St Leon ~ Biowheels

Today started with some snow (not nearly as much as anyone racing up north) and it was pretty cold (BOOOOO!) so i almost got dropped on the first hill until i warmed up, a Texas Roadhouse guy was way off the front and since there were about 45,000 of them in the race nobody made it a point to pull him back, then on the last time up the big hill some Krystal guy dropped us like 3rd period French in High School....so the race came down to a sprint (kinda) for 3rd place, I jumped over the last hill at about 3/4 of a K to go and held about a 10 second or so gap to the line, so Im pretty happy with today, but now i have a HUGE exam tomorrow that im not ready for, time to break out the Coffee, Redbull, or anything else that will help.

Tough hill. It's even tougher with cramping legs.

One guy got away and we couldn't find enough motivated people to chase effectively. It's pretty sad. Larry and Steve did a gread job coming up to help out on the last lap when people were getting tired. Thanks.

On the last climb up the big hill, my legs were about to lock up and I had to work without using my quads much to make it up. I narrowly missed reattaching to the lead group. They slowed up on a roller and I used that to close the gap quickly. I sat in the lead group and took a few short pulls.

Tim Beberniss was mistakenly worried that the lone rider OTF was No. 2 in the series which made him more active than during the rest of the race. He wanted to limit his losses and hossed it up over the hill while I sat in near the front waiting out the hill. His move earned him a 2nd place. After the hill, I jumped my two guys and headed for the line. Meanwhile a few from the main pack jumped up to join us. I got nipped near the line and came in 4th.

The guy who caught me was the real 'Mister No. 2' in the series.

I need to work out the cramps and get rid of the wire beaded tires soon.

Could have been a lot of bad today and we found a lot of good. Weather could have been miserable and it ended up being very pleasant. The 4/5 field caught us on the first lap and part of the field caught us again on the second lap. That could have been a real mess. We lost part of the second lap due to a neutralized field and the ensuing loss of rythm (ok, none of us ever had rythm).
Before we finished the first valley section I found my bars were slipping in my stem, again, in spite of my attention to the problem. On the climb I realized that none of my esteemed teammates bothered to point out that I didn't take my bag and pump off of my bike before the race (Thanks Todd). Lastly, Todd got dropped on the first lap.

It ended up being a pretty fun and difficult race. I did what I could to help, which wasn't a lot. Second half Steve was the animal today. He dragged the field around the better part of the bell lap in true George style. No one jumped him on the climb, so he just kept going. I couldn't hang with the leads on the last climb but the great work of Steve and Joe on the front meant I didn't even have to try. I just paced several other riders who I knew would form a chase group and rode them while they worked like dogs to catch back on. Soon as they caught I was fresh and immediately launched a feeble attack. (We take our glory anywhere we can find it)

I wish I could have helped lead out the final sprint or done something to help out Joe but all I could do was follw the wheel of the last wheel in the field sprint. I didn't gain one position!

Finally, true to form, the race paid nine places, I got tenth.

Footnote:

When the 4/5 leaders were passing us for a second time someone remarked that there had to be sandbaggers in the field. I looked at Joe and said, "Gee, I don't know of any"

I am almost always happy racing, regardless of my results. But, I have to say it felt extra good to be acknowledged by teammates and other racers today. Bicycle racing rarely goes as planned, so much happens on the fly. But remember, always think before doing. I am still haunted by the thought of someone yelling at the 4’s to “stop” in midst of catching the 3’s, and some of them actually trying to do it… can you say pile up!

I think I see a pattern developing in the OVR 3-4 races and it rewards the teams who are racing efficiently for the sprint. I don’t see opposing teams or riders working with each other, like maybe in the past, to break the races open. I managed to sit low, but still close enough to the front to go if I needed to for the early part or the race. I marked one or two GC riders just to study. I thought we almost played our cards right today; keep Todd of the front or later Joe, cover attacks and put others in difficulty when it counts.

Under the circumstances, I just decided to race all out on parts of the third lap-- at times, only because no other team would step up and share the efforts. I really didn’t expect to even finish this race with the lead pack. On the final lap the pack was still together, so I followed Larry up to the front to force the pace. If no other team would share the work, then I would go as hard and far as I could to and up the hill? I was actually very surprised that I damn near made it to the top of the climb in the lead. I guess it goes to show that you can suffer more or maybe even control the pace better when you are at the front. After the climb we had a smaller field and riders regrouped…we fared well with Larry, Joe and I. I managed to suck wheel until I could recover and make one last ditch effort to close a gap when one rider attempted a flyer before the 1km mark and the last little climb…that fried me. Joe and Larry raced well to contend the final sprint. I know others raced on little rest and there rewards will come later in the season…

Sundays race did not go as well for me as I had hoped. I was a bit fried from the race the day before so I started the race in a bad position all the way into the first climb. I started the climb very well, at a nice smooth pace, and worked my way up through the field and made it to the front. Only to be blown off over the top. I made at least three bridge attempt to catch back up to the lead group, but just could not finish it off. I felt really bad about leaving Gamm up there with the 45,000 road house guys, but it does not sound as if he needed the help. Rob showed that his fitness level is improving quite nicely by pulling our group into the climb at a good hard pace to set me up to work the hill. Overall St. Leon is a very nice course.

My bike went but I stayed at home. I really showed my age today, just didn't have the legs.

get dropped chase to back on.. drop again.. chase back on.. drop for good and finish alone. Gamm kicked everyone in the knees.