Thunder and lightening in the vicinity couldn’t hold back about 20 riders from tackling the 446 loop. The weather didn’t turn out too bad in fact- we got pelted with rain for about a lap and then it got sunnyr….which all amounted to us all looking pretty tuff in soggy jerseys and darkened faces.
The riding was hard and fast with no-where to hide all evening. The first 4 laps largely saw the group stay together until finally Chris and Mike K got off the front and started cruising away from the group. Round the top turn the pace in the group picked up and suddenly it all went to sh-t for a few of us. A gap opened up and quick as a flash Tom S, Heff, Karim and an already struggling GP were off the back and gone! The following laps saw three different groups working out the full 8 lap distance. Kroll again showed that his form has once taken another leap this year as him and Kehrberg held a 10-20sec gap over the ‘bunch’ of Sonny, Bauer. K.Moore, Steve B and new guy in town, Myron. All were working hard but couldn’t bring reel the Kroll-berg tandem in! GP was fortunate to get a tow round in the third group by mssrs Saccone and Brauner both of whose form is bubbling under nicely for challenges that lie ahead. All in all another good workout which after all is what its all about! Next week- Paragon

So at 6am it was 45F and raining- not the greatest conditions to motivate getting out of bed and racing a bike (alone and for 40km). However I’d been psyching myself up for the Monrovia 40k for the last week so I got up and drove up to the meeting place a convienient 45mins from Bloomington. Six other brave souls were present including 4 other debutants- pretty remarkable on such a nasty day. By the time of the start we did have some good fortune as the rain had stopped and the new very fast road surface was mostly dry. All in all it was a pretty good TTing day with a light headwind on the outward leg and the damp road reducing rolling resistance theorectically making things faster. It was a trip into the unknown for me as it was my first ‘25’ since the 1995 BUSA championships (British Universities Sports Association). Therefore I took it pretty easy on the way out (for which the uphill and headwind helped) and then tried to pick it up on the way back. I has a modest goal of a 1h05m so was pleased by posting a 1h04m30s for 4th place on the day. I was certainly glad to get out and ride after too many days of rain and maybe (maybe) I’ll go again later in the year.

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!!!