And, with my best Andy Reid imitation..........
Ahem...........First with the injuries, we had Richie Owens go down with
some heavy road rash and some minor bike damage (nothing broken), he'll be back in practice Monday or Tuesday. Steve Moore went down hard, did not get to talk to him, but he drove away on his own(hope your okay Steve, drop me a line ). And, last but not least, the Captain himself after yesterday's header at Branchbrook got taken down when 3-4 guys went down with a lap and a half to go, no damage, making him two for two for the weekend. Time's yours.
Back to our normally scheduled race report. In the 4/5 Ryan Pettit (yawn........) blazed away from the field again to make it 5 for 5 in cat 5, got to admire the symmetry of it all. The local cat 2's are already worried and Eric can hardly wait to get some help. And four of those wins were actually 4/5's, so he's trashin' everybody. The race itself was 42 miles, 7 times around a 6 mile loop.The pace was pretty modest, 23.5 mph. Lots of attacks out of the corners, but nothing sustainable. Joey D. was hammerin' at the front all day and managed a nice 5th place. He's gonna win a race once Ryan moves up.Big Eric put in a good effort for his first race, he hung in for four laps; I think the pace out of the corners was a little too much for him( don't worry, I got dropped my first four races, you did great). I was feelin' great other than a neck that was stiffer than a cub scout with his first Playboy magazine. In fact, I'm usually feelin' great right up until "the crash". Kinda like General Custer havin' a good day before all those damn Indians showed up.Anyway, James Flaherty stayed out of trouble at the front, not sure where he finished. Dan jacked the pace on the finishing straight to help string things out for Ryan, he ended up chasin' gophers on somebody's front lawn tryin' to avoid the crash near the finish line. Anyway, good job. Dan is quickly becoming the last mile to go lead-out man. He's capable of one,long sustained 30 mph blast which is the perfect set-up for Ryan. Ryan started his sprint at the blinker, everybody in the pack was chucklin', thinkin' he left too soon. Poor, uninformed souls; by the time they figured out they were screwed,....they were SCREWED! Win number five, in the books. Otto Sanchez snuck in for 8th place. I'm still scratchin' my head over that one, three weeks ago I was draggin' his sorry ass home at 14 mph, now he's in the top ten. All I can say is, well done.
In the 3/4 we had Steve and Richie go down, hope you guys aren't too banged up. Dirty Dave, Ryan Heminway (Ryan Lite), Anthony, Ronnie, and Jonathan all came in with the front pack puttin' in a good days work. Ryan was the best of that bunch in 20th. We're not quite ready to compete for the win in cat 3, but it's comin'.
Mark Cowin and Bob Jaggard hung tough in the 40+. Mark was in the top ten the whole race but seemed to fade a bit at the end, maybe breaking the top twenty. Bob came in with the field.From what I could see, looked like a fast race.
The 1/2/3 was fast. A break of twenty guys including Eric Wallenburg, got away and immediately started puttin' time on the field. Eric was lookin' good until he got ran off the road and was never able to catch back on. The break kept flyin ' and was gradually falling apart with five guys making it to the finish. Local rider Chris( Last name? He's the Race to Replace guy from Vineland) took a nice fourth. Mike Rosenhaus(slpelling?) attacked the break and won off the front by 400 meters. Pro Pedals riders Jerry Yu, Bob Jansen, and Eric came in with the pack for some nice training miles.
So I hope everyone heals up (especially me!), congratulations to Ryan. I think I speak for everyone when I say it is truly enjoyable watching one of our own go out and destroy the competition week in and week out. Someday when I'm writing for VeloNews I'll be able to say I remember when I use to race side by side( at least up until 400m to go) with Ryan Pettit. Just remember us "little people" when you make it big.
Hope I didn't forget anybody today. Also, a big "THANK YOU" to all the volunteers (Big Jim, Mike, Melissa's Jansen & Beadry,Michelle, Joey "the hat", and many others) who selflessly devoted thier time to making this race a success. I hang around a lot of bikee's, and I can honestly say we have the best club out there. Other clubs can't get anybody to volunteer to help out; we have to turn people away. Other riders bitch and moan about who's gonna lead-out who and who did what. We just go out, race hard, beat the shit out of each other,dust ourselves off, and come back smilin' with that "Yes Sir, may I have another " attitude. That's what racin' is all about.
So, for another week " your bent but not broke, from the saddle(ground?)" reporter,
Ed
A coupla ommissions from the race report. Hard to keep everything straight, particularly since I deleted half my report and had to re-write it. Heard from Steve Moore, he is apparently none the worst for wear, just a little disgusted with getting taken out near the finish( I know that feeling!). Richie is all bandaged up and gettin' ready to head to Vermont for some pre-Battenkill training. Steve Smith was actually riding real strong in the 3/4, he stopped to stay with Richie when he went down ( which I'm sure was greatly appreciated) until he was sure he was okay. And lest we forget Chris Fritz, he got tangled up in the same crash at the end of the 3/4 that took out Steve. However Chris decided that one crash just wasn't enough, so as he crossed the finish line he turned around to talk to Jason and rear-ended some poor, innocent competitor. He thought he would sneak by with-out anybody hearin' about that one.
So I hope (pray?) that's everyone, had a hard time keepin' tarck of all the collisions. Let's hope for a safer season from here on out.
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