|
|
|
Mason Lake Road Race Series #1
6 March 2004
Report by: Barry Campbell
The morning race looked like it was going to be cold and wet, but by the time we started,
it was actually reasonably nice. They managed to split the Cat 4s and Cat 5s into two groups,
so we had to wait at the bottom of the boat ramp for a few minutes longer than expected. We
were well represented with seven starters in the Cat 5 race this week: myself, Derik, Ben,
Nick, J, Brendan and Adam. We eventually got up to the top of the ramp, got the safety and
behavior lecture, and were off.
Once again, I stayed back a little, still trying to get used to the action of the pack. Once
again, that was probably not the best idea, and will not be my strategy from here on out. The
yoyo was in full effect, evidently due mostly to one of the teams trying to block for some of
their breaks at the front. J and Brendan rode up front a lot of the time, and J even instigated
a few attacks of his own. Derik unfortunately didn’t get to see much of that, since he flatted
on the way down the first shallow, sweeping hill, about 3 miles or so in. The
less-than-enthusiastic wheel support managed to get him a crappy wheel within 3 minutes or so,
and he spent about the next 20 minutes in time trial mode trying to catch back up. He made it
to about a minute, but it was too much for even Derik. He abandoned after the second lap, and I
can only imagine his frustration. Next time, D… The rest of us played around in the pack for
most of the race. Nick worked his way up to the front for most of the last lap, and Brendan was
up there much of the time as well. Ben hung back near me, along with Adam. J bounced back and
forth - after having his fun at the front on the first lap, he came back to recover a bit. We
were gearing up for the back of the third lap, when suddenly the guy next to me vanished. I
looked back and saw two guys skidding across the other lane, but I didn’t recognize that one
of them was Adam, since the other guy was on top of him. He gets huge props for scraping
himself off the pavement and nearly chasing the pack down, finishing only a little ways behind
the main field. The rest of us tried to rest up a little for what was obviously going to be a
sprint finish. Nick was working at the front, Ben, J, and Brendan were right near me in the
middle of the pack. We passed the 200m sign, and Ben shot by me through a gap. As we came
down the stretch Ben chased down Brendan and nipped him at the line, although apparently he
was going so fast he was invisible, since his number didn’t show up on the results. That’s
okay, Ben, we know you were there. I came in just behind Brendan, and J was close behind me.
Nick was our star for the race, though – he officially came in 15th, but we all know he was
somewhere around 10th.
The women’s Cat 4 race started just after the Cat 4/5 men, and Nicole was our representative
for that. Most of us never saw any of the race, but she had some brake rubbing problems and
couldn’t stay with the pack. Next week we’ll go over her bike before the start, and she’ll
be right there.
By the time the Cat 3 race start was approaching, the weather had deteriorated a little and it
was spitting rain. We were all much more excited than last week, though, since we had two
teammates starting. Tim wasn’t feeling well before the race, and was a last minute “go”.
Shawn was ready to go from the minute they showed up. Once they got warmed up and ready to
line up, though, things reversed. Shawn got partway through the first lap and had mechanical
problems with his rear wheel. Somehow it shifted, and was rubbing the brake, so he was burning
himself out just trying to keep the pace. I think we’ll have to keep Shawn’s and Nicole’s bikes
quarantined just in case. Tim, on the other hand, felt much better once he got going. He was
in the mix the whole race, and even felt good enough on the last lap to go after a breakaway
and shatter the pack. It was great to see him going by every lap with the hang loose sign
flashing. He ended up finishing with the pack, which was great for his first race in ten years,
and it was good to hear him say that he felt like he was a factor for 90% of the race. So now
we’ve all got at least one start under our belts, it’s time to do some damage…
Results:
Nick 15th, Cat 5
Brendan 22nd, Cat 5
Barry 23rd, Cat 5
Pictures
[ news archive ]
|
