Saturday brought the state masters crit championship for the second year in a row on the newer Prospect course, in Longmont. This is a very short, very tight course, with laps times close to a minute. As a result only the strong survive and you have to race this race from the front. Both the 35 and the 45 brought strong teams and high hopes.
45 Plus race report from Jeff O: The 45+ers went into the day’s big event with a basic (but solid and proven...especially when you're the biggest team in the race) plan, but fell victim to poor execution. The plan was to ensure that no breaks went up the road without a Mix 1 rider present by either initiating attacks, following an attack or from bridging. Any move without a Mix1 rider present was to be brought back by the team. Since Jeff has been in several breaks with some of the 45+’s strongest riders this season, he offered to “mark the races big guns such as Derrick Nichol.”
Having recognized that marking the big guns alone will not suffice and opportunities would be present for all, Jeff offered encouragement to the rest of the team to not be shy marking some of the other riders in the race. From Jeff’s pre-race plan email: “I think some of those other moves provide great opportunities for some of ya'll…Ya'll are strong riders and I'm confident you can handle these moves....and by doing so this just might put ya in a good position."
The race started off fairly hard with some solo attacks and after 10 minutes Great Divide’s former state crit champ Derrick Nichol went out on his own. True to his word, Jeff bridged up to the move and although Derrick and Jeff were able to stretch their lead out to about 20 seconds they were eventually reeled in. After that Jeff dropped to mid pack to reload when one of those other opportunities he mentioned in the pre-race plan presented itself as Great Divide’s Karl Kiester went on a solo move. Despite having 6 riders in the race Mix 1 missed the move.
Recognizing that no teammates were responding to the solo move and knowing the danger of allowing someone up the road on such a tight course Jeff started moving towards the front to get into position to bridge. Unfortunately his tire blew spectacularly in turn 5 (check out the video on http://www.303cycling.com/ from a rider behind Jeff with a helmet cam) leaving him sliding across the pavement. After a stop to the wheel pit, Jeff jumped back into the main group which was now minus Kiester whose lead was up to about 25 seconds.
From that point on, Jimi chased for a while and after getting his wits back from sliding across the pavement, Jeff was back on the front looking for another bridge move. However, it was never his day as he flatted once again (this time on the spare ROL wheel he received from the neutral wheel pit). With this second flat coming within the final 8K of the race, he was no longer able to get a free lap and abandoned the race with 6K to go.
In the end, Kiester stayed away and GD scored the W in the biggest race of the season and with Derrick Nichol’s second in the field sprint, GD put two riders on the state championship podium. Meanwhile Chris L took 5th and all of our riders finished in the main group.
35 Plus race report from CJ: in 2009 this was one of the hardest races with 2 ex National Professional Champs and plenty of extra pro/cat 1 talent to help keep it single file for an hour. This year the field was smaller and not as deep, but the talent pool was still serious at the top. Unlike last year the race was not single file from the gun. Lots of back and fourth attacking gave everyone a chance to feel each other out. CJ got up the road early with ex-pro Chuck Coyle who has won plenty of pro/1/2 races this year (why do these guys even bother racing masters?) and Chuck whittled the move down to 3 guys. Defending champ Michael Gibson did not want that to go and countered up to the move and that was really the race. Jim Thies made the new move, along with Michael Gibson, the always strong and super nice guy Danny Sullivan, Roba from pro/1 team prerace.com, Jeff Hartman, and Jon Baker fresh off a NRC win a few weeks ago.
Will all the teams represented, but Rio, the move went up the road and CJ & Matt did a good job blocking. The pack lacked the teams to chase, Rio tried, as did Rocky Mounts and Peleton Cycles. About half way through the break lapped the field and Jim was assured at least 7th place or better. As soon as the break lapped the field 3 of the guys from the break went again and got away. Team sprinter Josh Barnett covered this and they were gone. The already mentioned Chuck Coyle missed this moved and bridged up with one other rider, while CJ made this move too and sat on for a free ride to the break. Eventually these 7 guys got away and were gone for good.
At this point it was a little complicated for the spectators as 4 guys in the 7 man break were 1.5 laps up on the field. Then places 5 through 7 were still in the field, including our own Jim Thies, then 8th to 10th were in the break (including CJ & Josh), with the rest of the field sprinting for 11th. Josh won from his group taking 8th, CJ took 10th in the break, and Jim took 6th in the field. All in all the guys missed the win, but had 3 guys in the top 10 and in front the Rio riders. A big shout out to Jim Thies for making the move, for lapping the field and a fine 6th place result.
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