Press Release 04.05.2006
Weekend Race Report
from teammates of the
WV squad - Mazza Vineyards /Inferno Racing Team
Event: Deer Creek Park, Mt. Sterling, OH; Sun.4.01.2006
Left to Right:
Bruce Miller;Cat.4, Amy Dunkin;Women Cat.4, and Billy Hart; Cat.5
Cat. 5 class
by Billy Hart
What’s going on the weather in Ohio on Sundays? Seems like every weekend the weather goes from great on Friday to crap by Sunday! The weatherman was calling for mid 60’s on Sunday, I was so excited for a race with nice weather. We get to the lake and its overcast and windy. I didn’t bring my long sleeve base layers with me, thanks weatherman!! Luckily I did put some arm warmers and leg warmer in the bag. I think the starting time temp was around 50 degrees (but it felt colder) with some wind. The race was 3 laps on an 11 mile loop, and we had about 30 bikes in the cat 5.
Race time! The race started off at a pretty fast pace, my legs were very tired at the start. I was actually trying to hold on for dear life at the start, it takes my legs some time to get warmed up. After about three miles my legs loosened up and I was able to start cranking away. This was the first race without a teammate, Bruce moved up to Cat 4 last week. This made things a little difficult because I keep an eye on Bruce and follow his lead. I made a few friends (Roger and Childers a few others in the group) but it’s not the same.
I didn’t race smart on Sunday, I have a problem sometimes of riding hard when I should be taking it easy. I hate sitting back in the pack and drafting, I want to be going hard ALL the time. If I can talk we’re going to slow! I know that’s not how road racing works, but that’s me. So anyways, I ended up pulling several times throughout the race. I tried to recruit some folks to try and speed the pace up with me but was not able to get t help and was stuck up front. The group was large, we couldn’t really shake anyone, although we may have dropped a few.
Pretty uneventful for the first two laps, got to chat with some new friends, which was nice. Actually the last lap was as boring as the first two…..until the last two miles. The attacks started. I was able to stay close to the front on the attacks but I knew my legs were fading. I had done too much work earlier in the race, and I knew it once the attacks started. Attack after attack, it was great!!
I see the 1000m sign and I’m in the top 5 at that point, but the attacks continued. I can now see the finish line maybe 100m away, and as usual my legs have nothing left for the sprint. Bikes are now going around left and right, I knew the top 3 was out of reach so I let of the gas some and just coasted in for a 15th place finish. Not to bad I guess. I learned a lot about racing from this race, I got out smarted!! Sometimes you just have to pull back and ride, but man its tuff for me to that!
Women-Cat.1 thru 4
by Amy Dunkin
I’m back in the saddle again.
After my unexpected hiatus from racing this year due to a pretty traumatic crash during the Le’Spirit road race on March 4. I regrouped myself and my bike back together and traveled to Mt. Sterling Ohio for the Ohio Valley Racing Spring Series at Deer Park.
We had about 10 people in our Women all Category field, although I think over half were Cat.2 and 3. Three Team Dayton-Saturn, two Team Kenda, two team COBC, one Savage Hill, one Bio-Wheels, and little old me from Mazza Winery / Inferno racing.
After standing at the start line for about 10 minutes we were finally released from the gates.
The group stayed together and paced out nicely. I was fighting some mental anxiousness and stayed in the back of the group. I had no expectations for this race I just needed to finish it for my own self assurance.
The course turned from some nice pavement to some bumpy DOH neglected roads. This made things a little interesting with the bumps on the roads, the headwinds, and the cross winds. As you know Ohio is pretty flat and not a lot of coverage from the wind over the flat fields. We had a few short climbs that usually ended on top and stretching out flat again. Coming to the lap point the girls in front put on a sprint and I started to lose the group. Hanging on the back is not good in case of sprints or group surges. So then into the second lap there were two on a breakaway from the group and then the group and then me.
I pushed and pushed but getting separated from the group hurt big time. My HR peaked at 184 as I pushed big ring and fought the winds. Also, started realizing a few things on my second ride of my semi-new bike were not adjust quite right. My seatpost ended up being about a 1/2 inch lower then it should have been. Live and learn to check these things before racing.
Katy Ligler of Team Kenda received 1st place and Krystal Lacy of team Dayton-Saturn received 2nd. Both Cat.2 cyclists. Great job ladies.
I wrapped up the race with a time around 1:52 for the 35.5 mile event. Am I thrilled with the results nope, but am I glad to be back in the game, Hell yes.
See you next weekend.
Cat. 4
by Bruce Miller
This day started out differently than most race days. I was actually able to sleep in until 6:30. This was sort of ruined by the fact that the time changed the same day which actually stripped the extra hour of sleep right out from under me.
When I got out of bed I basicly felt like crap. My shoulder was bothering me, my knees were bothering me and most noticeably my quads were trying to cramp up. I was very tempted to just go back to bed, I already knew this wasn't going to be a good day. I went ahead and got up, wished the wife a happy birthday and then started getting ready. I fixed my oatmeal, made my egg sandwiches for the road and then waited for my co-horts to show up, Amy and Billy.
We load up the car and get started. Other than the bird that committed suicide on the grill of the car (leaving feathers on Amy's new bike) it was a pretty uneventful drive, we didn't even get lost this time. We arrived at the race around 10:20 and registered before the line formed.
About this time we also noticed that it was nowhere close to the 70 degrees the genius weather people had predicted. It was closer to 45 or 50. That wasn't good since I had packed rather light for this trip. Luckily I did accidentally pack my leg warmers, I'm not sure why but I did. I also had some cool primal wear arm warmers that I was able to bum from Billy. He also hooked me up with a base layer. In the future I will remember how much better it is to overpack than underpack.
Anyway, on to the race. I was a bit nervous this time since this was my first race with the Cat 4's. I wasn't real sure what to expect. I just lined up towards the back. I wanted to stay safe, I've heard way too many stories about the new guy "thinking" he was fast and either getting dropped or causing a huge crash. I didn't want to be that guy. I didn't have any teammates in this race but I did have some friends that I have met over the past few weeks who were very helpful and friendly. This race consisted of four 12 mile laps, total of 47 miles (first lap was a mile shorter than the rest).
The first three laps I just stayed at the back out of trouble and trying to keep an eye on the other racers to see who was who.
On the fourth lap I started trying to move up a little. It seemed like I would spend ten minutes working my way up then within a minute I was right back at the rear of the pack. I spent a lot of time trying to work my way into the group but it just wasn't going to happen. That is until a member of the 7 Hills racing let me in. If he hadn't done that I'm sure I would have drifted right back to the rear.
With about three miles to go things started getting a little hectic. At one point I had two riders from one team decide to squeeze me a little. One on each side of me and they both came in on me with their knees hitting my hands which were on the hoods, that was a little exciting. Other than that it was a pretty sane race.
About 1/2 mile to go everyone kind of got in position, I wasn't one of them. It seemed like I couldn't do much of anything. I finally got behind the Saturn of Dayton team and just hoped they would clear the way since there was around ten of them. About that time everyone took off. I went as well but a bit too late. I didn't catch a wheel so I was on my own.
I believe I may have ended up with a top 20, I won't know for sure until the results are posted. Overall I consider it a success. I didn't crash, I didn't bonk, I didn't cause any crashes and I didn't come in last. For my first race with the cat 4's I can live with that. Hopefully things do get better though. Can't wait until next week.
Results: http://www.ohiovalleyracing.org/results.php?action=get_event_results&event_id=145
