The gods of thunder and lightening conspired to cancel the main events at Ceraland, considered a season opener for many of us. Despite its billing as an ABR race and not a mainstream USA Cycling event, it always draws top talent and the best teams. One event was able to sneak in before the deluge, the men’s Masters 40-50+. If you didn’t think that guys that old race any longer, well, we do. The course is a clockwise, elegant, one and a half mile design with a 90 degree turn at the start and broad sweepers to a short, big chain ring climb to the finish. The event was to be 70 minutes, but Dan Daly (the promoter) suggested he would ‘call it’ if lightening was present.
We started right on time and almost immediately attacks ensued. Texas Roadhouse (Curtis Tolson), Scarlet Fire (David Stone), CFW, Nuvo, Indie Bike, Nebo, Heroes, Men of Steel all were present and some well represented. As a lone Scholars Inn Bakehouse rider I knew that I would have to make an unholy alliance with one of these teams if I had a chance at success. By the mid-way point, Tolson and another rider had a 20 second gap on us. There were a series of bids to bridge but none were successful. Stone had gone off the front and looked to solo to the duo. Kevin Noone (Nuvo) sensed the danger and went for the bridge with me in tow. We cleared the chasing group and positioned ourselves in the middle of the melee. We had nearly 30 minutes remaining so it would take all of our effort to get across to the rapidly disappearing pair. Both Stone and Noone proved to be equal to the task, while yours truly was wondering if there really was a god! We were within 25 seconds of bridging – thanks to the shout outs from Dan at the start/finish- with about 15 minutes remaining when the rain began in earnest and the chasing group hot on our heels! As my world was getting darker and I had lost the feeling in my legs, the lightening made it’s appearance and the following lap, the race was called! We rolled across in order; Stone, Noone, Saccone, unceremoniously, without a sprint, then watched as the chasers were stopped as well, finishing as they were. Maybe there really is a god.
Official results aren’t out yet, but we’ll post them or provide a link when they’re available.
You can pre-register for the remake of Ceraland 2011 here:
http://www.truesport.com/register/events/flyer.asp?ID=1479