We had a good turn out for Piece of Cake. Jeff B. and Colby raced in the morning and Bonnie, Georgann, Steve, Allen, Joe C., Gary, and myself raced in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure we’d stay dry, but the sun popped out and brought the wind with it. The wind pretty much toasted most of the fields and a lot of them broke up because of it. Jeff finished 30th in the 5’s and then worked as a volunteer for the afternoon races, Colby decided to employ the Race of Truth strategy again and time trialed by himself for 12 miles for the win. He actually passed the race that started ahead of him before he finished. What a MONSTER!!! Allen and Bonnie were victims of the wind and called it a day early (at least I didn’t see them in the results). I think this was Bonnie’s first mass start race, it was good to see her out there giving it a go. She also was a medical volunteer and spent the morning cleaning road rash and gashes… Yuck…  Georgann finished 4th, Joe came in at 30th and Steve was 11th in the 40+ 1,2,3 field.  Great job everyone!

 Gary and I raced the 40+ 4/5’s. Gary decided to come out of mass-start race retirement and help me out. Our strategy was to basically stay together near the front, but out of the wind, and he’d give me a monster lead out for the typical bunch sprint. This worked pretty well for the first lap. On the second lap, 3 guys got off the front and no one thought much of it at first. Eventually, they got enough of a gap that a few of us figured it was time to work and bring them back in. Gary and I and a few other guys worked while the rest sat in and eventually we got them fairly close. We decided to sit up and let them dangle for a while. I think once the break realized we weren’t going to bring them in right away, they decided to take off. The pack let them get a good gap again, but too few of us were willing to work in the wind. Coming down off the dike headed towards the 1k marker, Gary got in front and cranked it up to 30… I eventually pulled up next to him and begged for mercy so he slowed it up a bit. (darn time-trialers..) :)  We looked back and we’d created about a 100 foot gap. At this point we discussed whether we should try to bridge or wait and hope the pack will pick it up. With just two of us, we decided to sit up and wait for the pack. So, when we crossed the finish line at the start of the last lap, someone yelled “30 seconds”. I had no idea that 30 seconds looked so far away. A few of us worked into the wind, but I was getting tired of it. Once we rounded the corner and got onto the dike with a tail/cross wind, then guys came up and the pace picked up again. We saw one of the guys from the break had dropped off, so that gave us something to chase. We caught him just before the dike road makes a slight bend to the left. Once we made the bend, the wind became an issue again. This time when Gary and I got up front there were 4 other guys willing to help. We started working in a rotating paceline and before we knew it we had formed a gap. We kept pounding it out and by the time we made the sweeping downhill left off the dike we had the chase car behind us. Now we were a chase group. At this point about all I could do was focus on the guy ahead and pull up, move over, drift back, pull up, move over, drift back… we could see that we were bringing the break back to us, but it really hurt, bad. By the time we made the right turn to pop back up onto the dike, they had sat up and the chase of six became the break of 8. We continued to work together until around the 2k mark. At that point, people stopped pulling through and we all started to rest our legs a bit. At 1k, Gary moved up and I grabbed his wheel. He pegged it and we hit the final corner 1/2. He continued to drill it into the head wind and I figured I’d just stay behind until either someone started to pass us or we hit the 200M mark. One of the guys came by, so I grabbed his wheel and at 200M we all went. I just couldn’t keep up and first and second pulled away. I was hoping I could take third before my legs cramped up, and third it was. Gary sat up after I came around and he finished with a nice 7th.

Kudos to the guys in the chase of 6. No one sat on, and everyone buried themselves working to bring the break in. Gary and I had a great time.

Dean

North River had a nice day at the races on the final Banana Belt of the year. Georgann took 7th in her race. Steve got into a two man break and took second by half a wheel in a nail-biter of a finish. Colby decided he wanted to race a time trial, so he broke on the first lap with another rider. They held the group off for the final lap and Colby took a nice 1st place! GREAT JOB NRR!! 

We only had 18 guys line up for my race and a few of the guys decided they were going to punish all of us that showed up.  This race was definitely faster than last week.  My plan was to stay out of the wind (wheelsuck) as much as I could, then go with the lead group up the hill on the last lap and sprint for the win. It sounded so simple while I was warming up on the trainer…. A few of the guys decided they wanted to race a bit more than that and we had a couple of breaks. Two guys went off on the first one and they formed a pretty good gap before the guy that eventually won got us organized to chase. I figured I better help if I plan on sprinting for the win later, so I took my turns on the front and we eventually reeled them back in. We rode together for a while until  a solo flier went up the road. He eventually got a pretty good gap, so back up I go to help with the chase. These guys obviously weren’t in tune with my wheel-sucking strategy or they wouldn’t have forced me to work like that. Oh, did I mention that on lap two we were hit with a torrential down pour? Anyway, we got to Lee hill on the last lap and I sat up near the front so I could go if something promising took off. A guy went that I knew was strong, so I went with him. When we crested the hill, I looked back and our break had turned into a surge, ’cause there were quite a few guys behind me. It was pretty fast paced from there and going down the hill while manuevering for position was a bit unnerving. Once we rounded the turn, I waited for the guy ahead of me to jump and when he did, I went with him. It was pretty much a full on sprint from there the rest of the way up the hill and down to the finish.  I ended up 5th.

