Huntsville Race Report – Cat 3s
21st July 2008 by tubbs
Road Race
From Philip:
The 3’s RR was pretty good. We dropped some riders in the first two miles. We had some breaks go on the first lap but nothing stuck. Lackey drilled the top of the climb on the second lap [thanks for dropping me Lackey! -Jacob] and had a gap across the top but was eventually brought back. So he was a one man army until Kevin rolled off the front. Yet he still covered for him. the third lap was reserved until the closing miles. A Mellow Mushroom guy had a go for it and held it to the line after the break and Lackey took second in the field sprint.
From Jacob:
Philip already covered the RR, but I’ll just add that he and Mike rode incredibly strong on the first 2 laps. Philip set a punishing pace up the climb on the first lap and I knew it wouldn’t be a good day for me immediately. I tried to get near the front some just to spell Mike and Philip, who kept themselves on the attack covering pretty much everything. I made one little minor attack just to keep the field stretched out and under pressure. We rolled into the 2nd lap and hit the climb, Philip hit the gas, and I was immediately anaerobic. I made it to the feed zone near the front, but was no longer under control. By the time we hit the steep top pitch, I was in trouble. Mike punched it at the top and it was all over. I could barely turn the pedals and had to traverse the climb to get over it. I watched the field ride away.
Mike uncorked a great sprint to get 6th overall.
Crit
Again, Mike and Philip were all over the front most of the race. I was really unsure of my form after Saturday’s implosion, so I hung back and tried to save something for the finish. Philip got into a break that I really thought was gone, but the field just wasn’t having it. He made several great efforts. Mike kept hammering away at the front, closing gaps, lifting the pace. Mike, I seriously don’t know how you do it man. Your fitness is ridiculous. A solo break rolled off with a few left and dangled for several laps. The field scooped it up with 1 to go and it was game on. Brent made a great move to come from the back to the front, and set up a perfect leadout that I was unable to capitalize on. I just didn’t have enough left in the tank to accelerate through the gap at the right time. Hurley brought Brock across to Brent’s wheel, and Brock launched from there for the win. I finished 6th.
Win and Out
Finally, a race for the fast-twitch guy! I’m a track cyclist without a track, and this race was made for me. The format was cool — you start racing and wait for the official to ring a bell, which you know will happen sometime in the first 10 laps. Once the bell is rung, it’s game on — the winner of the next lap is the winner of the race, the winner of the lap after that is 2nd, and so on. It’s a gambler’s race, because if you go for the first sprint you’re catching everybody’s best shot, and if you don’t get it you’re toast. Fortunately, I once again had Mike Lackey to keep everything under wraps, so I just hung back and cruised the pack for the first few laps. Brock threw an early punch to draw out the attacks and Mike immediately countered and shut it down. Perfect.
Finally, on lap 7 we get the bell. I had been glued to Brock’s wheel the entire race and knew he’d be the man to mark. Sure enough, he waited for the short backstretch after turn 2 and threw down an enormous attack up the right side. I jumped on for the ride. We took the 90-degree left-hander on the outside and blew past the entire field. We then swung all the way across the road to the left gutter to set up for the right, then down the hill for the sweeping downhill right. We went through that turn so fast that I think both of us almost went straight off the course — Brock was absolutely flying. I never looked back because I could hear nothing but air behind me. Jim swung into the apex of the turn for the sprint and I hit him with everything I had up the hill. Fortunately it was enough and I was able to hold it to the line. Mike was then able to seal it off by recovering and winning the sprint for 3rd — a great result considering how hard he’d been working.
I have to give credit and respect where it’s due to Brock. He did 3 races yesterday and won the cat 3 crit after riding in a break in the Masters race, and still had enough to launch an attack that nobody but the guy glued to his wheel could follow. He’s still the craftiest and fastest old guy in the sport! If you want to learn how to race a crit, you could do a lot worse than following him around all day.