All Hail to Wirtz! 4th @ Jimney Peak RR May 5, 2007
Posted by air9r in Race Reports.trackback
I’m glad Brian is on the team because I can’t picture taking on the field for the win today. The race was incredibly fast, but I think we really did something as a team today.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2649317
25 MPH seems to be the average, average speed of a race these days no matter how many hills or how strong the win.
AZW and Gary started the day with a planned attack from the gun suicide. Gary conceded that those hills weren’t likely to suit him so he wanted to set a hard pace and perhaps tow out Arlen for a possible early break. Both paid dearly on climb #1 but I think their move ended up having a big effect on how the day turned out.
For no good reason there was a crash headed up Rte 7 (two guys locked bars). I wiggled by but Thom didn’t. Thom was hoping to just sit in and train, but even that was ruined when he had to clip out of the pedals.
Roger put on the usual show of holding off an entire field for the second lap. I got up climb #2 much easier than #1, but then it was time to punch the time clock and get to work. Wade, Wayne, Ed and I started working with Target Training, Union Velo, CRCA and a few others to reel in Roger.
My legs were good, but unfortunately, I’m the type of rider that would have needed to conserve that energy to do anything at the finish.
Roger was back in the field before Rte 7 and then it looked like Ed was policing the field on the way to Climb #3/Finish. I saw Wade and Wayne move up before the final turn and somehow I missed out. I intended to move near the front but the field but I waited too long. As I increased for a better position, so did everyone else.
Wade and Wayne called it a day while Wirtz duked it out. I’m assuming that Ed set some kind of tempo while I tried to make up ground to be helpful.
I’m not sure how it played out but Andy Ruiz, CCB won with Brian taking fourth. It was an incredible acheivement considering the big field and the speeds we were going. All hail to Wirtz!
Great job. Gray and I planned to go from the gun. The move was not effective at first and we came back. There were a couple of attacks going up 43 until Gary charged after someone and I followed. We had four of us and we were reduced to three when Gary come off. Priuor to Rt7 Kyle Wolf bridged to us, making it four. We turned onto Rt7 and started to really move. We lost on guy, again making our numbers three. We were able to hold them off until just after the last climb on Rt7 prior to Brody Mtn. We got caught there by two bridging riders and then Roger caught is all, going right through us. All ythis speeled the end for me as the field ramped it up to go over the hill, and I could not survive the pace after fighting the wind. Hopefully, it set us up well? The team was great today. We worked like a team and that was great…Sterling Next week.
I’ll continue to pile on the cheers for Brian. Working hard is worth it when you are certain a teammate is going to finish it off with a top-10.
Hmmmm…Roger’s batting 0-for-nothing this year on solo breaks. Guess he’s human after all.
I felt comfortable all day, even though I slid off the front group a little the first time up the climb. But I just latched onto Big John Interlandi’s wheel on the descent and we were back to the field before the turn onto 43. Matt is being kind giving me credit for helping chase on lap 3…I was able to put in about 2 good pulls at the start, but most of the work was done by Wade and Matt, with Ed finishing it off.
As we came up the final risers on Rt. 7 on the last lap, the field slowed up a bit as I sensed everyone realized we might catch the 3’s, which would have been a real mess for the finish. I moved up the right side about 20 places and since I was going 3 mph faster than everyone else when I did, I figured I might as well launch a little attack, lame as it probably looked. A couple of us got a small gap off the front, and I think that helped string out the field just a bit, and prevent bunching before the final turn. I pulled off before the turn and saw Wade lead it through the corner. I called it a day and rode a steady tempo up the final climb.
Great job everyone! No Sterling for me but I hope we keep it rolling next weekend.
Nice ride boys! We executed a plan and stuck to it. That’s what i’m talking about. I stayed in front and out of trouble pretty much the entire race. It was good to see everyone riding up front from time to time, even Thom who i haven’t seen in a long time. Sorry to hear about the crash. Never having a good result myself here, I pretty much dedicated myself to helping Brian. Brian was in a really good position at the finish and, from what he told me, just jumped a little late after Ruiz jumped. Could quite close the gap but still got a solid result for the team. Way to gut it out Brain!!! I hate that finish for some reason. Good job to all.
Great work by everyone!!! Nice organization in the chase at the front of the field. I seems like everyone usually gives up when Rodger goes up the road, but that didn’t happen this time. Hopefully, everyone will remember this in the future. I just wish I could have come up with the goods in the end. Ruiz and co jumped first and I could not close the gap. I always wait too long at this finish. The winner always seem to go early and holds everyone off. It’s not really much of a sprint, it’s more just survival at that point. I don’t remember ever passing anyone right before the line. I think the high speeds on the flats helped to zap everyone’s legs at the finish. One more spring “classic” left – Sterling. Hopefully, we can keep the success going!!!
Before the race we discussed keeping it fast on the downhill if it came down to a big group. Wayne started it and I took over pulling has hard as I could down to and through the turn. When I pulled off Brian was sitting about 4th in line. I also remember seeing Andy Ruiz 2nd in line. Before that we did our share in pulling back Roger. My first attempt at anything was an attack after turning onto 7 the 2nd time. Roger was off the front so I figured on trying to get a group going after him. Coleman Oconnor attacked at the same time on the left but I never could get his wheel. As I died, Ed brought the field screaming by single file. At least 40 guys went by in a line before I jumped back on. After the 2nd time up the climb Wayne Matt and I went right to the front after making the right hand turn after the downhill. The chase fizzled a little but soon the other teams joined in. We caught Roger just after turning on 7 and the counters came and the speed was pretty fast for a while. Nothing more got away and thus the big group, looking at the results it was about 70. I lost 2 minutes on the last climb. I really did shut it down after my pull. That is the domistique way!
Everyone probably knows how much I love (I am being sarcastic; I figure if you’re not in the money, who cares?) analyzing the “complete results” tabulated in bike races, and especially Jiminy. I guess credit should go to PEP and JD for placing everyone but…I can guarantee you I was nowhere near the front of the “group” that I am shown in, finishing :41 seconds down. Matt and Ed were in that group and I bet we weren’t within 500 meters of each other (me on the tail end of that).