Posted by Dan on 15. June 2010 18:19
Things were fairly quiet for Celerity Cycling this weekend. Team Vanderkitten - Virginia Beach hosted the only race of the weekend on the Snowball Crit course from earlier this year. It's a nice course, but it seems to have gotten really hot. Donning the kit in anger this weekend would be Dan R., Frank, Mike Shipp and me. Steve M. would be prancing about in his sky blue polo, waving his clipboard at the naughtier cyclists among us and enjoying the delicious lunch that Team Vanderkitten provided the officials. Evidently they didn't like the leftover hot dogs WE gave them last weekend. Whatever.
Yeah, that's Steve and his clipboard (left). Taking a little break from prancing I guess.
First race for us would be Dan R. in the Cat 5 field. Dan is less than a week off a tour of half the US by bike. He came back to Hampton Roads and ran some ungodly distance a few days before the race. This guy is a monster. After his race started, it appeared he wasn't happy with the pace being set so he set out to ride his own race - off the front. Unfortunately, in a Cat 4-like move, the pack followed his every move. The cat and mouse games wouldn't deter him, though. Eventually, his efforts left him needing rest and the pack rode off without him while he took it. He took on the role of Mama Duck as he chased the main field with several other riders clinging to his wheel for dear life. He eventually shelled them, but never caught the field. Considering I can't run half a mile - ever - and he just ran 9 miles after doing 150 miles/day on the bike for several weeks, we'll give him a pass on this one.
Dan R. in one of his many off-the-front moments.
The masters race was run immediately before the 4 race so I took a pass and lined up with the latter group. Twenty-four riders turned out to brave heat which had to be closing in on 200 degrees. There were two rules for this race: Always Be Hydrating and never slow down - that wind keeps you from melting.
Mike checking to see if he's melting.
I'm always eager to try one of those "took off from the start and was never seen from again" moves, so I jumped at the whistle. Turns out it's a lot more work than it looks like. With the entire pack in one convenient package, we meandered around the course a couple three times before Frank slipped away off the front with Jerry Hadley (TriPower) and an unidentified Fat Frogs rider. You've probably read enough of these to know they didn't last too long. When they came in, I took a stab at it. I was soon joined by what would be the members of the winning group composed of the entire bloody main field. No one was getting away today. We tried, oh how we tried. The power file shows numerous attempts at getting away all followed by that tell-tale flat period where I coasted while waiting for a wheel for me to grab as they passed by me. Mike even took a short lived shot at a break.
Frank surrounded by the TriPower Secret Service. They'd eventually let him crash.
And so it went until the bell lap. The pace ramped up as we approached the dreaded 2nd 90 degree turn. This is the same corner Wick crashed in back in March. Everyone wants to go fast and wide through that turn so if you're unfortunate enough to find yourself on the outside, there's a high probability that you're going down. Frank found this out the hard way, though not quite as hard as Wick. Frank landed in the grass, on his back, staring up at the clouds having been put in the curb by the charging hoard. I chose a nicer, happier line closer to the inside, much in the same way Frank chose an inside line in Fayetteville, and found myself in a prime position to contest the sprint, still around fifth wheel. I finished third and Mike came in close behind in 9th. Frank picked up his bike, now with Authentic Battle Damage! and limped across the line in 21st. This guy can crash, daydream about cloud puppies and STILL not finish last! He's unstoppable!
Frank is fine though still firmly convinced he was feeling good enough to win that race had he not been forced out. I'm pretty sure he's right. We all thank Team Vanderkitten for hosting the race. Next weekend is the Team Nature's Path Crit in Richmond and the Peter Teeuwen Memorial Omnium 23 Mile Time Trial #1.
All pictures in this post courtesy of BJ Samuel of Team Vanderkitten.