This morning's training ride was a bit windy but otherwise uneventful, so here's a copy of the writeup I did last night on Rocktoberfest for Christian at The Racing Post:
Rocktoberfest Reloaded
The 6th annual New Orleans Rocktoberfest circuit race finally got underway October 24th, having been rescheduled at the last minute because of a tropical storm that had blown through the Crescent City two weeks earlier. This fun event usually marks the end of the local road racing season, and despite the delayed date and unseasonably warm weather, we had some good racing.
Being a club-promoted event, a bunch of us do kind of an officiating/racing relay, taking turns at various duties so that we can put on the race and still get to ride it. This race seems to be very attractive to new riders, and once again the Cat. 5s outnumbered all the other classes. The large group, more than half of which were riding on one-day licenses, was a little scary, and since there wasn't the usual Fall crosswind, things stayed together, culminating in a big pack sprint. Unfortunately, about 500 meters from the line one rider went down hard and we had some anxious moments. The rider sustained a mild concussion, broken clavicle, and road rash from head to toe, but somehow nobody else went down, including the guy who rolled over his head.
I rode the Master-35+ race, officiated a bit, and then rode the Cat. 1,2,3 race, both of which were a blast. The masters race is usually a battle between two of the local teams, the New Orleans Bicycle Club and NBO Racing, and this year was no exception. Shortly after the start, NBO started launching attacks and my NOBC teammates and I were kept busy up front trying to keep things under control. NOBC rider Charlie Davis took on "counter-attack duty" and relentlessly countered the NBO attacks. A 3-man break containing NBO rider Cary Holle, NOBC rider Charlie Davis and unattached rider Jay Joyce, who was clearly working with NBO in this race, finally broke lose early in the race. The gap wasn't opening very fast, despite NBO's heavy blocking, and since I wasn't very comfortable with Charlie's chances in this break, I wasn't willing to let it get too much time on the group. The break was caught a lap or so later on the 3-mile course, but the pace stayed fast and soon another break went containing another of my teammates, Mike Lew. Mike was looking pretty good, but this break just never seemed to gel. I could see that they weren't working together very well, and after another lap or so it was swallowed up by the pack pretty easily.
Now it was looking like it would come down to a sprint and things eased up for a little while on the last lap. Things were still dangerously bunched up a mile from the finish, but finally Luke Ponseti (NBO) and a couple others got things started and just after the kilo marker we were already up to about 30 mph. With 300m to go Mike came hammering by me on the left and I latched onto his wheel, punching the shifter down to the 12 at the same time as the sprint started in earnest. Mike motored past everyone and as we approached the line he eased up just a bit. I figured we had this one in the bag and eased up a bit too to make sure Mike crossed the line first.
Then I heard it. The unmistakable "woosh, woosh, woosh" of a big guy in a 53x11. It was accompanied by guttural animal sounds most often heard through the wall of a cheap hotel room. I knew immediately we were in trouble and tried to respond, but it was too late. Howard Luna blasted past us at the line and took the win! We did OK, though, taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th. You'd think by now I'd know not to quit before crossing the line! I kind of doubt I would have been able to hold off Howard's charge anyway.
The next race, about an hour later, was the Cat. 1,2,3 race. I was in this one mainly to help our new Cat. 3 rider Branden Morvant. This would be his second race as a Cat. 3 and I knew he was strong enough to get a good result as long as he didn't miss a key break. If it came down to a sprint, I knew that all he needed was a clear shot at the line. As it turned out, he was to miss a break and definitely not get a clear shot at the line, but got a good result anyway. So, what do I know?
Starting this race was like a lot of short Cat. 1,2,3 races, which is to say it's like being shot out of a cannon. For the first six miles it was one attack after another, with the speed staying around 30 mph. A break of 5 or 6 riders finally broke loose and although it didn't include Branden or me, it included Tim Regan, Frank Moak and Troy Porter of the Herring team, along with one or two NBO riders and our rider Chalie Davis. NBO immediately started to block and it was largely up to me, Branden and Scott Kuppesmith of Pathworks to keep us within striking range. We had one Herring rider, Kenny Bellau (current La/Ms road and crit champion) in the pack.
I couldn't really figure out why NBO was blocking so much because their best sprinters were back in the chase group with us. I was trying to help Branden save his legs by doing a lot of work up front and at one point I dropped back to him for a chat. The gap was holding pretty steady at maybe 20 seconds, and I was sure that Kenny would try and bridge. I warned Branden about that and sure enough, Kenny attacked hard three different times. Each time, one of us was there and the pack was on us like white on rice, but by the time Kenny made his last attack the break was starting to disintegrate. Charlie had already been dropped, and a couple others were dangling off the back. Kenny's last attempt to bridge took us up to 31 mph for a while and got the pack close enough to smell blood. The break was caught right after that, but in the confusion Troy Porter took the opportunity to slip off the front and opened a huge gap with a bit over a lap to go. The pack was mostly toast by now and with three Herring guys now blocking it was looking like a race for 2nd place to me.
Coming into the final mile or so I knew I didn't' have the legs to provide a decent leadout, so I told Branden to "stay on Frank's wheel no matter what." About ten seconds later the sprint started and Branden was in a good spot behind Frank on the right side of the road, about 5 riders back. At around 200 meters, Frank slipped past between a dying rider and the curb and the door shut on Branden. Luckily he had the presence of mind to back out and go around on the left, putting in a great effort and placing third in the pack sprint behind Frank and Tim. I was pretty pleased with that result, although a podium spot for Branden would have been sweet. I rolled across after Kenny in 7th overall.
So that was it for the 2004 road racing season, my 33rd, and I'm looking forward to a few weeks of easy rides.
Now, where did I put those arm warmers and mountain bike shoes??
No comments:
Post a Comment