So, we had our first SGR Club ride race this morning,
8AM, early for some, late for others, a decent compromise. The start was
the same as a regular race - right in the starting pen with a countdown
banner. Nice. A bit more race-like than a meetup.
We
had 8 riders: Hunter P., Steffen H., Steve B., Christian D., Dana R.,
Dan S., Erin B., and Brian O. (Proper nicknames forthcoming by
Huntiecakes.)
Someone (Erin?) suggested just
before the banner drop that we drop the neutral flag at 3 miles. When
the banner started though someone didn't quite get the memo and started
to ride off the front right away. Not going super hard but not in the
neutral zone either. All fair, we "chased" down the rider slowly.
Hunter P
chose the Dust in the Wind route. Not a bad choice, a bit of climbing, a
dirt loop (flats are not an issue at least), just around 1.5 hours. But
it does start with the Titan's Grove climb. A neutral start until the
top of that climb would be great. It would give everyone a chance to get
warmed up and give more riders a chance to stay with the group longer
as there is a long descent and flat section leading to the Jungle
circuit. Just saying...
As it was, the pace up
the climb was a bit of a decent effort and we dropped a rider before he
even had a chance to get warmed up. Hunter dropped back to help out but
eventually made chase to catch back on.
At the
top, Christian made the idiotic move to check his Discord feed to see if
anyone from the group was online to chat. Nobody was. But when he was
done, he realized he had been gapped. So, instead of cruising down the
hill and recovering he had to make chase the whole descent.
By
the bottom, Hunter and Brian, who had also dropped back for a bit to
help, had bridged back up. And the pace stayed relaxed heading towards
the climb up to the Jungle entrance. On that climb up the hill to the
bridge, Steffen put in a solid effort and got a bit of a gap. Christian
and Brian dug deep and got back on his wheel. Hunter and Steve followed
just a tad behind. Dan and Erin weren't having any of it and took it at
more of a Sunday ride pace, smart move.
Just
after crossing the bridge and heading into the turn towards the glowing
green entrance to the Jungle area, Hunter P came across along with Steve
but Hunter refused to let up. He just continued to ride on. The rest of
us unwisely just let him. But hopefully having him do solo effort out
there alone would tire him out (it didn't).
The
four were content to let him get a decent gap but after crossing the
rope bridge they started to bring the gap back. By the turn-around they
were essentially on him. But Hunter still managed to cross the gate in
first, with Brian just behind. For those that don't know the course,
halfway along the Jungle circuit is a finishing gate, it is a perfect
intermediate sprint as it is essentially the turn-around point.
A
short cool down followed, but it was quickly destroyed when Brian went
on the attack, hard. Before we left the Jungle, he had a good 10-second
lead. It took a long time on the flats before that gap was brought down.
Solid effort - and the dude wasn't even on a Tron bike like everyone
else. It looked like a gravel bike (which would explain the gap in the
jungle but not how it held up once we left the jungle). Heading to the
second pass up the Titan's Grove, the group was still Brian, Hunter,
Steffen, Steve, and Christian. After some goading from Hunter, Christian
made a poor attack attempt on the initial part of the climb. The
rolling hills helped keep the chase from getting a rhythm. And he
managed a gap of about 8 seconds before the main climb came up. But it
wasn't enough. Hunter and Brian put it in 5th gear while Christian was
stuck in 1st. And they slowly started to bring that gap down, leaving
Steffen and Steve to eat their dust. Halfway up, with about a minute to
go, Christian saw the writing on the wall and eased up. He was passed
with about 200m to the top. Not sure who got the points at the top of
that climb but it wasn't Christian. Stuck in no-man's land, Christian
had the option to try to chase down the mad riders up front or ease up
and wait for the Steves. He sensibly opted for the latter.
Hunter
and Brian took turns pulling up front on the Tempus Fugit portion and
were never seen again by the other three. Eventually Hunter won the
final sprint to the line. Meanwhile Steffen, Steve, and Christian were
doing turns at pulling in a TTT attempt but as the gap opened up ahead,
that cooperation quickly ended. After a gap opened up while Christian
was doing a pull, he realized the truce was gone and rode off ahead
forcing Steve to eventually chase back on while Steffen rode his draft.
As we approached the finishing sprint, Christian did his best to set a
hard non-sprinting pace to force Steve to go a little harder to stay on
the wheel and letting Steffen sit in a nice third wheel position,
perfect. With 300m to go, Steve took off but Steffen was right on his
wheel and zipped around him with about 50m to go... getting bronze for
the morning.
Legs are now thoroughly sore for
the day. So, who's up for joining the race with no entry-fee NEXT Sunday
morning? Invite your friends, your
enemies, even Crowell!
