Ken Woods Road Race
Everyone knew it was going to be a wet
day at the races on Saturday. Personally, I like racing in cold weather. I could
do without the rain, but if it keeps it cool, I'm all for it. A few years ago we
did this race in the rain. It was a lot colder then, and raining harder.
Yesterday wouldn't have been bad for just riding around by yourself. The rain
was at a drizzle and you stayed relatively dry with a raincoat and shoe covers.
The problem was once you tried to draft off the next guy you get really soaked.
I was a little cold at the start, but I felt confident and strong, so I took to
riding at the front as much as I could to stay warmer and drier. About 2 miles
into the race, the crosswinds were at their worst. This is where the race would
take shape every lap. I drilled it on lap one, and a few guys were cut off the
group. There was still a pretty good sized field on lap two, so I got to the
front and went hard again. By the end of the crosswind section, the group was
down to about 15 riders. It was amazing how much it had whittled down. I had Dan
and Andy come to the back of the group with me and I told them to stay next to
me coming into the crosswinds on lap 3. As we turned onto that section I pulled
into the middle of the lane, just enough for two riders to be in my draft: Dan
and Andy. I went as hard as I could in the crosswind for few kilometers. I could
look down and see Dan's hub and Andy's rim, so I knew we were doing ok. When I
finally looked back, It was only Dan, Andy and I with Aric Hareland in tow. I
moved over to the center of the road so Aric could have a draft and we started
working together. There was still a tenacious group of three close behind. We
were moving fast, but they were holding us close. Finally Aric saw it was his
teammate Timmer and stopped working. We pretty much sat up and let them regroup
and Bjorn, Timmer and Mike Johnson soon joined us. Onto the final lap, 22 miles
to go. Andy took a flier into the headwind and forced the other guys to pull
into the stiff breeze. As soon as Aric reeled him in, we were at my favorite
section of crosswinds again. With 20 miles to go, I leapt from the group. I
opened the throttle fully and concentrated on staying in my 11 tooth. The group
was losing ground on me and I was feeling good. I found a good tempo and ticked
away the distance. Eventually the chasers were out of sight, but I kept it up. I
knew if I was caught I'd be worthless in the sprint after so much time off the
front. Finally the final climb came and I could see I had it. It felt great to
win in a long solo breakaway. I can't remember the last race I pulled on of
those off. I got my raincoat back on and waited to see how Dan would fare from
the group. I could see two riders fast approaching. Dan was leading out Aric for
a long ways out. Mike Johnson was coming up fast, but not fast enough. Dan held
off Aric for the old Swanson 1-2. That's twice in a week! I think we set a
record or something. It took a long while before all of our extremities regained
feeling. It was a small price to pay for an epic spring "classic" race. With the
win, that's the third time in 3 years we've won the race. Dan took it in '04,
and I've won the last two.
I'm really happy with how
great Dan and Andy are riding. Our team was so dominant at the front of this
race. We had everything covered. Andy had to chase solo for 5 miles early on
after he stopped to pee at the beginning. Even so, he was still taking amazing
pulls at the front. When we had a four man break with three teammates I knew it
was our race to lose. Bjorn deserves a shout out as well. He made the lead group
with his 52X14 junior gear. Remarkable considering I was in a 53X11 a lot of the
race. After two lap's he asked me "Doug, what time is it?" "It's 11, why," I
asked. "Do you think we'll be done by 1?" "Why do you have a hot date or
something?" "Yeah, prom!" Well, we did finish by 1, and Bjorn was fifth out of
only seven finishers. Good job.
Posted: Sun - April 30, 2006 at 10:20 AM
