BioWheels-Deltec Road Squad hits Rock Hill

April 10, 2008 on 4:46 pm | In Road Racing, BW/Deltec Road Squad |

Patriot’s Trail Road Race-4/6/08

 

The Rock Hill Spring Omnium is a classic series.  Friday night it all starts with the York Sprints.  They consist of a head to head drag race down the streets of downtown York SC.  Saturday brings the Critterium in downtown Rock Hill.  The Crit. has a nasty corner coming into the final turn.  Combined with the rain, this course demands respect.  I don’t know if it was the weather, or the early season, but this year the Biowheels Road squad decided to only race the road race on Sunday.

 

The Patriots Trail Road Race is unique.  The distance is somewhat long at 90 miles.  The course is very flat compared to most of the races we do during the season.  As an example; I was never out of my big chainring.  This makes for a fast race wich favors big powerfull riders.  With wind as our only enemy, the races started.

For the Cat. 3 race we had the biggest team in the field.  There was Chris Emory, Mike Jackson, Mike Small, Andy Pooser, and me.  We didn’t have much time to talk tactics beforehand.  After the race started Chris decided to ride up the road and join 3 others.  Since we were only at mile 2 (of 90) there was no reaction from the field.  The gap would continue to grow throughout the first lap.  The two Mikes worked very hard to control any chase attempts.  Andy and I did what we could, but we were trying to save some energy.  Coming through the feed at mile 45 the gap was at 6 minutes!  We were sure Chris would bag another win and started talking about the finnish.  But it would not be…  The 3 guys with Chris ended up popping forcing  Chris to to slow down.  We caught them with about 15 miles to go.  From there to the finnish we all tried to stay near the front and feel out the right time to attack next.  Mike Small took a flyer with 5 miles to go.  But the wolves were sensing the finnish and realed him in.  With 500 meters to go the sprint started.  I jumped hard and got tangled up with a guy.  The adrenaline and lack of speed forced me into oxygen dept.  My race was over.  As I was blowing, I looked over to see Andy going for it.  He looked like our best finnisher, at 10th.  The two Mikes and Chris also rolled through with the pack.  Our hard day finaly over.

Nicole Crane gave a report from her race,

Rock Hill RR: 45 miles, Cat 1, 2, 3. 50 degrees and drizzly at the start. We were called to the start line and then had to wait for 20 minutes because the officials were afraid we’d catch the men’s field in front of us. They should have done the same for the men’s field that started after us because……..I raced smart, didn’t take any major pulls or cover any breaks ( a miracle for me because usually I am too restless). We dropped some women right off the bat on the first climb and chased zillions of attempts of BMW and Hincapie women trying to get away. With 2 miles to go, I set myself up on a turn so I’d come into the finishing mile top 10. 500 meters to go I jumped onto a well known sprinters wheel and thought okay, 5 women in front of me, at 200 meters when we are allowed to cross the yellow line, I’m going for it. 200 meters, went left of center and “GET OUT OF THE WAY” is all I heard along with screaming, thundering bicycles and deeper voices than I’m used to in our field. The men’s Cat 4 field caught us at the 200 meter line and turned our final sprint into chaos. Needless to say, I became unglued and lost my line but saved myself from getting pummelled and ended up 18th. Why the course martials allowed this to happen is beyond me. Disappointment is an ugly state of mind to be in though so now I’m even more eager to do well in the next few races.

On another note, last year I did this race as a Cat 4 woman and got dropped about 20 miles into it.So hanging in for the final sprint in the 1, 2, 3 field with women half my age is progress!

Mark Ruscoe and Jason Smith also raced in their respective masters fields.  I think Mark was top ten for the 45 plus masters.  Jason told me he made some mistakes in the final sprint and settled for 16th.

A few of us were still in out kits for a quick photo.  After a long day we were all excited to get home and chill.  Next week Walnut Grove…