The CoalMiner’s Classic is a 2 mile circuit criterium featuring high speed corners and smooth, wide, speedy roads. Peter Lucke, Adam Asnes, Henrik Pedersen, Butch Stinton and Larry Comman lined up for the mid day start under ideal racing conditions. Racing was fast and stayed that way. Small groups would take a chance at breakaways, but were quickly gobbled up by the field. Mid way through the race, Peter Lucke initiated the first substantial breakaway, starting with a solo effort off the front. He was joined by 3 other riders while the rest of the team clogged the front through the turns and broke upchase attempts. Though the break threatened for several laps, it was reeled in with three to go. With two laps left, Craig Hofer of Boulder Orthopedics and a Tokyo Joes/Whole Foods rider initiated a two-man attack. It seemed a Hail Mary effort given how the field was able to chase so rapidly. However the break stuck, working so hard as to drop one of its two participants. On bell lap, Peter sacrificed himself with a hard and long pull that strung out the field and attempted to bring back the tenuous break. While he didn’t catch one rider, the effort helped Adam sit on the front of the peloton without having to spend precious energy defending position on the wide roads. The field sprint started with a hard jump from Joe Paulson of Boulder Orthopedics. Adam just barely overtook Joe with a bike throw at the line to win the field sprint. Congratulations on an exceptional solo effort for the win to Craig Hofer and Joe Paulson who rounded out the podium with third.
Note: Scott Kornfield was a local cyclist who was killed riding on US 36 by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. There is a little known but very useful memorial to Scott at the base of Lefthand Canyon right near the Greenbriar driveway. It’s a steal case on a pedestal that is stocked with handy items like spare tubes, CO2 cartridges and miscellaneous tools available free on an honor exchange system.
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