May 15 and 16
Ciclismo wins again in KY.
It was the final weekend of the Kentuckiana spring series. Both races were flat, windy crits with local fields. First race started with small breaks rolling off the front until about 20 minutes in, when a break of 5 of us were let go. We dropped one guy and it ended up bringing myself and 3 other guys all from the same team. In the process of dropping the 5th guy, one of the 3 guys made it up the road. His teammate was able to bridge after I had made the move that caused the 5th guy to be dropped. I pulled their other teammate around for the last 25 minutes and ended up 4th. That night Elizabeth and I joined 6 of our friends and went camping and hiking at the Red River Gorge. Very cool place, despite the rain. We were able to make a fire and roast marshmallows.
The next morning we went hiking for a couple of miles before we had to drive back to Louisville two or so hours for the final race of the spring series. We had just enough time to take a shower and grab a sandwich before we had to leave for the race.
The race started out fast with attacks from the gun. After several attacks, 12 guys ended up creating the break. It was myself and 5 Roadhouse guys, and 3 Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles teammates along with some other teams who all had a couple riders. It was attack after attack as I had to cover if a roadhouse guy went with a Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles guys or vice versa. The break stayed together as we headed into the last lap. I attacked right before the last corner, which was a sharp horse shoe shape and I got a gap. The rest of the guys tried to catch my wheel but couldn’t before the corner and one of the guys towards the back of the break went down in the corner. I increased my lead through the corner and put my head down and peddled. The finish came down to mere inches as a couple guys almost caught me after a 300 meter downhill in the wind finish. It was too close to call but the finish line camera showed me just inches ahead. I won! I ended up wining the weekend omnium and placed 3rd in the overall spring series, despite racing only four of the ten races.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
At Quad Cities, everyone has a story...
... it's true, you travel to the Mississippi Delta, Memorial weekend to collect four separate stories, each with their own seemingly epic plot...
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
I'll leave the Stage 2 blogging for somebody else
Wow, you just can't beat the quality of people (community members, race organizers, racers) here in Silver City. The race is yet to end, and I don't want to jinx my expectations, but the Tour of the Gila is, simply put,...outstanding.
Today, stage 3, was the individual time trial, an out-and-back, in Tyrone, New Mexico, just a stones throw from downtown Silver City. The course commenced with a gradual 5 mile uphill followed by a steep downhill, which led into a few rollers before the turn-around. Returning to the finish included a steep 2 mile climb and a ripping-fast 5 mile descent. Today's weather was comfortably warm and the wind was at our backs on the way to the turn-around and directly at our heads on the way home...better than a crosswind, but still not easy.
The fastest on the day for Ciclismo Racing was our daily dose of "Sunshine" and GC leader, Mr. Benjamin Kneller, covering the course in 35:22, which equated to a 12th place finish. In a field of over 140, and with 3 riders preparing for the Giro d'italia, one of which was slower than Ben, trust me 12th place is a truly special and spectacular result. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, and this result came after a malfunction of his front derailleur, which Ben overcame by ramping his speed up to 45 miles per hour, putting his hand down to grab his chain, and returning his chain to the big chainring to finish the race...talk about staying cool-headed in a could-be disastrous situation. As a teammate, when another teammate rides so hard that they can barely finish the short spin back to the house, a performance like Ben's encourages us to ride even that much harder for our GC leader and glues us that much tighter as a team.
Thanks for reading,
Phil Mann
On a side note, and to give all you readers some perspective, I rode 20 seconds faster today than last year on the same course, but I was 52 places higher, 39th last year versus 91st this year (don't judge my placings, I wasn't hired as a time trial specialist :)). Hopefully this incite sheds light on the depth of talent in the field of racers.
Today, stage 3, was the individual time trial, an out-and-back, in Tyrone, New Mexico, just a stones throw from downtown Silver City. The course commenced with a gradual 5 mile uphill followed by a steep downhill, which led into a few rollers before the turn-around. Returning to the finish included a steep 2 mile climb and a ripping-fast 5 mile descent. Today's weather was comfortably warm and the wind was at our backs on the way to the turn-around and directly at our heads on the way home...better than a crosswind, but still not easy.
The fastest on the day for Ciclismo Racing was our daily dose of "Sunshine" and GC leader, Mr. Benjamin Kneller, covering the course in 35:22, which equated to a 12th place finish. In a field of over 140, and with 3 riders preparing for the Giro d'italia, one of which was slower than Ben, trust me 12th place is a truly special and spectacular result. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, and this result came after a malfunction of his front derailleur, which Ben overcame by ramping his speed up to 45 miles per hour, putting his hand down to grab his chain, and returning his chain to the big chainring to finish the race...talk about staying cool-headed in a could-be disastrous situation. As a teammate, when another teammate rides so hard that they can barely finish the short spin back to the house, a performance like Ben's encourages us to ride even that much harder for our GC leader and glues us that much tighter as a team.
Thanks for reading,
Phil Mann
On a side note, and to give all you readers some perspective, I rode 20 seconds faster today than last year on the same course, but I was 52 places higher, 39th last year versus 91st this year (don't judge my placings, I wasn't hired as a time trial specialist :)). Hopefully this incite sheds light on the depth of talent in the field of racers.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)