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Durand RR 2006 Some times you go into a race with certain plans in mind and before you know it things have totally changed and you find yourself in a position you wouldn’t have expected. That was the case today as we fielded the strongest team we’ve had in a few years with Chris Ripp, Ross White, Garrett and Trent Ping, along with myself. (I should mention that we are trying to field a 3’s team with the above roster along with Max Rhyner and Paul Teske for a strong 7 riders who can all compete at local events together.) The early plan was to stay aggressive and strong at the front and make sure nothing got up the road without one of us in the break. About 5 miles into the race the main field took a 90 degree turn and headed up a little 3 step climb. I decided to put an attack to hopefully get some action going and hope some others were eager to make a split. I crested the hill with a lead and just kept on the gas on the descent. The group left me out there in the wind over the next few climbs as I started closing in on the completion of the first lap. About a mile from the start finish line a group of 8 or 9 came across and the capture was complete. Garrett was tagged on the back and as I drifted to the back to catch my breath he told me his legs weren’t feeling so good (later learned he had a stomach virus for the past two days). I told him to just sit in as I headed back to the front as we still had a gap but it was closing. Everyone in the little group was starting to slow down, look at each other and soft pedal while they went for their bottle or looked back. I had figured someone might counter attack my capture but since no one did I decided to give it another go. I punched it once more through the start finish line and hoped they’d let me go for at least a little bit as I knew there was a long stretch with a good tail wind and I was prepared to go flat out through that section to see if I could get a decent gap going through the tougher part of the course with the hills and head wind. I wanted to take those sections at my own pace and not try to blow myself up getting time through those. When you’re out on your own I’ve found it best to ride at your own pace and hope for the best. You’ll need to save a little something in the tank in case you get caught or you start to smell the line. Sure enough, I had a very sizeable gap after the long straight and then it was just me and my thoughts and trying to maintain a rhythm. I don’t know what was going on behind me but I was pretty confident that we held a lot of the cards and if a group came up to me it was going to contain one or two fresh BBS riders. I used that knowledge as fuel to keep the pedals turning and it sure helped give me incentive to finish what I had started. I did have 54 miles total and I guess I ended up doing probably 45 of those on my own. It was a great win for the team and personally I savored every moment as it isn’t often you get to come across the line first. Hopefully this race will be a sign of good things to come for all of the group as each one has the strength and ability to win on any given day. Thanks for reading. Later, Mark. |
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This site was last updated on: June 28, 2010 01:56:28 PM -0500 |