Mark finished in:
5th Place of the 30 mile B-Race
1st Place in the Men's 30-39 yrs Category
Rich finished in:
9th Place of the 20 mile C-Race
1st Place in the Men's 50-59 yrs Category
Thanks to Roger James for the Photos :)
-----------------------
In Mark's Words:
It was a beautiful chilly Sunday morning for the start of the 17th Annual Tour de Tamarack.
On the warm up lap Rich and I sported our super nice and toasty AG3R jackets!!! The course was set on some beautiful hilly country roads with very few hazards. Gotta love fast and smooth tarmac.
Rich signed up for the 20 miler and I opted for the 30 miler. I'l let Rich break down the details for you on his epic event.
As for the 30 mile race:
With a starting field of 87 riders, the 30 mile race was supposed to be a neutral start up the first hill and then the pack would unleash. Who has ever seen a neutral start really be neutral? Well we hit the hill at the rev limiter and you could hear the heart rates climbing fast! By the top of climb #1 I'm sure that we had already shed a bunch of the field.
About 8 miles in the group was a bit jittery so my friend Ryan McDermitt and I were sitting comfortable and supposedly safe in the front at about 10th position. Not surprisingly two riders touched wheels and riders started to go down like dominos. McDermitt and I cut to the left to get around the group but still got caught in it. McDermitt went down but avoided injury. I came to a complete stop and unclipped. I checked on McDermiit and he was fine....except for his snapped fork! I saw that I couldn't help him so I clipped back in and sprinted to catch the field.
The next two laps were a lot less dramatic but every time we hit the climb more of the field got dropped. By the time we were within a half mile of the finish our field had shaken out to 9 riders. I got into a decent position and gave a decent kick at the sprint and came up with 5th for the day!
Afterwards, I met up with some guys for a training ride in Zelienople! Couldn't ask for a better Sunday! ....ok...maybe if I won the sprint... ;- )
briercheck
No comments:
Post a Comment