07/28/02 by Denis Osowski
This race is big. Over 300 riders total but some of the fields themselves were small. There were at least 43 in cat 3 men's race (that's how many finished). At least 50 started. Pretty much no terrain. Some rollers but nothing we in the Cuyahoga Valley would dare call a climb or a hill. Well supported by the community. They also used this chip timing thing which was great and produced the results quickly....complete results too. Everybody gets to know just how far behind they really were! Guess you're wondering where I came in.
The 3 race was on the conservative side. Despite the terrain, the wind tended to thwart the attempts to breakaway. The first two laps I sat in and watched a few guys needlessly punish themselves (alone) out in the wind only to be reabsorbed by the field time after time. The only serious move that amounted to anything is one that I am happy to say I was in. At about 45 miles, a group of four managed to move off the front and contained one of each team.....except for the Wolverines. We stayed off for 7 or 8 miles at about a 20 or 30 second gap. The Wolverines were by then in full chase mode and had torn the main field in two. The forward split of about 8 or 10 riders joined the four of us and it looked REAL good. Then for reasons beyond my simple comprehension everybody just stopped working. Within 5 minutes of the group joining us, the field was all back together. I was spent but, mercifully and as expected, the race proceeded along at about 18 mph. Plenty of wheel sucking opportunities were available which I took full of advantage of.
After that move was shut down, I concluded that nothing was going to get away so I stayed out of the minor accelerations saving myself for the inevitable field sprint. Unfortunately my conclusion was somewhat misguided as a single rider on the last lap managed to get away....he was from Indiana so guess what.....Yeah, they let him go. My legs were starting to cramp by this point so bridging was not an option....the field was sprinting for second. The run up to the sprint was fairly dangerous. I wound up in the gravel twice and nearly ate the shorts of some guy who locked up his rear wheel in a panic stop. The start/finish was about 200m after a sweeping left turn so you had to be set up well before the turn. I was not. I got caught in the middle of the bunch and wound up getting boxed in. I was roughly 20th out of the left hander and was about ready to shut it down when I was surprised to see that I had a clear shot down the left side .... which I took. I managed a nice recovery to 10th.....which, given my setup and the cramps in my legs, I was very happy with. If you like'em flat....this is a very nicely done race....worth the trip!