2014 Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Masters Cycling Team: City Park

All photos for this report are from http://www.mountainmoonphotography.com, check them out if you get a chance.

The 35 plus guys got off to a bit of a slow start this year, but things have turned around of late with wins at the Sonic Boom Crit and the Superior Crit. The team was frustrated with a poor showing the day before at the EROCK race and showed up ready to go for City Park. City Park is a classic Colorado race, that is the oldest race in the state, held in Denver in City Park, and somewhat unique as the course has three traffic circles per lap. In our prerace meeting we decided to be aggressive and not wait for a field sprint, even thought a field sprint would favor Dan. The field was about 50, not large, but had a lot of good rides like Jeff Hartman from Westside who has won a lot this year, Eddy Gragus from Helen's (past US Professional Champion), and Michael Carter from Map My Ride (another ex pro who has raced the Giro).

As the race settled in there was a small move off the front with 2 strong riders, Byron from Rio and Frank from Vic's. Jim was riding tempo at the front to keep in in check (3 days after his wife gave birth to his second daughter. THANK YOU Joanna for letting Jim race). CJ used this as a chance to attack and get up to the break. As it settled down CJ had made it to the break and it was now a 6 man move. The key thing was the 5 largest teams each had a man in the break (mix1, Vic's, Westside, Rio, & Map My Ride). The result was good cooperation in the break and there were not a lot of teams left to chase (Rally Sport and Grove Subaru maily).

The break got out to a 30 second lead and staid there with Carlos from Westside, Frank Zoldak from Vic's, Byron Nix from Rio, Dan from Rockymounts, and Larry from Map My Ride. CJ rode a smart race as he knew a 1 in 6 chance was not great and he had the best sprinter back in the field. Back in the pack Dan, Josh, Jim and Matt covered all the moves and gave anyone who wanted to chase a reason not too. Michael Carter finally got away after some hard laps of chasing, even thought he had a team mate in the break. Josh saw his move and sat on his wheel, as they tried to get to the break. The result was a perfect situation for mix1, as CJ sat on the break, Josh sat on Michael Cater, and Josh and Michael made it up with less than 5 laps to go.

The final lap played out well for the mix1 guys as CJ went back to work with some pulls to make sure the break staid away and Josh rested a bit. Josh came close to winning this race last year, but did not get into the final traffic circle first, so he learned his lesson. This year he attacked into the last traffic circle, got their first, and no one was able to come by him. Josh has had a difficult year with bad races, flats and a broken frame in a crash. So it was great to see him get the win. CJ took 5th overall from the break, and both Matt and Dan were in the top 15 from the pack behind. It was a complete team race, where we won by racing as a group, and racing smart. Good things are happening and the guys are excited.

Josh taking the win. Photo from http://www.mountainmoonphotography.com/

CJ rolling in right behind for 5th. Nothing is better then when a team mate wins and the other guys are right behind with their hands in the air too. Photo from http://www.mountainmoonphotography.com/