MIDSOUTH MASTER CYCLING CLUB

Saturday morning's 50 mile road race would return to the past road course which was a good thing.  Last years race was on pretty narrow roads which made for a very tight pack.  Also, there were only about 40 riders in the race this year.  The field was still strong with the normal LAMBRA teams plus a small team from GA, the Lexus guys from Dallas and the AL Masters teams which included John McLauchlin with the Max and Bensdorf on their combined team.

Our strategy was pretty typical, try to get one of us in a break that would no doubt happen.  We did a pretty good job doing just this as the race progressed.  About a half way through the first lap, Jay was off the front with a small group of riders and Ed and I were tucked in a second group chasing them.  Ed's chain jumped off his front chainring and ended up on his pedal as the pace was picking up.  I was behind him and thought he was going to go down as it seemed to pull his back wheel pretty hard.  He tried to shift the chain back on but it wasn't going to happen.  I stayed with the chase group while Charlie dropped back to help Ed catch back on.

The pace stayed high.  I looked back a few times and never saw Ed although he said he made it close to the pack but couldn't quite catch on.  After ten miles of chasing, Ed finally eased up and unfortunately would finish several minutes behind the pack ending any hopes for his GC placing.  

It was left to just me and Jay in the pack and we took turns attacking or covering breaks.  A few of the breaks had the right mix of riders but could never quite get together quick enough to get away from the main field.

Still on the first lap, Jorge Merle with Dallas racing was off the front when John McLauchlin, a GA guy along with Jay jumped off to bridge to him.  They caught Jorge and continued to push the pace.  It looked like Jay got caught behind a gap that Jorge opened and John and the GA guy got away.  I moved to the front and started chasing along with Jay, two of the Dallas racing guys and Eddie Delgado with Peake.  The two guys were out of site immediately but we kept chasing.  It was amazing to see how many other riders just sat there and watched without doing any work.  Bo Bourne with Hering Gas would occasionally go off the front.  I wasn't sure what he was trying to do but it seems like he or the other three riders on his team could have just came to front to help themselves by pulling.

About a quarter of the way through the second (and final) lap, Jimmy Olsen with Dallas racing took an extremely long pull and was able to bring John and the other rider back in.  As we eased up a bit, another rider told me there was still two other riders off the front.  I could see there was no lead motorcycle in front of us and continued working to bring them back in.  It turns out one of the AL Masters guys and a GA guy had gotten away before John and were just pulling away as the race went on.  This kept some of the strongest riders in the pack out of the chase.  Eventually it became clear that the front two guys were gone and the chase eased up.

As we got closer to the finish I was working to stay close to the front of the pack.  Jimmy Olsen and Miro with AL Masters were at the front keeping the pace high.  Gaps started opening in the last mile and I was moving around people to stay with the front group but wasn't close enough to do much in the bunch sprint.  Jay and I both finished in the field with about 20 other riders and avoided a crash after someone apparently didn't hold his line very good in the sprint.

I had a little cramping during the road race but my legs felt pretty good as I warmed up for the Saturday evening time trial.  The time trial is four miles long with a couple of rolling hills during the first half and pretty much flat for the second half.  There were some gaps in the riders so I didn't have a 30 second man to chase although I also didn't have one behind me either.  I started out fast as I headed down the first hill and things felt pretty good.  It didn't take long for that feeling to leave as I started up the first roller.  My quads were immediately screaming and I was loosing speed like I was riding in a pool.  There was a false flat after the first roller and I just could not get my speed back up as the seconds ticked by.  I kept pushing and felt pretty good by the second part of the race but I wasn't going to have a stellar time.  I ended up with a time in the middle of the pack with Jay and Charlie.  Ed on the other hand had a great time trial and finished in 6th about 30 seconds ahead of me.

Jay crossing the finish line for the time trial - picture by Johnny Smith

Jay and I were just out of any GC payout as we started the circuit / criterium race on Sunday morning.  We would be racing for 60 minutes and hoped to keep the pace high enough that a few riders in front of us in the GC may drop out allowing us to move up.

Jay and Ed spent quite a lot of the time attacking off the front.  Jay in particular attacked again and again.  I was feeling pretty tapped and didn't do much during the race but hold on.  Charlie along with a host of other riders eventually pulled out due to the fast pace.  The roads were a still a little wet from earlier showers and a stiff wind on parts of the course made it tough to catch on if you got gapped.

We were hoping to counter attack following the hot spot sprint but nothing really came together.  With a few laps left in the race, Jay went off the front with one or two other guys and it looked like he was going to stay away.  When one of the GA guys worked to bridge to him, the rest of the pack chased him down.  During the second to last lap, three guys blew off the front.  Ed was on my wheel and I moved up to the front to try to pull them back in as we crossed the line to mark the start of the bell lap.  The headwind killed me pretty quick and I left Ed about 3/4 of a lap to try to reel them in.  I dropped back into the pack and had to drop back even further when Jorge Merle came by me saying he was riding a flat and took me wide in corner.

Ed hit it hard and by the second to last corner, he was able to catch the guys on the front.  The effort no doubt took quite a bit out of him but he was still able to finish 7th in the bunch sprint.  Jay and I both finished in the pack.

We were not able to move up in the GC but it wasn't because of lack of effort.  Although the results weren't very good, I was satisfied with our team's racing over the weekend and continue to look forward to future events where we have more healthy teammates in the race.