Race Reports for 29-30 March

Tierra Del Sol Road Race
New Mexico
Who raced: Bill Jacobus

Kirkwood Road Race
Pennsylvania
Who raced: Ken Young

San Dimas Stage Race
California
Who raced: Holly Borowski

Jefferson Cup Road Race
Virginia
Who raced: George Ganoung, Ken Young, Chris Judy

Trofee Van Haspengouw - Aalst-St.-Truiden
Belgium
Who raced: Ian Holt

Bill's report from the Tierra Del Sol Road Race:
Place: 2nd
Race Distance: 100km
Description of Course: 100 Km out and back with one Cat 3 climb. 65 Degrees and light winds.
The Race: Tierra Del Sol is the second race of the year in the New Mexico Road series and all but one of the major teams were represented. Typically small but strong NM field with NM, CO, and TX. The fireworks started early and my local team did a great job being represented in everything that looked dangerous. The move that eventually stayed away awhile included support riders from several teams but not all. The main field stayed together up and over the two climbs of the day and eventually a couple of teams went to the front and reeled in the remnants of the breakaway. As the breakaway was caught, the counterattacks got very serious with many of the teams' big guns "having a go" at geting away. Everything was hunted down by a now flying peloton over the last 15km. Finally, at about 4km to go, the opportunity came and myself and the current road series leader (pro mountain biker) jumped away with the attack we'd saved all day for. The two of us quickly had 400m on the pack and worked together to keep the chasers far enough back that we had time for a little jockeying inside of 500m. Unfortunately, my wind-up is a little slower than my adversary's and I waited too long to go (sprinted at 50m instead of ~100) so he held me off by half a bike length.

Ken's report from the Kirkwood Road Race:
Place: 12th
Race Distance: 56 miles
Description of Course: Rolling with small hills. Extreme cross winds and cold
The Race: The day was sure to be long with crazy cross winds and cold temps. My job for the day was to stay protected and sprint for the best possible placing. A move a 8 went up the road about 30 miles in and we missed the move. I lost all three of the club team members due to mechanicals so I was on my own. I was still told to sit in in case it came back together. The race never came back and on the final lap a chase group of three developed it did not look promising so I let it roll away. We did not catch that group either and I took the field sprint for 12th place.

Holly's report from the San Dimas Stage Race:
Place: GC-37th, Prologue-34th, Circuit Race-47th, Criterium-11th
Prologue: 3.8 miles, uphill. I rode hard, made my bike as light as possible, took the straightest lines through the twisty uphill course. I felt good, and finished in 34th, satisfied with my result considering the nature of the course.
Circuit Race: 8 laps of a 7-mile course. Rolling, one short, fairly steep hill, QOM at the top. QOMs on even laps, sprints on odd laps (through the start/finish). My legs felt good today and I was excited! Lots of attacking, very fast race overall. On the climb of the 5th lap Kim Anderson and Alex Rhodes of High Road got away. I attempted to bridge (too late), but couldn't make it across. After the break was established I worked with my regional team and with the Value Act team to bring it within striking distance. After a working hard on the front, I was starting to feel pretty cooked. I made it over the 7th climb with the front group, but barely. Position over the top of the climb is very important for the finish in this race, and I knew I would struggle if I hit the final climb with the field. A Bicycle John's rider attacked solo about 2 miles before the climb--not sure who she was, but she was maintaining a really good gap for a long time. I went with her to bridge, taking along a Value Act rider. I knew this was a potential suicide move, as it was right before the climb, but decided the risk was worth it. The move didn't work--we were caught, and I was totally blown...had no momentum and couldn't grab a wheel. Finished slightly behind the main field.
Criterium: 55 minutes. 6 corner, with a false flat and semi-narrow downhill section, wide flat finish. The team plan was to set me up for a good finish in the crit, (but we would be happy getting another rider into a winning break too). I planned to save my legs for only the most significant attacks, while my teammtes covered other attacks. I felt good and knew High Road would love to get a break up the road, so I attacked early and got a great gap. Unfortunately for me, Kim Anderson quickly bridged and was just too strong for me--I couldn't quite hold her wheel because she came by me just as I was losing steam and momentum. I think a little extra training to give me a stronger second jump would've helped me hop on her wheel and hold it. This turned out to be the winning break, after Kim's teammate Alex Rhodes bridged to join. I had the brain and timing right, just not the legs to back it up! The rest of the race was aggressive, and I worked hard for the next 30 min trying to initiate and follow bridging attempts, but never made it across. At 20 minutes to go, I was really hurting and knew the break wouldn't be caught (or bridged to), so I cut my losses and sat in to save it for the sprint. The final lap was fast and I moved up into good position...but I am frustrated with myself because I could've easily been two or three riders farther forward. I sprinted hard and came around a couple riders, but had hit the final corner a little too far back. Overall it was a good race--unfortunately none of us in the field had the horsepower to match the High Road women.

