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!!!