Wilmington Grand Prix RR

After nearly missing the start because of a much needed poopoo, we rolled out under rather chilly and windy conditions. This 110 mile route was out and back along the DE coast and was pan flat except for one tall bridge which had a KOM sprint at the top.

The first moment of excitement came when I suffered a rear flat at rather inopportune time. Only about 10 miles in, just as the first few attacks were getting underway, I flatted. Jack did a quick wheel change by any standard but with only a few cars in the caravan, I missed the back of it and had to count on his car to pace me all the way back. Pacing back on after a flat tire is pretty routine and usually no real problem, but because the field was currently going over 30mph responding to all the attacks, I was behind Jack's little rental car for at least 10 min barely gaining ground on the group. After a warning from the official that had dropped back with us, we resorted to the world's longest power-bottle (the ref had sped ahead at this point) to close the gap quicker and sling me up to the group. It was a little sketchy being dragged over the rough road surface, spun out in my biggest gear, holding onto the bars with just one hand...but I made it.

I arrived at the back of the group just in time to see Ty out sprinting all others to claim the $250 KOM prize. Sweet, thanks for more money Ty.

Soon after, a large break finally got away with Dan and Michael both present. Michael Dalterio is making huge leaps from his preseason form, I think this is the first break he's factored into all year. I think there's more to come from him.

Unfortunately a certain UHC team refused to actually race.... rather than ever do anything risky or exciting like attack or even cover moves, they opted instead to just set pace at the front aaalllllllll day. I guess Dan and Michael's move was deemed too large because the boys in blue never let the gap out and brought it back within 15 miles. This little bit of hard chase in a crosswind made for some fun racing lined out in the gutter but that was probably the most exciting part all day. After that a small, less threatening break went and the rest of us just rode the couch on the flat roads of DE as UHC did their job of bringing it back right before the finish.

A combination of not really knowing the last few turns and a kind of slow pace saw us all lose position right before the sprint so me, Dan, and Ty all ended up somewhere around 11th-13th place.

Despite the lack of results at the finish line, one huge improvement we made as a team was actually riding as a unit and using it to keep position in the crosswinds in the last 20 miles.

Wilmington Grand Prix Crit

For the record, I haaaate writing race reports... They're all similar, boring to write and read, and probably not even that accurate when told from my point of view.

Saturday's race found us in downtown Wilmington, Delaware to race an NRC crit. After an aggressive start, we reached the half way point with the bunch still all together, but it would only be that way for a few more laps until our resident babysitter/team captain Dan Holt made a really good attack to open up a gap immediately. He was all alone out there but motored on solo for at least 5 maybe 10 laps until the gap started to come down rapidly, and hoping to make good use of his effort, I set up for the counter in the front of the group. Just as he was within 30 meters of the bunch, I wasted no time in launching my own bid for glory and I too quickly got a gap. Unfortunately not one rider followed me either, but we only had 12 laps to go at this point so I thought it was worth a shot. For the next 8 laps I floundered around off the front by myself, struggling to find a comfortable gear I could spin. My leg speed was no where to be found so I was absolutely mashing too big a gear the entire time. Alas, I got caught with about 4 laps to go.

Thankfully, as he always does, Ty Magner came through in the sprint to place 5th, winning me yet more money and making the race not a total loss.

I suppose having a TT1 rider off the front for the last half of the race was good publicity if nothing else, and I got a lot of "good job!"s and "I thought you had it, man!"s after the race, but ti me it felt like a lot of pain for little gain.

RR write up to come, after I get back from my morning ride...