant Race, I anticipated keeping things simple today and sitting in most of the race.  Well that was my plan at least until I started the race.  Mick and Alan were down in Louisiana today racing in Rouge Roubaix so that left Max and Chuck for teammates in the race.  Max started out well with several strong pulls at the front then had a mishap mechanical on the start of the second lap that left him chasing the field the rest of the day.  Chuck did well with his first race of the year and rode strong with a pack finish on the day. 

I went out with the plan to keep things easy, stay to the front, and to go with any break of 3 or more.  On the first lap Cahaba Cycles sent a guy off the front and no one wanted to chase, so he was able to stay out for a while before getting caught but it made for an awkward first lap.  Cahaba and Spring City were probably the best represented teams there today with 4+ riders in the field from each so I knew Cahaba wouldn’t chase their own guys down and there were not many people stepping up to do work, other than a core group of riders.  I did some pulls up front but knowing I had no teammates that would counter an attack if one of the other teams went, I rode with the mentality of never pulling harder or longer than needed if someone was to counter.  I did manage to get with Larry from Cahaba and said I would help do work for them if they promised to not attack me after pulling and they held true on the day, which made me feel better about racing stronger on the front.   

Around the end of the last lap I began cramping in both my hamstrings so I immediately went from the front 5 to off the back.  Chuck was kind enough to drop back with me to make sure I was okay only for me to put in back in the big ring and do several big ring pulls to help stretch out my cramps, and in the process leave him to get back to the group on his own. 

The finish this week was at the top of a steep mile+ climb several miles from last week’s finish.  Over the next several miles until we reached the climb I hung on the back of the pack, which was now an easy pace with everyone saving up energy for the climb.  On the last lap a Steel City guy had launch an attack and held it so far so at the bottom of the climb, as we rounded the corner we heard, “One Minute, One Minute to the leader!” So having never seen this climb, I arrogantly dropped down and attacked at the base to go from mid 20’s to 7^th or 8^th wheel.  

At the first hairpin turn I dropped to the inside, which was a good deal steeper than the outside of the turn, and hammered hard out of the saddle to jump 3 guys and get a gap.  I slowly could see people in front of me and knew I had to suffer if I wanted to podium.  The next hairpin I went wide to the outside and got another rider.  I slowly worked to reel the next couple riders in while constantly going from standing to seated, back to standing to seated, and so on because even thought I was completely anaerobic, I was still fighting my cramps and it was all I could do to not move a certain way and have my legs knot up.  I was able to pick off every rider and then I saw the Steel City guy so slowly rolled up to him and got within about 10ft before I stood and hammered hoping to get a gap so he wouldn’t give chase.  Then I saw the 1km sign, I knew I was close so I regrouped and focused on breathing and began anticipating someone attacking because I could hear chain noise behind me (by the way this noise is probably going to haunt me for a while because when you are anaerobic, seeing stars, a little delirious, and fighting cramps in both legs while climbing a hill at 10%-14% gradient, that noise was about the only thing that kept me going.)  I never once looked back the whole climb but I knew they were there. Looking back over my Garmin results I noticed that from the base of the climb it took me right at 7 minutes to the top and I went between 191 and 196 bpm the whole time.  I only looked down at my hr monitor once the whole climb because I knew seeing something like this would have mentally sent me over the edge, good thing I didn't. 

I would go from my smallest gear, 39x26, to one bigger and then listen to see if the chasers would gear up or if they would just maintain.  I knew if I didn’t hear anyone shift then they were cooked and I was safe.  To no avail, every time I shifted, Kyle would shift, and in most cases instantly so there was no chance of sitting up a bit for a quick rest, it was suffer more and then they will have to suffer more mentality at this point.  In the end all my suffering paid off and I was able to roll across the line taking 1^st place.  Kyle and David were wheel to wheel crossing the line with David taking 2^nd and Kyle from NSAT taking 3^rd.  

Sumatanga Training Race #3  Here is my Garmin from the race.

