Race Reports for 19-20 April

US 40k TT Challenge
Pennsylvania
Who raced: George

Sea Otter NRC Circuit Race
California
Who raced: Holly

Colorado Springs Front Range Cycling Classic
Colorado
Who raced: Bill

Zellik-Galmaarden (UCI 1.12, U27 TopCompetition)
Belgium
Who raced: Ian

George's report from the 40k TT Challenge
Place: 4th in 55:05 (27.1mph ave)
Location: Middletown, PA (right next to 3 Mile Island Nuclear Plant)
Course: Windy, rolling out and back.
Starters: 144
The race: Pretty windy day, strong cross head wind on the way out and cross tail wind on the way back. I felt ok on the way out, but didn’t quite have the extra “punch” on the way back to really take advantage of the tail wind, legs still in early season mode. I missed 3rd by 5/100ths of a second which was a bit of a bummer. First 40k in 2 years, I forgo a disk to run a power meter and I rode my “Franken bike” since I have been adjusting my position. A good solid effort and respectable place with some easy places to improve so overall I feel I am “on track” but still have work to do.

Holly's report from the Sea Otter NRC Circuit Race
Place: 40th
Distance: 50 miles
Description of course: 22 laps of the Laguna Seca raceway with a .5 mile climb with a gradual runup, short steep section, then a windy false flat over the top. Corkscrew descent, exposed flat section. Very windy conditions! QOMs at 18,13,8,3 to go and sprints at 20,15,10,5 to go.
The race: My training's been tough for Hood, so I didn't know what to expect from myself at Sea Otter. I decided to just set small goals for myself to survive as long as possible. The Sea Otter course has always been tough for me--short, steep hills are one of my biggest weaknesses. Well, I managed to talk myself through every lap...."Ok Holly, you made it through the first QOM, now just make it to the next one." The steep section of the hill was hardest for me--I was much stronger on the windy, more gradual section over the top, so if I could make it there staying in contact with the lead group, I was set. Otherwise (and this happened on a couple laps too) I'd have to put the strong and gusty crosswinds on the corkscrew descent out of my mind and just bomb it, sprinting with all I had at the bottom to catch back on. I hung on until 3 to go (thanks to the establishment of a breakaway with every team represented...there were at least 2-3 laps where the field really sat up, meaning the break came close to lapping the entire field) when Colavita started some serious attacking and things splintered. I was one of the first to go in that splintering, but just worked hard with my small group to finish the race. I ended up 40th...and only 40 people actually finished the race (which was somewhere around half of the field). So that means I was last, but I couldn't have been happier, because I made it to the finish...a first in my Sea Otter history! Now just wait until I get to race on some courses that I'm actually well suited for...

Bill's report from the Colorado Springs Front Range Cycling Classic
Criterium: The race evolved like most crits: lots of attacks and counter-attacks by the bigger teams around the 10-15 minute point until the field is beat up enough that one move jumps and sticks. I decided early to race aggressively and cover moves instead of sit in and hope I saw the right move go. As it usually goes when you race alone against well organized teams, I covered several attacks and was recovering when the real move went up the road. It didn't help that I don't know whos-who in Colorado and had to honor all of the Slipstream, Einsteins and Vitamin Cottage guys. After the break was established, I covered several more attempts to bridge which didn't have the horsepower to get across. When it became obvious what was left of the field would finish together, I made the decision to take Taylor Phinney's wheel for the field sprint. This turned out to be a mistake as I sacrificed 4 or 5 places to get back to him, and the tailwind on the final 100m meant nobody came around anyone else. My pre-race plan was to be either top 1 or 2 hitting the last hill but didn't follow through on that plan. More evidence that a well thought out plan is generally better than a snap decision inside of 1k to go.
Fighting Falcon Road Race:
Course / Conditions: 12 mile loop with a long descent, a flat section, a 4 mile gradually steepening climb, and a couple of short climbs prior to the finish. 5 laps for 64 miles. Wind blowing 40mph with gusts to 50.
The race: The worst crash I have ever had about 5 minutes into the race. The course started out with a long fast (I saw 53mph part way down) descent followed by a right turn at the bottom. The wind was howling so everyone was fighting to get to the front before the Pros started killing it on the flats. The crash happened just after the big right hander. The field was still going 40+mph in about 4-5 lines across the left two lanes. I had moved up to the top 15 on the left side. The problem is that the far left lane was an unmarked merge lane that abruptly ended after about 50 meters. All of a sudden, the guy in front of me jumped into a gap on his right and I was left staring at curb with a big broken hole in it. I had no time to react and hit the hole in the curb without even braking. The impact collapsed my front wheel and broke my handlebars in half. The rest is history, as they say. Bottom line, it could have been a lot worse. I have some pretty good road rash, a few stitches in my elbow, and a sore hip, thigh, and shoulder. Even by this morning I feel better, will be on the trainer tomorrow, and will be healed for the AF Classic.