George's report from the Jefferson Cup Road Race:
Who raced: George Ganoung, Ken Young, Chris Judy
Place: George 43rd, Ken and Chris DNF
Race Distance: 73 miles
Description of Course: 10 mile loop lots of short punchy hills, cold, 38 F, rain, sleet, snow and hail!
The Race: Jefferson Cup is kind of the unofficial kick off to the road racing season in the Mid Atlantic region and weather was definitely the big feature today. It started sleeting about an hour before the race, making the roads nice and wet and then proceeded to rain, snow, sleet and hail off and on the whole day. Definitely the worst conditions I personally have raced in. Ken, Chris and I all rode near the front for the first couple of laps anticipating an early break due to the bad weather. We all were represented in moves, but everything was short lived. About 3 laps in, the weather started to take its toll and many riders began dropping off due to the conditions. Along with many other riders, Chris and Ken were both unfortunately victims of the conditions both having to be treated for exposure (Chris ended up in the ambulance for about an hour but is ok). The winning break shook free about 4 laps in and while I saw it unfold and was involved in the preliminaries, I didn’t have the legs to make it in the final selection of 6. I went with a couple of promising counter-moves in the last laps, but nothing was going anywhere as a strong team had 3 in the break and was shutting everything down. I didn’t really have a whole lot left for the sprint and chose the wrong side of the field anyway when it started to unfold and rolled in with what remained of the field. Although no result to speak of, overall I was actually pretty happy given the conditions (not normally my cup of tea, here is to wearing every piece of clothing I brought with me!) and the time of year.

Ian's report from the Trofee Van Haspengouw - Aalst-St.-Truiden:
Place: 80th out of 198 starters
Race Distance: 155km - 1 x 119km + 5 x 7.2km
Description of Course: One big loop, rolling, raining, lots of turns and more wind and then finishing circuits
The Race: The sun was out, it was around 50 degrees and nice, for rider sign-in. As soon as the motorcycle started, so did the rain and wind, again. I made my way to the front of the peloton quickly and was sitting pretty around 15th wheel until about 20km into the race in a rainy cross wind section I got hip checked off the road, caught the lip and went down. No bad injuries but my bike was pretty tangled up, got it going with our mechanic's help and the chasing began. After about a 20-minute all out chase with some of the other dropped riders I caught we finally caught the peloton. I did my best to immediately start moving back up but was only able to get halfway due to the swelling of the group in a small town and then unfortunately we hit a crazy cross-wind section for about 10km. I was no where near the first 3 echelons and had to wait for a 4th to form - way, way back. I thought my day was done but a few of the guys wanted to work hard and when we hit the tail wind we killed it. Eventually I left the group and caught the end of the caravan of 40 cars that was stretched many kilometers with all the flats and broken groups. It took me about an hour of killing myself behind various cars and small groups of guys but I finally made it back to the main peloton! I was cooked but moved to the front to let my teammates know I was back but of little use. A few kilometers before the finishing circuits the elastic was stretched and I covered two attacks and was empty. I made it through one finishing circuit on the end of the peloton and lost contact on a tough cobble section and the official said no more. I wish I hadn't crashed in the beginning because I had more than enough power today to expect a good result. Next time. Steven finished 21st, Aaron 44th.