OSRS #4 - Vandervort's Corner - Team Dayton/BigDaveSports

Windy and flat for a big man = hills for a skinny guy. Drilled it in the gutter on the x-wind section with two to go and never looked back.

I stayed tucked in near the front of a big group for the first two laps. The total women's field was about 30-strong. I guess there was a group of 2 cat 123s way out front and another group of 5 cat-123s somewhere between us and them. Three more cat-123 riders jumped off the front and a 3/4, Kayla from Team Cyclist Connection, went after them, so I went with her. One of the three got spit off and we all worked together for another lap trying to catch the two up front. So there were three of us working together for the third lap. By the end of the third lap, one of us had to back off due to cramping. I started to notice leg cramps too by that point on the climb. Kayla and I worked together the whole last lap just making sure nobody was bridging up. We thought we had first and second place in the 123s. I could tell she was stronger because she was taking longer pulls by then and I was just being careful not to cramp up. The wind on that last lap was outrageous - Kayla almost got blown into me at one point. Near the end I made sure to use every bit of fluid I had left in my bottles. In the last climb before the finish, she just rode away. It was too bad because I had the energy to sprint for it, but my left foot and right leg seized up when I tried to climb hard out of the saddle.
When we saw the results later, it turned out there was another 3/4 rider from Secret in one of the groups ahead of us we didn't know about.
That was Kayla Starr's first race ever, so kudos to her!

Real windy day, and the legs are tired from the race yesterday. Had trouble settling in with the wind and accellerations. Managed to stay with the leaders but it was a struggle. At one point I was in what I thought would be the winning break of 3 riders, but a guy towed back the rest of the break. Tried to go in the sprint but had nothing.

Wow, 84 in April. With that came 25mph winds that whittled the field down quickly. I felt the best I have in a while and, apart from almost being blown into a ditch a few times, helped the team out a bit. The guy who dolled away from the field in those winds is on a different level. I tried to do a lead out for Joe at the line but my legs aren't feeling that good yet. Still, glad to have returned enough from my 4 year break to ride with a select group again.

Joe was 3rd and Luke was 10th. Me and a dark horse guy engaged in a "we're both cramped sprint for 12th. I edged him with a bike throw that must have looked silly at the back of the field sprint.

Legs are getting there.

Tough day.... Quite hot and windy. Ended up staying fairly sheltered for the first few laps, but their was no recovery during the downwind section of the course. Lots of chewing the stem during that part of each lap trying to hold on. On the third lap, I managed to get up into the lead group. I think there were about 12 of us in that group (but my eyes were crossed so I may be mistaken in my estimate). Two guys went off the front and the group seemed to keep them in check. With 1 1/2 laps to go, I couldn't hang with the lead group during the crosswind section of the course. I ended up riding by myself for about 3/4 of a lap before I got picked up by a group of 6-8 guys. Stuck with them for a while until two guys broke off the front with about 2 miles to go. The remaing 6 of us headed for the finish together. With about 300m to go I tried to throw down an awesome 200W attack, which was about all I had. Ended up last in the group. Need to figure a way to keep leg cramps at bay during races. 2 1/2 bottles was not enough.

A very hot and very windy day on a mostly flat 8 mile loop with one hill. 48 miles for the cat-4's. About 70 riders in the field. About a third of the field was dropped by the end of the first lap. I stayed with the main field thru lap 4. A break formed with about 5-10 riders - including Brian O'Hara (teammate). I sat with the next group of about 5-10 riders. Half way into lap 5, we split up. TT'ed it for the last 1.5 laps. Felt pretty good for the first race of the year.

Legs are starting to come around. This race capped off the end of a rest week, so I was feeling relatively decent. And as long as I'm feeling decent, why not be a little more aggressive. I was able to cover some of the early surges, though not able to go with the breaks, yet. Placed higher and felt better. No DNF's this season.