[Older race report being filed now for posterity...]
[Picture credits: P. Brookshire]
We started out with a lengthy rollout and warmup due to the crash in the final sprint of the Mens 5s which required an ambulance to evacuate a rider from the scene. Incidentally, Matt H. of Cucina, who won the 4/5s initial race at Pacific Raceways had won 3 of 4 primes and likely would have won that race but for the crash. Another great reason to take the upgrade class with Cycle U – so you can avoid that kind of thing.
The course is a .6KM loop starting on Boat street heading clockwise to Pacifc (turn 1) east to Brooklyn (turn 2), downhill and then right on Boat street again (turn 3), turns 1 and 3 are tighter than 90 degrees, off-camber, incorporate big grade change and include many road hazards (potholes and traffic dots).
The USCF ref encouraged everyone to be friendly and thoughtful of one another in corners. He wanted NO bike throws for primes and reminded us that the race would not be won in the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be fun after all. So we took off and while the lap one pace was decent, things sped up after we could get a feel for the turns at speed. You had to ride hard up around turn 1, uphill to turn 2, recover on descent and the sweep turn 3, and then nail it as early as possible out of that turn to keep the elastic intact. This was a combination fitness test, but also finesse test between technical cornering and road hazards at speed.
A few flyers took off early but were reassimilated into the pack due to strong riding from some Oberto juniors and Jason with Alki/Rubicon. After 20 mins or so, big bad Carl H. (think Jan Ullrich) from Recycled went for the first prime of the day. A pound of coffee he had personally delivered from their team sponsor Lighthouse coffee. He took it, and as we rolled through I saw Clayton (Sbux) come charging through and grabbed his wheel. He had soloed a bit earlier so he was clearly strong and feeling his oats. This is the same guy who took first at Mason Lake #2 when Alex got second – but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.
I recall intentionally not pulling through after Clayton because it felt too soon in the race, I had my own plans to try a flyer with my cousin Nelson. Clayton respectfully disagreed. Then a blur of blue Carl H(RC) and Craig (Axa) came by and our little break formed. Next thing I knew we had three-four of us together and a little gap. I told Clayton I’d work now and encouraged them all to take short hard pulls, keep our eyes on the final prize and ignore the primes. We split somewhere like 17 minutes to go, probably way too early but our group worked well and the guys rode hard, fair and safe. Craig intimated that his teammates worked to block the pack for us.
The course is a .6KM loop starting on Boat street heading clockwise to Pacifc (turn 1) east to Brooklyn (turn 2), downhill and then right on Boat street again (turn 3), turns 1 and 3 are tighter than 90 degrees, off-camber, incorporate big grade change and include many road hazards (potholes and traffic dots).
The USCF ref encouraged everyone to be friendly and thoughtful of one another in corners. He wanted NO bike throws for primes and reminded us that the race would not be won in the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be fun after all. So we took off and while the lap one pace was decent, things sped up after we could get a feel for the turns at speed. You had to ride hard up around turn 1, uphill to turn 2, recover on descent and the sweep turn 3, and then nail it as early as possible out of that turn to keep the elastic intact. This was a combination fitness test, but also finesse test between technical cornering and road hazards at speed.
A few flyers took off early but were reassimilated into the pack due to strong riding from some Oberto juniors and Jason with Alki/Rubicon. After 20 mins or so, big bad Carl H. (think Jan Ullrich) from Recycled went for the first prime of the day. A pound of coffee he had personally delivered from their team sponsor Lighthouse coffee. He took it, and as we rolled through I saw Clayton (Sbux) come charging through and grabbed his wheel. He had soloed a bit earlier so he was clearly strong and feeling his oats. This is the same guy who took first at Mason Lake #2 when Alex got second – but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.
I recall intentionally not pulling through after Clayton because it felt too soon in the race, I had my own plans to try a flyer with my cousin Nelson. Clayton respectfully disagreed. Then a blur of blue Carl H(RC) and Craig (Axa) came by and our little break formed. Next thing I knew we had three-four of us together and a little gap. I told Clayton I’d work now and encouraged them all to take short hard pulls, keep our eyes on the final prize and ignore the primes. We split somewhere like 17 minutes to go, probably way too early but our group worked well and the guys rode hard, fair and safe. Craig intimated that his teammates worked to block the pack for us.
With 3-4 laps left, Clayton bridged back to us and made a strong move to open the bell lap. I figured he was the wheel to watch, but the move was really to drive it through turn 2 and lead into that widowmaker of turn 3 because once you swept hard through that there wasn’t really enough real estate left to make a difference – we exited that turn in the order we finished. Craig knew this and was off like a shot heading into turn 2. Chapeau.
It was nice to see the three protagonists of the break settle the podium, but Clayton did a lot to put the pack into difficulty – I was glad to learn that his 4th place means he’s now a 3 and no longer our problem :-).
The ref aggressively pulled riders who weren’t in contact with the bunch – a shame, but probably a big reason why we had no crashes.
4’s get merchandise in lieu of cash. So if you see me sporting some killer socks, now you know.
ps- Cycle U world headquarters had not yet received their order of fine Hincapie 2008 racing togs so I wore my FC Barcelona cycle kit because it contains many of the same letter as Cycle U.
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