The weekend started with an on-time departure out of Asheville with Chris Emory. Unfortunately due to work and some family obligations Jason and Andrew weren't able to make it, and Jacob is on vacation this week. Due to the length of the Pro/1/2 race we decided to opt for the Masters 30+ race and doubling up on the crits on Sunday. We had a preview of Saturday's weather on the drive into TN as thunderstorms brought rain down in sheets. We rolled into quaint McMinnville, registered and rolled to the "New York Grill" for dinner. It was here that we met Scott, the purveyor of large steaks, drinks, and the best food in town! Unfortunately we weren't able to stay for the dance party that drew over 200 people and a local rapper called "Haystack" from Nashville that performed until 3AM. Where do they find all these people? Anyway, the steak was good, so was the pasta. We turned in early since the race stared at 8 Saturday morning.
Up early Saturday, we ate an early breakfast, chilled for a bit, and rolled to the start. A note: there's no Starbucks in McMinnville, so I found a McDonalds (did you know they could add a shot of espresso?) and got the biggest cup of coffee I could. This would have to do for my caffeination (supplemented with a Monster energy drink of course). It seemed to do the trick as after the first rolling 17mi 'warm up' Chris and I found ourselves in the front group up the climb chasing the 4 'escapees' who had gained about 2 minutes before the climb. Our field of 60 was quickly pared down to about 8 and we picked up 2 from the break to make an even 10 over the top of the climb. We quickly organized and started rolling, quickly putting 4 minutes into the chasers. This continued into the thunderstorm that we rode into on the top of the plateau, and out of it, until Chris Brown from Litespeed attacked with about 15 miles to go. I countered and ended up all alone with 14 miles remaining in the RR. This wasn't exactly what Chris and I wanted, but as I quickly opened up a gap I decided to work on my time trialing skills. I've never done this race before, but I figured if I could make it to the top of the climb with 20-30s I could stay away. Well I barely had that gap (thanks to Chris blocking behind), and descended in a tuck as tight as I could get at 50+ mph. Coming out of my tuck at the bottom of the descent my hip flexors were cramping (as well as most of the rest of my body), but I drilled it as hard as I could as the group (now at 10sec) chased me into the final mile. Up the final rise I pushed as hard as I could and started to sprint pushing as big a gear as I could. As I crossed the line Chris Emory came flying by on my left to win the 'field sprint' from behind! 1st and 2nd on the day! I let out a gutteral cry as I won my first Masters race (aside from Nats) but more importantly we went 1, 2 out of the day's biggest field - SWEET!
The TT was not as sweet as the win as lightning and darkening skies greeting our start. We were in the clear however and we each started in 30 sec intervals. Chris won last year and I fully expected him to do so again. However the days efforts blunted our speed and Chris got beat into 3rd (by 1sec) and me into 5th (by 1 sec - what the hell?). We both rode our stock road bike setups (no aero bars, I9 Super Ego wheels), despite much conversation. I remember thinking that I should remove my bottle cages, ride deep-dish wheels, and an aero helmet. I didn't . . . turns out we still ended up in 1st and 2nd in the overall going into the crit on Sunday, but I should've taken off my bottle cages. We celebrated back at New York Grill with a margharita!
Chris and I had a great warmup and knew who we had to watch during the crit. It was simple - I would watch Chris Brown and Chris would try to get up the road with anyone else. He did just that, but Chris Brown countered and I chased him down with 2 others. We ended up alone and ended up putting 30 seconds into the field. I was in perfect position coming into the final half lap, but a front wheel washout followed by Brown almost crashing in the final turn ruined my line, and I ended up losing in the sprint by 6 inches . . . we TIED on points. And the tie was broken by placing in the . . . crit. DAMN! 1 second faster in the TT (bottle cages!), or just a few inches the crit would have secured us the overall. Salvaging the day was Chris winning the field sprint for 4th (one other got away), we ended up 2nd and 3rd overall, I put out my best 5s, 5min, 10min powers, and we had a nice payday for our efforts. Oh yeah, and thanks to McMinnville for an awesome, well organized race!
So, we could look at the weekend as a failure, or we could look at it as a great success - a win, two 2nd places, a 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, and 2nd and 3rd overall. Not bad for two 'old' working guys from Asheville! Of course, I couldn't have done it without a great teammate and we couldn't have done it without our sponsors:
Industry 9, Trek, Hutchinson, Liberty Bicycles, Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, Dr. Miller, PML, Eco Concepts Realty, ABRC, Champion, Velosports, and Affordable Home Inspections
The TT was not as sweet as the win as lightning and darkening skies greeting our start. We were in the clear however and we each started in 30 sec intervals. Chris won last year and I fully expected him to do so again. However the days efforts blunted our speed and Chris got beat into 3rd (by 1sec) and me into 5th (by 1 sec - what the hell?). We both rode our stock road bike setups (no aero bars, I9 Super Ego wheels), despite much conversation. I remember thinking that I should remove my bottle cages, ride deep-dish wheels, and an aero helmet. I didn't . . . turns out we still ended up in 1st and 2nd in the overall going into the crit on Sunday, but I should've taken off my bottle cages. We celebrated back at New York Grill with a margharita!
Chris and I had a great warmup and knew who we had to watch during the crit. It was simple - I would watch Chris Brown and Chris would try to get up the road with anyone else. He did just that, but Chris Brown countered and I chased him down with 2 others. We ended up alone and ended up putting 30 seconds into the field. I was in perfect position coming into the final half lap, but a front wheel washout followed by Brown almost crashing in the final turn ruined my line, and I ended up losing in the sprint by 6 inches . . . we TIED on points. And the tie was broken by placing in the . . . crit. DAMN! 1 second faster in the TT (bottle cages!), or just a few inches the crit would have secured us the overall. Salvaging the day was Chris winning the field sprint for 4th (one other got away), we ended up 2nd and 3rd overall, I put out my best 5s, 5min, 10min powers, and we had a nice payday for our efforts. Oh yeah, and thanks to McMinnville for an awesome, well organized race!
So, we could look at the weekend as a failure, or we could look at it as a great success - a win, two 2nd places, a 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, and 2nd and 3rd overall. Not bad for two 'old' working guys from Asheville! Of course, I couldn't have done it without a great teammate and we couldn't have done it without our sponsors:
Industry 9, Trek, Hutchinson, Liberty Bicycles, Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, Dr. Miller, PML, Eco Concepts Realty, ABRC, Champion, Velosports, and Affordable Home Inspections
No comments:
Post a Comment