Labor Day weekend was spent this year up in Steamboat Springs, Shanon and the girls came to this race not necessarily to watch but rather to spend the weekend in a great mountain town. This was the second year I have completed this 3 day stage race, consisting of a time trial the first day, a road race the second, and a crit the third. We had a great CAT3 showing for our team with 9 guys of a 45 man field, so we knew we had to put our plans this weekend to work. Ryan Taylor and Rob Thayer were our GC guys for the weekend. We arrived Saturday morning and had a nice studio to stay in right on the ski / mt bike trails. The girls headed out for a bike ride and I went to the TT. It was a little over 10 miles, but much flatter than last year. At the end we had 3 riders in the top 10, with Ryan 1st, Andy 6th, and myself 10th.
The 2nd day was the road race, over 82 miles and 7k' of climbing. Our plan was the shelter Ryan and Rob the whole day and get them both fresh to the last few climbs, cover attacks, and keep the pace of the group in check. The was an attack with 2 guys early and I covered this one and one more bridged up. I was not doing any work oping to slow the pace of the other three riders in the attack, they were not happy with me, but it worked after about 25 miles the group caught us again. I stayed toward the front of the group still to cover any other attacks, as did a few of our other guys. The first big pass went well and the group stayed together nicely. But the second was where the race is generally determined. The group started to fragment right from the base of the climb. Ryan and Rob stuck on the lead pack, Andy and myself were just behind. As we neared the summit there was a feed zone to exchange bottles, after this I realized that the lead group was together just up the road. A quick decent and a little climb brought me right back with them. Though Rob and two others had managed to break away. Ryan was still with the group though. There was a longer very quick decent, the back towards town for the last 20 miles or so. All we had to do was make sure Rob was not caught. Little did I know he was working very hard and pulling a huge 5 minute gap. Once I realized how far ahead they were, I decided that I was going to make this group of 15 or 20 work to make this finish. Ryan said he was feeling well again so I started throwing attacks, on each climb, and during the flats.
This managed to loose about 1/3 of those guys, but I was getting tired of leading and the legs were starting to fade, I could not shake them all by myself. For some reason I get into that mode where I think I can do all the work and still manage to get away, well it did not work this day. It ended up being a sprint for the last 1km and needless to say I lost the sprint due to all the work up in, but Rob won his sprint to the line and took the win on the RR, so mission accomplished. The girls spent the day in the hot springs pool, enjoying Steamboat.
The last day of our stay was the Crit race, which was not until 2PM. We decided to hike to one of the best waterfalls in CO in the morning. It was a short hike the girls and I climbed the rocks all the want to the base of the falls.
The Crit race was only 45 mins long, a standard rectangular 1k course, with a small hill thrown in. We still had a large team presence to make something happen here and Rob was in control of the GC so it was basically keep him safe and get him to the line in the main group. The last 3 laps I was leading and really thought I was going to make it happen, Andy and Ryan were even blocking for me. But in the end I lost it in the last 1/2 lap and to the sprint, but Rob was a few wheels back and took 2nd on the sprint. Seems I took this Crit race very similar to the road race, by leading way too many laps and loosing in the sprint. But I got a $50 prime lap in there and got Rob where he needed to be. The girls actually came to watch the 2nd half of this race, it was nice to see them on the line cheering for me.
Overall Rob took the GC win, and Ryan got the BRAC season win with this race topping it off, and I got 6th on the GC. Not too bad of results, it was great to see our plans work out in the end and get our team on top. The girls even had a good weekend vacation in Steamboat Springs. Great racing this weekend boys, I am proud to be part of the Sonic Boom team.
No comments:
Post a Comment