Ian's report from Zellik-Galmaarden
Place: 55th out of 198
Course Description: 173.1km (107.5miles) About 40km of rolling terrain from Zellik to the finish line, then 2 big laps of 33km including 5 climbs (Muur, Bosberg, Congoberg), then 3 finishing laps of 22km (Bosberg & Congoberg)
The race: We were really shooting for results. We had reconned the big loops two separate days because the Muur, Bosberg and Congoberg are all cobblestone climbs that are quite steep and difficult. They are found in the Tour of Flanders spring classic race. The weather turned out to be awesome, first time for that, and the field was huge and motivated because this was the second TopCompetition race of the year. The TopComp is a series like the NRC and is very serious. My job along with my roommate was to cover the early attacks and if bullets needed to be spent they would come from us. This neutral roll out was the craziest one yet. I had to jump a curb literally at the last second and the race was riddled with crashes from the start to the finish. Vince and I were caught too far back when they dropped the red flag and had to bust to the front. By then, 15 guys had already broken clear and I went with the next guy and we killed it to get across with a few others. We got more than halfway across but the field stepped on the gas and picked us up and then caught the front group. Next Vince and I got into a group of 15 that shook free but we only stayed clear about 5km and by the first time through the finish line everything was together so we had done our first job. The first time to the Muur was a disaster. There is a hairpin 180 turn before it and only a few guys made it through clean before there was a huge pile up. I eventually got through the mess but then they all freaked out on the Muur and there were crashes and punching all over the place. I just took it easy, grabbing spectators or a chain link fence and just waited several times for guys to clear a path so I could ride to the top. It was comical watching these guys freakin out trying to run up a cobblestone climb in cycling shoes. Our group eventually caught the front group. I continued to stay calm through the race on the climbs and caught back on whenever gapped and it seemed to work well. The race broke apart many times like Paris-Roubaix and came back together and broke again. Our goal was to get Steven on the podium and have two guys finish high for the team GC. Unfortunetly Steven flatted and Christophe had to give up his wheel. Later Peter flatted out so there were only 4 of us left and two of us had done a lot of work early! Around the 3hr point I was hurting bad but recovered and the last lap everything was together. Steven broke away with a group of 33. I ended up having a lot more in the tank than I expected at the end and tried to break away from my group a few times but the headwind was too much. I really botched up the sprint, leaving my last bullet not used, and ended up 55th when our group was sprinting for 35th. When all was said and done it was a successful race, Steven finished 8th in the sprint. A group of 22 was only 30 seconds ahead of our group and they took 12th - 33rd. In hindsight I should have been in that group but didn't know how much I had left. Our team finished 8th out of 33 teams and we were much stronger than the USA National development team. Next time I'll either be in the chase group or won't hesitate to win the group sprint. Ken probably would have liked this race. We averaged 28mph for 107.5 miles with all those crazy cobbled climbs.