OVR - Morrow

I was quite weary of this weeks race due to being a rest week/business trip/ and that darn cold that won't go away, but the legs responded Adequately. The first two laps consisted of the OVR-Reily winner attacking every chance he got close to the front. I was watching him because of last weeks mishap, so every attack I would bridge the gap and the process would start all over again. After all that, he sat in for the rest of the race.

The next two laps were uneventful, except for the guy that rubbed my tire, and thought it was my fault. Mind you that I watched him do the exact same thing twice the week before. I would assume this lack of control is partly due to fact that this guys saddle is basically straight up, and he rides on the top of the bars as if he is on a bike path with not a soul around. Just alittle Cat 5 venting....can't wait for an upgrade.

Back to the race, the last lap there were a couple more attacks, and again I bridged. Finally coming into the final turn, the Reilly winner countered. I was the only one to bridge to him on the final climb to the finish. I probably should have sat on his wheel until we were closer to the finish. Instead I passed him on the climb, and he jumped on my wheel. At this point, the legs were screaming and he passed me just before the finish line.

Glad to hear that Willie Style is OK.

Felt good during the race, and missed first in the final sprint by a foot.

It was a weird day, for sure.

-A crazy guy in a pickup truck literally tried to use his vehicle to assult and drive right through the Cat 4 group. I can't believe none of us crashed, although I was hanging on to the side of his truck as he pushed the group sideways across the road.

-Corner marhsals were pulled during the 4th lap, so no traffic restrictions after that.

-Deja vu: on the second or third lap coming around to see teammates sprawled on the side of the road.

-Wheeling somebody out of the hospital in a wheelchair for the second time already this season. I hope there is no more of that anytime soon. Get better soon Will.

Great turnout for the Savage women – five of us! Thanks ladies, for helping all you could! The women had a good-sized field again this week around 20. Brooke and Wendy jumped out front and gave some nice long pulls on the first lap. Besides a few surges and a dog attack, the race seemed fairly uneventful for the women. Will gave us a scare towards the end...my thoughts out to him. I was still expecting an attack on the climb, but the laps went by and no significant movement occurred. So I decided to try to save some leg and make a move on the final climb to the finish. I did just that, and it was more painful than expected. Unfortunately, I didn’t have quite enough to get me a win, and I missed 2nd place by a half a wheel. I even gave a good attempt at trying to throw my bike forward at the line to get that 2nd, but I think it may have cost me because my shorts got stuck on my seat in the process. Oh well, I still felt I had a strong finish and I’ll get that bike thrusting down next time.

It was a good day and a bad day. We spent the day at the front controlling the race with only myself, Mike and Randy. One team was constantly sending their guys off the front but they were always reeled in quickly. Only one other team made an effort to try to work at the front (eventual winner DarkHorse) and that came on the final lap. Going into the final climb I got boxed out and had fight back up to Mike's lead where I sat in 4th up the climb. I hit the 200m sign put the bike in gear stood to sprint and the legs said...no way. I limped across for 7th. We'll try a few different things in next weeks climbing extravaganza.

Hard to find a lot of good to say about this race and I don't want to dwell on what went wrong. Grampa Grimm put in a great solo effort. Get well soon Will.

Yellow line rule people: Learn it, Use it, Live it.

Still getting back into the groove riding. But at least I had teammates to play with. This was a completely different course from last year at the same place. Had no idea of what to expect. We managed to hang with the pack for the first lap, made some attacks off the front, just to see what would happen. Laps two and three were spent with Katherine, Amy, Brooke and myself working as a group. We have our paceline skills put back together.

I went off on my own the last lap, chased after a guy, caught him, and beat him up the hill. Kelly congratulations on another wonderful finish. To the girls, it was great having someone from the team to ride with. What's the game plan for next week?

I would like to say ... Man I'm glad that's over!

Had some great positive energy the first 3 laps. After that my legs screamed on every little roller, intervals and after each turn. Nate great job getting up there.

Thanks to all the Savage Hill racers for showing up, I wanted to quit so bad but your voices kept ringing in my head! I gave it all I had and got beat by too many! I think if everyone would have sprinted I would have been dead last ... cause that's exactly how I felt!

Thank you Lord for keeping JT upright and helping me to slip by Jeff! Great too see ya'll again ... see some of ya next year unless you come up my way!

I just want to put this race behind me. I really blew it before I even arrived at the race. I wasn’t really riding or watching my diet at all this week and it paid off in the end by kicking my butt. I was off the back of the group on the major climb of the day that is supposed to be my specialty. I just chased and chased all day keeping the main group in visual contact until all I could see was remnants of dropped riders. I ended up working with four Team Dayton riders but it was too late. I had to just put this down as another learning experience.

Well, better than last week.
Asside from the Rabid Red Pickup, the race was fairly uneventful. The few serious attempts to breakaway were quickly chased down. The most successful one occured on the third lap and lasted about a mile before Mike Mat and I realed them back in. Too bad we took the pack with us. Finally on the last lap everyone just kinda sat there till the final climb. I dropped out of the leaders on the last steep little hump, but still managed to regain two places in the last 100 m.
Frustrating.

Hard day at the Cat 3 office. Crashes came in threes with the threes. We had 56 in our race and with only 26 serving the 57-mile test. My legs gave out one last time up the climb just 200m from the finish. Get well Will. Hey do you need my old-man’s shower stool?

Gramps

Oh yeah I finished!!!!!! Hats off to Kelli awesome job. Will you better get better soon....or else.

Two races - two trips to the hospital. It's got to get better from here on out. Given that I haven't ridden more than an hour at a time in the past 3 weeks and given that I didn't ride at all for a week until last Monday due to the flu, I wasn't too disappointed when I ran out of gas the third time up the climb to the finish. My lungs were fine - which was my biggest worry - but my legs were not ready for a 50 mile race. Now I know. I'm not racing next weekend. Instead I'll try to recover some endurance by riding 3-4hrs.