T-Hill

Yesterday was the Turkey Hill road race. Shawn and I did the 4/5. Shawn wanted to see what road racing was all about and I was there for support. Everything was going great and on lap two there was a move. Wes Schempf (Semi-Pro MTB'er) rode off the front. I knew he was strong enough to go so I went too. Wes and I rotated a few times when Shawn and two others joined us. We had a gap. I took my turn and rotated to the back. The two riders that joined us decided not to work and the break was quickly swallowed up by the peloton. Shawn was looking good. He was staying in the right spots, spinning smooth, and paying attention. The third lap was still groupo compacto well, so I thought. Being short you sometimes miss things and I missed another move by Wes. He rode off solo with about 8 miles to go. See, Wes is a cat 5 only because he never did a road race before. USACycling requires a 10 race minimum before you can upgrade to a 4. He races cat 1 in cyclo-cross. He's pretty good and is the only person around here (that's a cat 5) that could ride off the front like that. Blah, blah. That said, lap 4 was terrible for me. The first turn on lap 4 someone took it super wide, forcing me into the gravel. I was caught out of the pack in a headwind and no one letting me in. I slowly drifted to the back and then lost the wheel of pack. I was trying to catch back up the whole lap until the final 1.5km when I finally decided I wasn't going to close the gap. The pack was in sprint mode and a solo rider just isn't going to catch them. Long story short. Wes is the winner.

Jeremiah raced in the 3/4. Turns out they added to his already long race and make in an even 100km. 62 miles. They climbed the Gamber Wall 3 times instead of 2. He did really well, finishing in the second group. He said the wall wasn't the hard part because everybody was suffering. It was the guys that recovered from it the fastest that put the hurt on everyone.

Hopefully, Chad nailed his SAT's.

Next week is French Creek (5-10). This a terribly rocky 11.5 mile loop. Sport do one lap, Expert/Elite two. The promoters say it will take about 3 hours for experts. That should tell you something about the average speed. 7.7mph is a far cry from the 15mph at the Bakers Dozen. There's lots of climbing and oh yeah rocks. Important info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6134

Chad's next race the Mon-Tour race. I may or may not go. He's what the promoter has to say:

On Saturday, May 17th, you can participate in The 75 Miles of Mon-Tour(ure).
This road bike race will challenge even the most seasoned rider!
With over 5900 feet of vertical climbing, riders come from all over the
northeast to dig deep as they tour the beautiful rural scenery of Montour
County. This fully supported race begins and ends at the Danville Soccer
Park in Danville, PA at 8:30 am - registration will open at 7:00 am.
Free t-shirts to the first 100 participants and an awards ceremony to
follow the race. See www.rivertownrace.com for more details
or to register.