I don't know what it is about this race series, but this is one of my favorite races to compete in. If I had to take a guess, its partly because it only costs $10 to race which makes it an extremely cheap event. I think the low cost does one more important thing besides not emptying the check book, it gives the race an appearance and feel more like a tough training ride rather than an important race which makes everyone in the field a little more relaxed. Because of this, teams seem to try more team tactics rather than chase down every rider who tries to get off the front and I think its this reason that I really, really like this race.
Last night's race saw a large field of 24 riders take to the start line. Stark Velo was heavily represented with 9 riders: Carl Peshoff, Marshall Leininger, Matt Turi, Scott Brunner, Samantha and Tim House, Erin Quinlan, Jim Flesher and myself. Allied Decals and Orrville were also well represented. Going into this race, I didn't have any ambitions other than loosen the legs up since my riding the past week has been hampered by the lousy weather and the cold I can't seem to shake. Somehow though, early in the race I sluggishly initiated a breakaway. I had no intentions of going and my move was more about moving up to gain some better position rather than about getting off the front but after going through a few of the tight corners, there was total of four of us who opened up a small gap on the field. I was joined by Carl, Doug Williams (Allied Decals) and Paul Kinney (Orrville). With all three of the teams represented in the move, I was feeling confident that this move would stick if we could open up a larger gap to help discourage guys from bridging. After a little convincing, everyone agreed to work equally to make the move work. This went well for me until we began lapping riders. It was at this point where one of them mixed in with us and I got stuck being them in the most technical portion of the course. This rider opened up a gap between my three breakaway companions and as soon as the opportunity opened up for me to get around them, a gap too large opened up that proved too big for me to get across. It was at this point that I thought about hanging out there in no-man's land by myself but I decided to take it easy and return to the field to save my strength for the finale.
Once safely back in the protection of the diminished group, I tried to sit in to recover a little bit. Things were fairly uneventful as the time and laps ticked down. With about two laps to go, Matt Turi went off the front with an Orrville rider (I'm sorry, I don't know his name but he's the rider who ended up in 4th place). They opened up a small gap which Noah from Allied Decals tried to close down. I felt sorry for him because at that point it was up to him or his team to chase that move down. He gave it his best but with just over a half lap left he was done. It was at that point where I perfectly timed another move off the front and I was surprised to see that I had opened up a small gap. Knowing that the race was almost over, I buried myself with the goal of staying away and potentially catching the two riders just in front of me. As we approached the finish I caught Matt but just didn't have enough power to get past the Orrville rider. At the end of the day, Stark Velo walked away proudly with a second place, my fifth place and Jim Flesher taking sixth place. Together, we chipped in all of our race winnings to Bikes for Kids program that this race series is helping to support.
brian
Here's the race data:
Duration: 38:52
Work: 624 kJ
TSS: 67 (intensity factor 1.017)
Norm Power: 305
Distance: 15.53 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1005 267 watts
Cadence: 29 141 97 rpm
Speed: 10.7 31.4 24 mph
Torque: 0 363 73 lb-in
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