NCNCA District Road Race Report
Posted on Saturday, August 4, 2007
Date: August 4, 2007
Team: Andy/Jesse, BP (4th), Christian, David, Logan, Paul, Rob and Sean
BP's Race Report:
The annual 10-lap / 105 mile affair through the mothballed army base roads of Fort Ord took place again today. The loop was the same as 2006, but the finish was moved to the top of a series of the many rollers. It was great to have Logan "Pigpen" Loader back from Europe to contest his first race as a Cat I, and in his own backyard no less.
A field of about 80 Cat I - Cat III racers lined up in the mist and fog to contest the coveted district title (and the prospect of $2 entry fees!). The race started at a moderate pace, with Cal Giant controlling attacks until a break of three went off on the third lap. The break had Chava from Cal Giant in it, a Metromint rider and another rider from a Team I didn't recognize. The break quickly established a 3+ minute gap.
The pack slowed through the middle section of the race. Eventually, with 3.5 laps remaining, Cal Giant pulled Chava from the break and put their whole Team, sans Mattis, at the front. Now, it looked as if James was wearing a red and white bullseye on his back because it was obvious he was Cal Giant's protected rider. I knew that he and Ted Huang would try to have a go when the gap came down.
It took a while, but eventually, the gap dropped to under two minutes with one lap left to race. Ted flexed his leg muscles in the feed zone, accelerated, grabbed a bottle and kept on going. Ted claimed this was not the verboten feed zone attack, but some of his competitors felt otherwise. I was caught looking for a bottle and when I looked up Ted, Mattis and Andreas Gil were up the road with a 200M gap. At this point, I could have given it a surge up to them but I hesitated and they were off to the races.
With about 8K to race I got a little frustrated with the lack of cohesion in the chase group and jumped. I thought I could pull a Spine guy with me to help but no luck. Off solo. Well, at least I could end this pain sooner!
I actually had pretty decent legs up the 1K climb and was cursing myself for missing Ted's earlier move. I picked up a U23 rider, the guy I didn't recognize from the original break and Andreas. I managed to stay in front of them for fourth, with Mattis taking the W, Ted in second and the Metromint dude in third.
As a Team, we had a real bugger of a race. Jandy and Christian each covered a couple of attacks earlier on and Dave managed to keep good positioning on the climb. Christian looked really fresh throughout the race but succumbed to a broken rear derailleur cable late in the race.
Special thanks to Sukie for some kickass feeds and Shelley for the cheering section!
Best,
BP
Team: Andy/Jesse, BP (4th), Christian, David, Logan, Paul, Rob and Sean
BP's Race Report:
The annual 10-lap / 105 mile affair through the mothballed army base roads of Fort Ord took place again today. The loop was the same as 2006, but the finish was moved to the top of a series of the many rollers. It was great to have Logan "Pigpen" Loader back from Europe to contest his first race as a Cat I, and in his own backyard no less.
A field of about 80 Cat I - Cat III racers lined up in the mist and fog to contest the coveted district title (and the prospect of $2 entry fees!). The race started at a moderate pace, with Cal Giant controlling attacks until a break of three went off on the third lap. The break had Chava from Cal Giant in it, a Metromint rider and another rider from a Team I didn't recognize. The break quickly established a 3+ minute gap.
The pack slowed through the middle section of the race. Eventually, with 3.5 laps remaining, Cal Giant pulled Chava from the break and put their whole Team, sans Mattis, at the front. Now, it looked as if James was wearing a red and white bullseye on his back because it was obvious he was Cal Giant's protected rider. I knew that he and Ted Huang would try to have a go when the gap came down.
It took a while, but eventually, the gap dropped to under two minutes with one lap left to race. Ted flexed his leg muscles in the feed zone, accelerated, grabbed a bottle and kept on going. Ted claimed this was not the verboten feed zone attack, but some of his competitors felt otherwise. I was caught looking for a bottle and when I looked up Ted, Mattis and Andreas Gil were up the road with a 200M gap. At this point, I could have given it a surge up to them but I hesitated and they were off to the races.
With about 8K to race I got a little frustrated with the lack of cohesion in the chase group and jumped. I thought I could pull a Spine guy with me to help but no luck. Off solo. Well, at least I could end this pain sooner!
I actually had pretty decent legs up the 1K climb and was cursing myself for missing Ted's earlier move. I picked up a U23 rider, the guy I didn't recognize from the original break and Andreas. I managed to stay in front of them for fourth, with Mattis taking the W, Ted in second and the Metromint dude in third.
As a Team, we had a real bugger of a race. Jandy and Christian each covered a couple of attacks earlier on and Dave managed to keep good positioning on the climb. Christian looked really fresh throughout the race but succumbed to a broken rear derailleur cable late in the race.
Special thanks to Sukie for some kickass feeds and Shelley for the cheering section!
Best,
BP