Camp Sumatanga Training Race #2
28th February 2011 by brtoone
Yesterday, the Tria Cycling team lined up for the second race of the Winter Training Series put on by GS Montagna Rossa club. Very thankful for the great job this club does with putting on this series every year. It is a huge benefit for the racers to get in some solid racing, and race promotion is a thankless job in most cases.
We lined up with the dominant team in regards to numbers yesterday, so we initially planned to try to have a large break and aim to have at least 3 or more riders in it. Pat Allison, and myself, agreed to cover early moves because this race has a tendency for long breakaway efforts. We would then sit back, and try to get other teammates across as the race progressed to give us large numbers in the break. As I have come to realize though, plans do not always work like you hope for.
The race started off casually, but right before we hit the first turn, Travis Sherman punched the accelerator and it was game on. The break contained Travis, Ed Whitehorn, Chris Cundiff and myself. I did little, to no work, since we had numbers behind. I was hoping to see some teammates chasing, but Travis and Ed really got the gap very quickly. This break was never very smooth, and I still can’t believe we stayed away because the rotation was very sloppy. On lap 3, Travis rolled through and said he was pulling out for a prior engagement. Hated that, because I was hoping he would stick it out all the way to the finish.
The last 2 laps were pretty uneventful. I traded pulls with Ed for the next lap, and on the last lap, I let him do most of the work. He kept the pace high, and I pulled through occasionally just to give him a break. Ed was simply a beast out there today, and he will be winning some races really soon. Ed gave it all he had, but at the end, I edged him out for the second win in a row for Tria. It has been a long time since I have won a race, but it is good to see that with some consistent training, I still have some legs under me.
At the end, Pat, Sammy and Wes blew the rest of the race up and finished in a select group. I do not have all the details, but Pat won the sprint for 3rd place. In the end, we still had a great day as a team, and continue to grow as a unit. I am really looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store for our team.
Thanks for reading!
Stuart