Hats off the the Banana Belt organizers and thanks to all the volunteers that make it such a great series! A wet, cold, but fun time was had by all!!

Dean

I am happy to announce the partnership with Ritchey/Syncros through our beloved bike shop Cyclepath. Please see Bill Larsen at Cyclepath for details and special pricing.

Well, a bunch of us showed up to brave the wet. Allen and I got there and took advantage of a brief break in the weather to set up the cover. Colby and Steve showed up so we wedged 4 of us under there and managed to stay mostly dry while warming up.  About 15 minutes before the 40+ 4/5 race, Jeff pulled up and started getting his stuff together. He was volunteering out on the course and his replacement was late, so no warm up for him. The first couple of laps were a slog fest in the rain. On the second lap, I marked the spot where I flatted last time with a nice “WHOO HOO!”. Sometime around the beginning of the third lap, the rain became just showers and we even had a little sun. The only problem is that the wind started up, hard. Man, when we hit opennings with no trees around us, it was brutal. The wind had a nice effect of cooling all the wet clothes and my fingers began to go completely numb. Eventually I had to actually look at my hands to verify that they were on the brakes before going down some of the hills.  I suspect somewhere in the third lap we began to lose people. We started with around 30 to 40 guys and finished with 23. Jeff dropped off somewhere around here and I suspect he fell victim to the cold and lack of warm up. I still felt pretty good and I was ready to make my move when we hit Lee hill for the last time. A guy shot off the front going up it and I thought, “hey, why not”, so I cranked it up and bridged to him. I reached him as we crested the hill and when I looked at him and said Let’s Go!!!, he just looked back with vacant eyes and replied with a “I’m popped”… Well, I looked back hoping a couple of guys had gone with me but  I saw no one except for the pack a ways behind, I figured I’d already taken a blow torch to my book of matches and thought I’d just go for it. I stayed a way until the second hill with the head wind. At that point, the nine guys who went off the front caught me and I only had the downhill to recover before the sprint up the next little kicker to the finish.  Needless to say, I had nothing left to push up that little hill and all nine guys went by. I looked over my shoulder and didn’t see another rider in sight, so I just coasted down the hill and over the finish for 10th.

I did learn a few things from the finish. A couple of strategy things I can add to my book of strategery.  I hope to employ some of my new found strategery next week, i.e. don’t go so early stupid!! All in all, I was very pleased to finally finish one of the BB races. The Buffalo burger and Nut Brown ale at McMinneman’s sure was good too….  :)

Everyone in the afternoon races had to endure the same nasty weather and here’s how everyone did: Colby took 6th, Allen 16th, and Steve 6th. Jeff called it a day early and I heard a rumor that Georgann was there, but I didn’t see her in the results. Colby’s parents took a pic of Allen and I after the races and Colby dreaming of things to come with his bike on the way up.

Dean

I’d like to announce the signing of two promising racers to NRR.

First, Ryan Etling joined the team officially, February 26th, after racing the Sublimity Road Race he knew that NRR was where he could grow his skills. Ryan looks forward to some Track Racing as well as Road Racing this season as a Cat 4.

Second, Ben Belli joined the team officially, March 3rd, Ben did several Mt Bike Races last season and has ridden with me numerous times. Ben also enters the ranks as a Cat 4. Welcome Aboard!

The Banana Belt has not been kind to me…… The morning started out nasty, and it didn’t get any better when the afternoon races went off. At least Allen and I got to put the cover up while it wasn’t raining….. I was getting an idea about what we were in for when people started rolling in after their races completely covered in mud. It looked like we had showed up to a Cross race instead of a road race. People were talking about all the flats. I had heard that some glass had appeared overnight on the course and the crew were working hard to get it swept off. I felt pretty good when my race took off and had high hopes. The first lap went pretty well, although my drive train started making all kinds of noises as the summer lube got completely washed off the chain and the links started to stiffen up. It was a rain/mud fest. I hate to think about all the dirt I ingested. I’m sure it was clean dirt though, free of any toxins or bacteria. So, at 12.09 miles, we were taking the sweeping right hander after the downhill and I rolled over the metal expansion joints and Pssshht, Pssshht, Pssshht. Someone ahead of me yelled “FLAT”, and I was thinking “crap, I have to get around him”, then I noticed my bike was handling weird… Hmm… It was me that had the flat. Bringing the bike to a stop from 20+ while rounding the corner with a flat front tire was a bit tricky, but at least I stayed upright. The wheel car came up quickly and handed me a new wheel. I got the thing on and they gave me a nice push to get me going. As I was standing trying to get up to speed, I noticed that the front felt mushy. The wheel they gave me had maybe 40 lbs of pressure in the tire….. /RANT/ Okay, if you’re going to put a wheel in the wheel pit, at least make sure it’s aired up!!! The wheels I put in were!!! /RANT/  I chased hard for a while and gained some ground, but by the end of the second lap,  the group was out of site. I ended up having a nice hard 32 mile solo ride, managed to pick off a few stragglers, a ton of the Cat 5 guys, and didn’t get caught by the race that started after ours. It took about 2 hours to clean off the bike and put a brand new set of Pro2 Race tires on. I should be ready for next week.

Georgann, Steve, and Allen all raced in the rain and mud as well. They ended up 14th, 4th, and 29th respectively. What a beautiful day for a race. Here’s hoping next week will be dryer. 

 Dean