Author: Geraint Parry

Another weekend of Dan Daly events and another weekend where the (at present) undermanned Cat3 squad continues its good progress. Both races at Eagle Creek and then at Mooresville on Sunday had Cat 3 fields of about 35 and the Tortuga contingent of 3 brave yeomen ( Parry, Parrish, Fryska) rode good races, managing to get a rider in the breaks of both days. Saturday saw Scott in the break of 6 and after the sand-bagging 16yo TxRdHse rider had said his goodbyes, Scott used his sprinting prowess to take the 5-up sprint for second place with half a bike to spare (see photos). Both Adam and myself were active in the bunch shutting some moves down and trying to get in others with success in the former but alas not in the latter. The field sprint didn’t go too well for Adam and I but we could content ourselves with Scott performance.
Sunday was a similar story with the break of the day very much easing off of the front after about 30minutes of racing. With Adam represented in a group of 10 and MAG7 points on offer Scott and I left him to his own devices up front. Unfortunately it seemed the break was being powered by just three riders, one of which was Adam and when it came to the final kick up the pack-splitter Adams knee, which he had been nursing with Ibuprofen all weekend, gave up and he rolled in to complete the top ten. I managed to get myself in a minor move for the last 10minutes of the race to finish in 13th with Scott sprinting well in the remnants of the field. Both Adam and myself were certainly frustrated by the presence of hangers-on in our respective breaks, FOR GODS SAKE, PULL THROUGH YOU LAZY *******!! Those of them who didn’t and then went on the claim the better places in the event are the beneficiaries of ill-gotten gains and will hopefully have their comeuppance later in the year.
As it stands with 4 of the 8 MAG7 events in the books Adam is at least in the top4 overall with myself maybe sneaking into the top10. Next week is the Eagle creek fast crit and likely a Monrovia TT (of which one must be completed for the overall MAG7 standing) before the roads turn decidedly upward with MMSFRR and St Crispian later in the year. Roll on wheelsuckers!!!

24 little hours indeed…but it was a race weekend of contrasting weather and therefore participants at the Anderson Mayors Cup. Saturday was a great day for racing, overcast 60F and organisers Steve Goar and Dan Daly were repaid for their hard work with some 250riders in all events. Largest fied of the day was in the Cat. 3 race which had approx 60 starters including messrs Parry and Parrish. The course profile and a strong wind keep the race pretty much together throughout our 55-mile event and in the uphill sprint both tortugans finished within the Top 20. Our most notables performance was a 5th in the Cat. 5 event for Pat Garner. The large number of racers was exemplified by the womens which had over 25 riders- unheard off for a local Midwestern event! In the 1-2-3 race the TxRdhse got back to winning ways with a 1-2 from Mike House and the POD. Bob and Vic were frustrated to miss the break of 10 riders that established itself on about half distance but said that they worked hard in the bunch for a good workout. It was a similar story for Gary Palmer in the 40+ event.
Then we did a TT and it rained…

…and it didn’t stop raining until sunday evening by which time the Anderson U. crits had finished with unsurpisingly small fields. A 1/2 field of 11 riders with 5 TxRdHse could only have one outcome but I think Tolson et al will have been disappointed only to finish 1-2-3-6! Pat and I were the only tortugans present and whilst I was held up behind a last corner wreck to finish 14th, Pat took the bull by the horns and attacked the Cat. 5 field, eventually finishing solo in 2nd place. A great result for Pat who is just this week turning 15.
All in all the AMC is a marvellously organised race with fanastic police co-operation for the RR and a challenging but safe crit course. However Steve Goar, unlike Dan Daly, has yet to sell his soul to the weather gods and the crit has been decimated by unfavourable conditions for two consectutive years. Lets hope for better luck next year to give this race the participation it deserves.

The inaugural McCormicks Creek RR was blessed with great weather and a new challenging but not too challenging 4.5mile loop just 20minutes from home base in Bloomington. We had good tortuga participation in most races which was matched by some measure of success. The fields were good in all races with a max of about 40riders in the 40+ and approx 30 in both 30+ and Cat3 race. The dirth of RRs in the midwest today meant there were a few visitors from both IL and MO all of whom greeted the new course with some significant enthusiasm.
Back to the racing and in the early races we saw an excellent victory from Adam Rodkey in the Cat4 (a category Expert MTBer Adam is clearly too good for!). In a competitive 40+ race, Gary Palmer got in the first break of the day and finished a strong 3rd whilst Tom Saccone got in the days second break and finished 10th. Sean Bauer, just using the first race as training for the later race, crushed the bunch sprint for about 12th place. In the Cat5 race both Pat and Isiah performed well but the plaudits must go to Bruce Millar who survived a 25mph+ crash with not a scratch on him and finished strong for 3rd place. In the later races Sean finished off a 4hrs of racing by sticking with the highly fragmented main field for a good day of work. The Cat3 race was a battle of attrition and after 40+ reasonable hard miles Adam Fryska took a great 4th whilst I hung on for a 9th position. A good day for Tortuga all around!! Next stop Anderson…