Today I went to Hugo, CO with Firle and Cameron to do the Hugo Road Race. The Course was a 78 mile loop on some of the flattest, straightest, most unexciting roads that Colorado has to offer. It was a chilly day and a pretty boring race until the last 15km when it really started picking up. A lot of attacks went at that point and I took a shot at getting away as well but was unsuccessful. Because of the lack of difficulty in the terrain the race came down to a 60+ man field-sprint that was host to the sketchiest riding I've seen in a long time. People were pushed off the road and into the ditch on at least 4 occasions. I guess the moto wanted in on the action as well as he kept rolling up on us making things even more chaotic in the final kilometers. I ended up crossing the line just behind the sprint but boxed in and never really able to open up my sprinting legs. Although I had fun because it was still bicycle racing and I got to spend some time with Cam and Firle, I think that I'll skip out on this race next year and just go for a ride.
Check out my race profile
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Race Report: Tour of the Gila - Stage 5: The Gila Monster
Today was the 5th and final stage of the Gila. The route was similar to the Inner Loop that we did on Wednesday but we rode it backwards starting in town and finishing at the summit of Pinos Altos (a category 2 climb).
The race started at 7:30 this morning and it was unbelievably cold. The course started with a few long and gradual climbs heading out of town. We went over these pretty quickly and the group stayed together. One primal rider left on a break away there.
From there we descended into a valley and then gradually climbed over some rolling hills to the continental divide. After crossing over the divide the pave really picked up. The break had a gap of about 5 minutes and was beginning to threaten the top GC guys.
Things realty heated up with about 20 to go when we hit the start of the category 2 climb. The GC leader immediately threw in an attack and the peloton shattered. I went with the attack along with about 9 other guys. I was able to hold on for a few miles but felt terrible and was dropped with about 14 miles to go. It seems the 4 days of race efforts leading up to today had taken their toll and my legs were absolutely cooked.
Although I was no longer contending the stage win I tries the keep my pace up in hopes to sneak back into the top 10 GC. At the end of the day I finished 10th in the stage about 1:30 back from the stage winner. I knew the riders that I needed to gain tome against to get back into the top 10 were behind me but I wasn't sure if I had created a substantial enough gap.
Sadly, I was only able to gain about 30 seconds on the riders who had pushed me put of the top 10 in the ITT and that wasn't enough to move up. I was still 12th overall.
Although I didn't have any huge moves that would have won me the race, the thing that most certainly lost it for me was the ITT. This is clearly something that I'll need to really work on and eventually get the equipment for if I would like to do well in an event like this in the future.
All-in-all it was a fantastic experience and is something I would like to do more of. I am already looking forward to returning next year.
The race started at 7:30 this morning and it was unbelievably cold. The course started with a few long and gradual climbs heading out of town. We went over these pretty quickly and the group stayed together. One primal rider left on a break away there.
From there we descended into a valley and then gradually climbed over some rolling hills to the continental divide. After crossing over the divide the pave really picked up. The break had a gap of about 5 minutes and was beginning to threaten the top GC guys.
Things realty heated up with about 20 to go when we hit the start of the category 2 climb. The GC leader immediately threw in an attack and the peloton shattered. I went with the attack along with about 9 other guys. I was able to hold on for a few miles but felt terrible and was dropped with about 14 miles to go. It seems the 4 days of race efforts leading up to today had taken their toll and my legs were absolutely cooked.
Although I was no longer contending the stage win I tries the keep my pace up in hopes to sneak back into the top 10 GC. At the end of the day I finished 10th in the stage about 1:30 back from the stage winner. I knew the riders that I needed to gain tome against to get back into the top 10 were behind me but I wasn't sure if I had created a substantial enough gap.
Sadly, I was only able to gain about 30 seconds on the riders who had pushed me put of the top 10 in the ITT and that wasn't enough to move up. I was still 12th overall.
Although I didn't have any huge moves that would have won me the race, the thing that most certainly lost it for me was the ITT. This is clearly something that I'll need to really work on and eventually get the equipment for if I would like to do well in an event like this in the future.
All-in-all it was a fantastic experience and is something I would like to do more of. I am already looking forward to returning next year.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
Race Report: SRAM Tour of the Gila - stage 4: Downtown Criterium
Yesterday's stage was the downtown crit in downtown Silver City. The course was set up like a traditional 4 corner crit and had a few add-ons to make it a little more interesting. The most substantial of these was the climb on the back stretch. It was actually quite steep and on a few of the slower laps I was tempted to drop to the small ring in front to get over it (I was running an 11-23).
The race was pretty uneventful and I just sat in and finish with the group to rest up for today. There was a pretty high-speed crash that I narrowly missed with about 5 laps to go but I sneaked by and finished at +0:00 for the day.
After the race was over Graham and I hung around town and ate and watched the pros race.
The race was pretty uneventful and I just sat in and finish with the group to rest up for today. There was a pretty high-speed crash that I narrowly missed with about 5 laps to go but I sneaked by and finished at +0:00 for the day.
After the race was over Graham and I hung around town and ate and watched the pros race.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)