Lafayette turned out better than I had hoped, Taco Bell Hill was a non-event. However, the hairpin was an adventure that I solved about 90% of the time. Oh yeah, don't pedal in that thing, the sneaky camber/angle grabbed many a pedal and chucked yours truly about 2 feet sideways, rolling the front tire.
I had a responsibility to Original Joe to watch one guy, James from Trumer for the GC omnium thingy and we marked him heavily with mixed success. I recognized a few names from cross and MTB out there today, guys that if they raced on the road regularly would be 3's and 2's. I attacked from the gun with the Big Volsansky per our plan to stretch it out. The cross/MTB fellas soon joined me while Jimmy took a break and we had a little gap. I was hurting and trying to do mental GC math at the same time and skipped a few rotations. We never organized and got caught about 10 laps in. I slid back a little looking for help from the boys and got some from Rich, Mo, El Patron and Paul, who marked the GC threat some and kept things together. Unfortunately, while I was rallying, WTB guy rolls off and gets 15 seconds. We burn half our guys while most teams watch but there is no real organization and WTB Guy stays away, hats off to him.
I had my moment of flight with 6 laps to go and rode to the pit quickly before the 5 lap rule would kick in, first successful wheel change in my career. I had to chase a little after a crazy push, but I was glad to be back in it for better or worse.
Moved up on Mark Estes' wheel to the front and found Joe sitting pretty while Rich was pulling away. Joe informs me it is the bell lap and we slot in behind 3 peggy boys. The first one takes a nice pull to the backside, then there is indecision in front about who is gonna win it? Not really sure what the conversation was , maybe Gianni will lead out anyway, let's just wait. Not sure, but I got my GC man on my wheel and I can hear the buzzing behind me from the herd. I have decided to just race with my instincts for better or worse and quit overthinking this shit. I definitely do not want to be 10 wide into the corner, and punch it from 600-700 meters. I take the corner smooth and alone and get it on to the finish. I kept waiting for the herd and they finally showed up with 50 meters to go, I see a flash of the red and black from Mo, and Joe a second later, apparently lots of argie-bargie behind me caught him up and knocked him off my wheel, bummer.
Very happy with 8th place and all parts intact, caught Nome's race, sweet win on the omnium!
OV was too cool on the bridge, damn that was some strong move across, all us sporties were just going to school at the bottom of Taco Bell on the supergeezer race, very impressive .
Leaving for Oregon tommorrow, I just hope I'm not last by the first day :-)
4 comments:
Nice work today. You'll have to share your secrets for flatting just before the free lap rule ends. Have a blast in Oregon. From what I hear from teammates, it's a great race.
Um... put your inside pedal down early- jump bike 2 feet sidewqys- laugh crazily while other racers edge away cautiously- start riding rolled tire/wheel combo toward pit- blow tire- now no one is around- sprint to pit on wobbly rim.
Most of all look for holes and rocks, get woozy from chasing MTB loons till you can't see nor do you care, then drive bike at H & R at unsafe speed. Yeah, that's it!
Nice work on that Prime today, and major gutsy minty move out there at the end.
have fun up in Cascade. that's some good racing.
good to see you guys throwin' down and smilin' about it afterwards.
good vibes.
see you when you get back.
good job in bend
that was some hard racing
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