4/10/05 by Allied Decals Race Team
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Ed Delgros —————–
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Results are posted at: www.acaracing.com/rr041005.html
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What a great crowd showed up. It was pretty intimidating, since it was my first race of the year, and I was out of my local area, and alone (It was great to have Phil E there, but we were in different races).
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There were about 40 of us lined up in a mixed field of cat 1-3 and 40-49 masters (which I raced). It seemed the attacks were constant. But after chasing them down, I started to get the feeling that some of the teams w big showings, were just sending a different man out each time, to work me down. I was getting worn out, yet I was still hoping to win a friend who would make a break with me. A few times 3 of us got away, but not far enough that they wanted to keep working to stay out there.
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I knew I was a marked man since I was foolish enough to cross the start line up front each lap. But I had to stay up there because I knew what Glenn Snyder and Gunnar Shogren could do. For some reason they never seemed to try to break away like I expected.
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On the last lap I was out of sight ahead of the peloton for a short while when my partner at the time gave up, fearing we would have nothing left in the final sprint. Just after climbing the last hill, everyone started coming around so fast, and so tight, that I had to give up some places. I didn't even really have a sprint as it seemed like there were 20 of us bunched together near the line, and lots of bystanders. I wasn't interested in getting hurt. My data shows I was going 40.8 mph at the line. Pretty fast when you are all bunched up, weaving amongst bystanders and racers in different classes.
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The race is run great. (the roads are smooth, nice turns, good marshalling, no traffic). Immediately following they had the video on laptop, so you could pick out the winners. I worked hard, and that was my biggest reward. But I also got 30$ for first in the 40-49 group. And surprisingly, the two guys I most feared were about 10 places behind me. I guess I have to go back next week and see if my luck still holds.
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Mingo Creek RR #1 4/10/05 - Cat 4/5 Race
Phil Esempio —————-
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This was my first race on this course, a 5-mile long rolling loop near Eighty-Four, PA. I was suspicious of the "rolling" description on the website, since typically "rolling" in the Western PA area means something totally different than it does in Ohio. I left my 12-25 cogset on my racing wheels, and, as it turns out, never needed it. The course was almost all big-ring - I think I might have dropped to a 39x21 once - but a 12-23 would have been plenty for this race.
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The 4/5 field went off with the Masters 50+ riders; the 4/5 field alone was 58 riders, huge for this time of year. This was probably due to the perfect weather - about 70 degrees with light winds and sunny skies - which stood in stark contrast to the half-foot of snow that hammered the area just a week prior, and forced the rescheduling of the first of this race series. We were doing 6 laps of the course, and the attacks started right away as we turned down the backstretch of the course. Most of the climbing occured on this part of the course, mostly short but steep (4 to 6 percent) rises that could be tackled in the big ring. The first set of attacks were futile - mostly solo efforts that were quickly reeled back in - but they shattered the large field in no time whatsoever. By the start of the third lap, there were only about 25 of us left in the lead group. Coming into the rollers again, I got spit off the back by another set of much harder attacks that started; two other riders got dropped just after I did, and I continued to work to close to them. After chasing solo for most of the third lap, a group of 4 riders, including one Masters 50+, caught up with me and we began to work together much more effectively. Soon about 4 more riders closed up to us, and we started to close up to the two that were drifting out in no-mans land. One was from Corima, the other was an unattached rider with a Corona jersey on.
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As we completed the fifth lap, everyone slowed a bit to regroup and take stock of one another. Not everyone had been working equally...myself, a rider from ABS, and one other rider from Indiana Cycles were doing most of the work, and it was time to start testing folks. On the first rise, the ABS rider and myself hit it hard....we lost 4 riders there alone. Coming into the second rise, I saw the Indiana Cycles guy rubbing his back...I nudged the ABS guy and pointed this out to him. At the next rise I attacked again....I think we spit out another rider here...but the Indiana fellow was right with us. So much for that theory!
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Coming out of the second-to-last corner, ABS, Indiana, and myself gapped the field without effort...I looked over at ABS, and said, "Let's go!" I dropped two gears and took the lead, ramping it up to about 33 mph....after about a 1/2 mile I looked under my shoulder to see everyone was still there, right on our wheel, single file. Ouch. I slid off to the left and backed off, figuring it would come down to a field sprint.
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But it wasn't to be. There is a sharp roller leading up to the last corner - a quick downhill followed by a sharp rise right at the corner itself - and as we hit the bottom of this, Mr. Corona (who had sat in through all of the attacks) took off. The group shattered instantly, and we were now among some lapped riders coming down the home stretch. It was everyone for theirselves at this point, and I was wasted from all of my attacks on the backstretch. I sat up near the end, spent, and ended up around 24th, having learned a valuable lesson - not everyone who looks weak, is....
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All in all, a great spring training race, well run and with good turnout. In fact, I'm considering going back for more next week (4/17).