And since I'm tired and don't feel like writing a summary of yesterday's race in Grant, AL here is my Garmin from that race as well, I was able to hold a break of 5 after one of two laps and attacked on the final climb of the day to get 2nd by over several hundred yards to a hill top finish.  

Ronde Von Grant Training Race #2

Sumatanga Training Race

Sunday 2/26/12- Sumatanga, AL

The weather for the race was perfect, sunny and warm with little to no wind.  ST3 had a good turn out as Lynne was there for her first race and rode strong in the C’s along with Alan helping out for 2 laps and Mick helping out for the first.  In the B race we had 5 ST3 riders as I was able to drag Max out of bed post Southern Cross from Saturday where he finished strong in the single speed class, John Soto showed up to race in his first road race, and Alan and Mick and myself were there also. 

The course was a smooth 10 mile loop with 4 laps.  There were no climbs and for the most part it was a bunch of rollers and several kickers that kept the field honest.  The finish was a short rolling downhill to flat at about 300m out so it provided for a good opportunity for a sprint finish.  The field was about 40 riders.

The pack went out fast, with Alan making several attacks on the first lap and getting decent gaps on the field.  There were a lot of attacks but lack of organization among anyone ended up bringing everyone of them back.  The first two laps went by at a brisk pace but I stayed sitting in the front 10 pulling though as I didn’t expect to have much in the tank due to my race on Saturday. 

On the third lap I went to the front and began talking with some of the stronger guys to get a feel on how everyone was feeling.  I felt strong so we all agreed to kick up the pace a bit and try to break some of the back of the field off.  The first two laps we had held a consistent 21-22mph and on lap 3 we began taking pulls closer to 25mph.  A couple people tried to break off the front, one group of Steel City and GMSR guys took a gap of about 100m and no one wanted to chase them down so I went out front and took a long pull to get us within 20m and then the pack pulled through to do the rest. 

On the last lap I moved to the front 5 and stayed there for the rest of the race for the most part.  We kicked up the pace again and a group of 5 or 6 of us kept a rotating paceline on the front of the field because no one else wanted to pull through it seemed.  We kept this up for a couple miles until about 3 miles from the finish then everyone starting sitting up to get ready for the inevitable sprint finish.  Eddie launched an attack unexpectedly on the field and a group of 5 of us got off the front by a good 100m.  I mentioned to the group as I pulled up to them we had a gap and to “let’s go!” and they all agreed and fell in.  We hammered for about ½ mile but just weren’t able to hold off the group.  At this point we were a little over a 1 ½ miles from the finish so the field regrouped and began to sit up anticipating the sprint, then Steel City, GMSR , and Cahaba began to get there teams to the front for a lead out.  I saw this and didn’t have any of my team around so I moved to about 6^th wheel in a double paceline and left myself space to jump around the group and catch one of the stronger leadout riders wheels.  At 500m the pace picked up to high 20’s and at 250m the field jumped.  I pulled out around and we were sitting 5 or 6 wide with 3 or 4 riders in front of me.  I jumped on a NSAT guy’s wheel for a second and then he pulled off to the right and we split a slowing rider.  I put my head down and hammered to the line, extending my front end to the line at the last second.  3^rd place by less than a half a wheel to the NSAT guy, and 1^st was a Bob’s Bike rider by a couple more feet. 

I was really happy with the finish and how I rode given the strength of some of the riders in the field.  I learned a lot this weekend a look forward to a full season of road and mtb this spring.  Next weekend I’ll be doing Spring City Crit in Huntsville on Saturday followed by the opening AMBS race in Tuscaloosa on Sunday at Munny Sokol Park. 

Here  is my garmin from the race.

 The field after the 2nd lap

 Me and Eddie having a talk

 Sprint Finish Sequence

 Sprint Finish Sequence

 Sprint Finish Sequence

 And finally me stretching it out at the finish to take 3rd by less than half a wheel to the NSAT guy on the left, Kyle