Great job to K-Puff on his victory down at the Austin Tuesday Night Trainer.
The first Wed. World’s were a wake up call for many. One rider was overhead saying, “this was like a July Wed. World’s.” About 40 or so showed up for the first event of the season. Among the participants was Dan Daly of the IRS. Sporting new shifters, new chain, new silver hoops, and white shoes, the diesel looked the part. Several Tortugans, a few Bacardi/Nuvos, and a smattering of well-known Bloomingtonians joined the new voice of the Peloton, Geraint Parry, who gave the orders and led us out to the course, a 4-mile loop utilizing old and new 446. Geraint will be announcing at select races this year, sharing his wry, Welsh wit and inside-the-peloton-scoop with the audience. A blend of Chris Boardman and Paul Sherwen, Geraint will add a colorful flair to the weekend races.
The course features two big-ring graded sections and lots of headwind on the new 446, with rough, undulating terrain on the old 446 section of pave. After a tame first lap that saw the Welshman go off the front with Bennet Van der Genugten (BvG) of Bacardi/Nuvo, the peloton came to life on lap 2, by the end of which, the two escapees were caught.
The inevitable counter formed the break of the night, with Kehrberg, Sonneborn, Ballinger, Kroll, Hans ?, Serrier, BvG and myself. A gap of at least 2 minutes was quickly formed despite the protagonists being a little unsteady at times. Surges from the new to the old section of 446 split the front group nearly every lap, but a regrouping occurred the first 4 times as BvG, Kehrberg and Kroll duked it out for ‘primes’ at the Speed Limit 40 finish line and then sat up to recover.
At the beginning of lap 7 ( of 8 ) the elastic snapped for Serrier and myself. Not sure what happened to Serrier, but I continued solo while the break quickly disappeared from view. BvG took the final sprint in addition to the majority of the primes, showing great strength here in the early season. Nice job to BvG and all the members of the break.
Tonight’s avg. speed was about 1 mph faster than previous season-1st Wed. World’s. Although unconfirmed, it was suggested that next week’s event will traverse the Upper Paragon loop, a bastardly hilly course certain to sting the legs.
Thanks to everyone for making it a great workout tonight. Plenty of racing available this weekend with the Pike-Gibson Challenge in SW Indiana. Closer to home, a 10-mile TT will be held on the main forest road in MMSF Friday night and a 14.6 mile TT will utilize the MMSF loop Saturday morning. Those not racing are encourage to come out and cheer on your TTing teammates who will ride an additional couple of hours after the Saturday event.