RATL 2

Since we did not do a southern training trip this year, I have not had any rides over 60 miles yet this year. I wanted to end that yesterday, so I had planned to ride from my house to Munroe Falls (21 miles) and then do both the Cat 4 and Masters races (18 and 20 mi respectively), then ride back home. With a few miles of pre/post race laps, looked like a 90+ mile day. One issue was the wind which was 18-20 MPH from the southwest.

The ride up was very enjoyable with a mostly tail wind. I pedalled easily and made sure to drink all my water. Got there in 1hr flat. At Munroe falls, Marshall was a huge help today because he had set up a Stark Velo tent and had extra water, bagels, bananas, etc. I was able to top off some water prior to the Cat 4 race.

We lined up with about 20 racers including me, Brent, Joel, and Dan. Snakebite also had a few guys as did Spin. Scott from Snakebite has been riding real strong and last week was in the winning 2-man break last week. On lap 2, he jumped off the front and Brent soon bridged up. That's a solid twosome up the road, so I hung around the front of the pack to mark any attempts to bridge up. Matt from Spin had a solid jump out of the group so I quickly got on his wheel. When I looked back, we had a sizeable gap on the pack and we were about 2/3s of the way up to Brent and Scott so I helped to close it and give us 2 SV members in a 4 man break. I tried one early attack on the break to see how strong everyone was and it really did nothing. All 4 of us were still together. After a few laps, Matt had lost contact so it now was a 3 man break. We worked well together and were pulling away from the field based on time gaps being shouted to us. Brent and I agreed to wait until 4 to go to try and work Scott over.

Start of the 4th last lap, Brent attacked first up the hill, but Scott had closed it by the corner to the parking lot. I tried an attack in the parking lot and Scott also closed that one. This continued for two laps and Scott was able to match what we were throwing out, so we decided to ride to the final lap and try something then. I figured Brent would win a 3-up sprint, but I was thinking of a best way to try and get second over Scott, even though I was getting pretty drained. Heading into the stretch before the final bridge crossing, Brent attacked hard hoping that I could ride Scott's wheel and jump him at the line. I dug with all I had, but unfortunately, Scott rode me off his wheel and our placings were determined about 750m from the line. Brent won by a good margin and Scott was well ahead of me.

I was happy with 3rd, being in the winning break, having a teammate win, and knowing that I did everything I could to try and get 2nd. Then it was time to grab a bite to eat, top off the water and do it all over again.

The masters field looked like it had some serious fire power and was quite a bit larger than the cat 4 group. Probably 35 or so. I lined up with Joel (again), John, Bill, and Rick. The 'neutral' rollout wasn't so neutral as 2 riders took off right away. I was hoping for to sit in a few laps and recover from the previous race, but the pace was extremely lively right from the gun. Everyone was digging deep not to lose wheels through the windy sections, and then others would hammer up the finish climb to try and split things up. I found myself in the front half of the group trying to get up to where John was. After about 3 laps with only a few small recovery sections, the pace once again lit up. Gaps were developing all over the field. I was hanging on to the tail end of a front group just over the finish line as the lead group then really turned it up. I managed to grab the last wheel bridging up and made it to the lead group. We had 8 total including John and me.

We were rotating well, but I was taking short pulls due to being exhausted. I looked back and we had completely lost the pack. Wow, possibly in another winning break...we'll definitely looked like the winning break, just not sure if I'd be with it the whole time. I was able to stay in it until 11 laps to go, but then I hit the wall up the climb, pulled off to the right, and watched the 7 others go up the road. Ugghh. I eased up my pace thinking I'd drift back to the field. After a short recovery, I did not see anyone coming up behind me. Our break had a HUGE gap. I was in no-mans land, but felt I could keep a nice pace at about 85% effort and make it to the finish without getting caught. It worked great and I made it to 5 laps to go, still with nobody in sight behind me. I was stoked and it seemed to give me more energy.

As I charged through the parking lot, I was told about a crash and that we needed to roll neutral until it was cleared up. A few riders in the lead break group had gone down. Sal Ponzio of MVC was being attended to by medics. My excitement was gone. As it turned out, we rolled neutral for about 5 laps before the race was cancelled. The Summit crew got it right as top priority is safety and concern for anyone injured. I'm unsure of the extent of the injuries, but definitely want to wish the best for quick recovery to those involved.

The ride home...UGGHH...nasty headwind for 20 miles. I was doing 13 on some flats. Worst section was on Mt.Pleasant, right by Timken Research up the hill into the wind, only 2 miles from home. I believe I was doing 6 mph. I would have paid someone to drive me the rest of the way.

Total: 91 miles