|
|
|
|
Chris Kerr Memorial RR (WiSport) Cameron, WI, Sunday, September 3rd. For some reason I love this event. The course is pretty hard and the road surface is good. The competition that shows up is usually above average. It’s 45 miles which isn’t that long but coming off the sprint which is the day before in Shell Lake, it’s just the right distance. Maybe because it’s a race born out of a tragedy? Life is a fragile thing and in the back of your mind you realize that you too can go at any time. When you ride bikes on the road you are very vulnerable to unsuspecting motorist and the reality you can get hit by a car and die just like that is always there. Whatever the reasons, this race has got some meaning or significance to it. Today we had all three Ping brothers (Ryan, Garrett and Trent) flying the colors and each was in pretty good condition and so was I so I knew we’d be an integral part of making or breaking the race. It started off fast as usual. Gordy and Dan Casper had the speed cranked up to 27-30 mph early and often. In the early going there was a tense moment involving Ryan and another guy. Apparently Ryan ran this gentleman into the gravel and though he didn’t go down he was very hot and proceeded to tell Ryan so in some not so kind words. Later it was learned that it definitely wasn’t deliberate and the two came to an understanding. It’s always kind of funny to hear people trying to argue at that high a speed and the words never seem to come out right between gasps for air. Ryan did the right thing by just riding harder and trying to go off the front. Well, I’ll get on with the events that took place. The pace was continually high and almost everyone gave it a go at one point or another. Some time shortly before the final hill prime I told Dan Casper I was either going off the front of this thing or the back and whichever it was I didn’t care. As it turned out I did go off the back on the hill as I attacked at the wrong time before the prime. I was on my limit and if the group would have kept it pinned at that point I wasn’t getting back on. I dangled in my own hell for about a mile and finally caught the back of the group, which was going fast and in single file. I was able to recover and worked my way back to the front eventually and saw that two riders had gotten off the front. A Flanders guy and Matt Brandt, the kid who almost took us out in the sprint yesterday. I tried jumping across the gap but was followed by Brandt’s teammate from the Baraboo Sharks. I didn’t even ask him for any help and we almost closed it down but were caught with about 30 feet to go. Everyone kind of sat up once they caught us and I told them that we weren’t the leaders and they needed to close it down. Some people did and as soon as they were caught Matt took off again. (He was really riding strong!) They let him go thinking he couldn’t make it and after the gap opened up a way I jumped and got a good gap. I closed on Matt and it was he and I with about 8 miles to go. The group relaxed just enough and we increased our lead. If we kept the steady pace up we could get to the line unless everyone really wanted to shut it down. Even then I knew he had a strong team behind him and my guys knew what to do so I felt fairly confident we could make it. I handed Matt a bottle as he was out of liquid and I had plenty. We shared the work load evenly and neither of us really showed any weakness. With about a mile to go we still had to work but there was enough of a gap that we could start to size each other up. I decided to attack him early to see what might happen. I got a little lead and he got back in the draft. I slowed but couldn’t shake him and was unable to get him in the lead position for the sprint. With about 500 meters to go he looked back once more to see the hard charging pack coming and I decided to go once again. I caught him by surprise and opened a gap I thought might stick but he battled back and ended up coming around me fairly easily for a well earned victory. I coasted across the line a few seconds ahead of the group and in second place. Not a bad result at all but some day I’d like to add my name to the list of victors…maybe next year?
|
|
This site was last updated on: August 23, 2008 03:19:18 PM -0500 |