6/26/03 by Russell Stapleton
The Euro Hill has a little mystique to it. With a name like that, you'd expect cobble stones and chalk outlines on the road. So on Thursday June 26th, we had the occasion to test this beauty of a coarse. Although a short race, we were all determined to make good of it.
Well, it wasn't quite euro-trash, the winding hill was simply not to be sat in. While some of us goats spun up it, most people opted to stand. If you've never ridden this coarse, it's a thing of beauty. It's all about suffering. While I can only offer a limited perspective on the race, everyone who entered should feel honored. It was a hard coarse, designed to break riders. Being similar to Sugargrove, only smaller, Euro Hill is a little glory of Summit County. And to finish here is a matter of honor.
From the outset of the race, I was determined to keep the pace high. Jim G. rolled off the front on the first lap, and I though we could get something going. But it turned out to be a head start on the hill. I stayed up front and pulled when needed. Somewhere on lap 2 or 3 we let Shawn and John get off the front. Something we were comfortable doing. We saw effort by our young "to be superstar" Jimmy up front. Markus knew he'd be out of contention if we let the break go too far, so he attacked on the hill and bridged. He dragged a strong chase group with him. By the end of the 3rd lap, a group of seven had formed well off the front; Shawn, John (Lowery), Denis, Kurt, Markus Tullio, Brain (Diffenbocher), and I. While we kept a strong pace, Jim M. put in a monstrous effort to bridge up, but to no success. The pace was kept high until the end, where John and Markus out sprinted Shawn. It was a good effort for the whole team on a challenging coarse. Although being off the 1 and 2 spots on the day was obviously a call for better tactics. There's always room for improvement.
Russell Stapleton