MIDSOUTH MASTER CYCLING CLUB
NOLA LENDING
RACING TEAM
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Jason Miller's West Feliciana
Classic Stage Race Report
pictures by Scott Mackey and Traildead
NOLA Lending Racing team waiting the start of the road race - Scott
Mackey
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A new stage race close to home is always nice and the West
Feliciana Classic Stage Race in St Francisville, LA proved to be just that.
St Francisville has some of the nicest roads around with cycling friendly
people. The race promoters and volunteers did a great job putting on the
event which I am sure will continue to grow in size. The stage race would
start with a 5 mile time trial on rolling hills followed by two road races.
The original event was to include one of the more challenging criteriums courses
I have seen but due to the threat of street flooding, a second road race was
done instead. Our NOLA Lending Racing Team would be fielding a very strong group of riders for the event with Charlie, Jay, Jerry, Mark and me. The Master's field was fairly small at just 16 racers so we would definitely have the advantage of numbers. Saturday morning's time trial was made a little harder by the rolling hills. The start was going to be pretty fast with more downhills than ups and a light tail wind. There was about a half mile hill somewhere after mile three before the course finished mostly flat. I pushed the pace from the start and felt pretty good. The longer hill was hard on me and I saw my pace dip under 20 mph before I crested the hill and pushed hard to get my speed back up. I finished strong and was able to post the top time at 11:21. The rest of the team also had strong times with Jerry, Mark and Jay finishing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place just a few seconds behind me. For Saturday afternoon's road race we had planned on using our numbers to attack until we created a break. Having riders in the top four spots changed that strategy since a break would likely just push one of us down in the GC. We decided we would instead try to keep everything together and try to collect the time bonuses given for the King of Mountain (KoM) sprint and for the finish. The race preceded as planned with Jay and Jerry doing a lot of work at the front. No one was quite sure where the KoM sprint was located. Jerry and Mark moved to the front and pushed the pace figuring the hill was close. They drove the pack for quite a while as we all looked for the 1 km sign. As Mark and Jerry lead us up another hill, I could see some people at the top and I saw Clint Austin with Tristar and Randy Legeai with NOBC start to move around me on the right. I still wasn't sure if this was the sprint line or the 1 km mark. I finally saw Michael Humphreys, one of the race referees, holding a camera and knew this was the spot. I tried to shift and jump on Randy's wheel but I couldn't find my gear and pretty much blew the sprint as I watched the two of them take the two time bonuses. There were some attacks on the rest of the course and by now I was having some real problems with my rear derailleur. I would have to shift two to three times to get the chain to move and with the rolling hills, about the time it was were I wanted it, I would need to shift again. Mike Corcoran with Peake put in some hard attacks in the race but we were able to follow him and others who jumped as well. Jay moved to the front and kept the pace high as we got within a few miles of the finish. On the last downhill, VJ Liberto with Peake shot up the right side and Jay jumped on his wheel. I was sitting somewhere around fourth right behind Jerry. There was a slight hill before the road leveled off for 500 m before the finish line. Jerry pulled me up the hill near the center line when Scott Gurganus with LaS'port accelerated on the right. Clint followed him and I jumped behind Clint. It seemed like things started to slow a bit around 300 m when I jumped. I pushed the pace hard and could feel my back wheel slide with each pedal stroke on the wet road. I heard Mark urging me on behind me and dug a bit deeper and was able to hold on for first place while Mark took second. Randy was gaining on me but had to settle for third. Jay's effort leading into the sprint tired him quite a bit. Although normally the officials are pretty lenient on giving pack time, today they did not and Jay lost 9 seconds which, combined with others getting time bonuses, dropped him down a few slots in GC. |
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| I hurried back to Bike Zone following the race as Brad Rupert was staying late to check out my shifting problem. It turns out the cable for the rear shifter was frayed and down to just a few strands. I would have been stuck in my 12 tooth cog when it would have likely snapped on Sunday's race. I need to write an article about "reasons I purchase from my local bike shop". Brad fixed it in short order and I was set for Sunday's race. |
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| The team was sitting pretty solid going into Sunday's final road race. About the only riders that could bumped us out of the top three by winning time bonuses were Randy and Clint. Our plan again was to pretty much sit back and cover any dangerous attacks. Charlie was a little further back in the GC time and was very active in Sunday's race getting into many of the break attempts. We were fine letting most of them go as long as Clint or Randy was with them. There would again but a time bonus for the KoM point but today the line was in a different spot and the race promoters had a sign clearing marking the 1 km point. We were hoping that Charlie could get in a break and take the sprint bonus. Jay was looking to take a flyer closer to the hill that would force the other riders to chase him. |
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Scott Gurganus, Randy and Clint pulled away a few miles out from the KoM sprint. I was sitting in planning to take the sprint from Randy or Clint if needed. Eventually we got caught and a while later Scott jumped solo and we let him to go to collect the first of two bonuses. Keith Duet with NOBC was left to pull a few miles for Randy as the group approached the sprint. Clint jumped at about 1 km and chased him down. We had a decent gap on the group but Clint slowed a bit as I just followed him. Today the hill wasn't very long but was pretty steep. As we started the hill, I jumped hard and dumped Clint. I was digging hard for the sprint line when I heard someone yelling at me. I glanced back over my left shoulder and could see Jerry come up on me. I eased up a bit (not that Jerry needed it) and Jerry took the time bonus which pretty much iced our top three finish. Only Randy could bump Jerry for 3rd place and only by winning the race. |
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The field split a bit after the KoM sprint but most riders got back on. Things preceded pretty much with us in control of the race. One of the racers from Texas had missed the road race start on Saturday and had to ride solo starting about 10 minutes after us. He was looking at an old race bible and the mistake dropped him over 30 minutes in GC time. He got off the front with maybe 15 miles left in the race. A few guys down in the GC tried to bridge to him in hopes of winning the stage but they would eventually get pulled back in when Randy or Clint moved with them. We started attacking quite a bit more in the last 10 miles of the race. This was forcing quite a bit of the other riders to chase us down. This also bumped up the pace and we quickly started to pull in the Texas guy off the front. As we got close to him, I took a flyer and bridged to him. I told him to jump on my wheel and picked up the pace. I was hoping that people would figure they wouldn't be able to pass me in the GC and the Texas guy was so far back he wasn't a threat. I also felt pretty bad for the guy and figured a good finish in a stage would ease the disappointment. It didn't last too long as we were picked up by the group. |
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Jay and Charlie took turns attacking as we got closer to the finish. Jerry and Mark were staying with me as we made our way closer to the front. As we crested the last little hill before the run to the finish, I was fourth wheel behind Mark, Jerry and another rider but the pack was bunching on the road. The pace had dipped under 20 mph and I was starting to get a little jumpy. We are only 100m from where I started my sprint yesterday and I know things needed to get cranked up. I yelled at Mark and Jerry to "go" and they start the sprint. Mark moved to the right and I follow his wheel as we pass the field. He pushes it all the way to the line and I can see that just Jerry is with us on the left. Mark holds on to take the stage while me and Jerry finish second and third. We hold on to our GC places sweeping the top three spots with me, Mark and Jerry finishing first, second and third overall. Jay still picked up some prize money but slipped in the overall after working hard the first day and with the team needing to let Scott get the KoM bonus to ice the top three GC spots. Both him and Charlie worked a lot on Sunday. I figured Sunday's road race was going to be tough on the rest of the field. We probably had four of the top seven riders as far as conditioning, a numerical advantage, plus we had the lead giving us the high ground over other racers. I look forward to more strong team racing in the future.
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