This year the Jefferson Cup was the Virginia Championship Road Race.
Complete Results
Some quick notes for those interested.
Sara Clafferty, Mike Harris, Scott Olson and I pre-rode the course early Saturday afternoon. In between our first and second laps someone broke many glass bottles on the road the start/finish line was on. There were two or three areas with glass covering the road. We spent 10 minutes picking up glass and throwing it off the road while Sara fixed a flat, and our efforts did not make much of a dent in the mess. I e-mailed Ruth Stornetta about it when I was back at my hotel room, and she replied that they would clean it up in the AM.
9:00AM Races. Misty, a little cool and road very wet.
While clearly someone had worked hard to get the glass of the road, there were four flats just in the 50+ rollout. Actually the 50+ field was combined with the 60+ and the Jr 15-18 on one line, one field of 75 riders max. On the course at the same time were the W123 and W35+ fields, starting behind us at short intervals. I rode near the front hoping to jump into a break and ride away, but there were no serious break attempts. I did go off the front once with a junior, trying to catch a strong junior up the road, but we didn't make it and sat up. It came down to a field sprint. The results have me 14th and Mike Harris 29th, and no finish for Scott Olson, who I saw just to my left at 400 meters to go. Hmn. I think there were several more flats during the race.
One of the women's fields (I am guessing 35+) squeezed over to the right to let us by 2/3 of the way through our last lap. We had no Team Latitude riders in the W35+, and team finishes in W123 were:
10 Janet Olney
17 Amy Westenfeld
18 Christine Wehlburg
19 Diane Grimm
12:30 Races. The roads had started to dry towards the end of the first batch of races and the sun came out.
I don't think there were any Team Latitude/ABRT riders in the Jr. 10-14. Cat 5 results have not been posted. The registration list has Peter Shultz and Ty Wu racing it, and Ty crashed hard resulting in heavy road rash and no more new CAAD9. In the W4 race Sara Clafferty was taken down by a rider that braked in front of her going down a hill, but got back on. Amanda Wu finished second in a breakaway.
2:30 Races. The sun was out, it was warmer and the roads were dry.
I jumped into the 35+ race thinking I had not worked that hard in the 50+ (a view not backed up by a look at my powertap numbers this morning). We had strong teams in both the 123 and 35+. Once again we had flats during the rollout and I think we had more flats during the race. In the 35+, Chris Harshman and Lance Lacy were out with mechanicals fairly early. I went OTB early on the 3rd lap after taking a too-long and too-hard pull trying to help pull back a break that did not have any ABRT riders in it. I rolled around the rest of the 3rd lap chasing at first and then just trying to get to the feedzone as I was either very tired, or bonking, or both. Chris, Lance, Tina and other ABRTers were already in the feedzone supporting our 123 and 35 riders, and we enjoyed watching the rest of the race from there.
Yanni Papadopoulos came out of the 123 with bad cramps, and Ryan Guttridge came out of the 35+ with the same problem. That left Ace, Art, Keith and Matt in the 35+, trying to bring back a break. Matt was working hard for the team while I was in the race and kept it up the entire race. The 35+ break was brought back, but the winning move apparently went on the last lap and none of our guys could get in it. The winner then attacked the other 2 riders and rolled away for a significant lead at the finish. John Wirsing, apparently riding for Van Dessell, was second. Art was in it for the field sprint, getting 7th. Ace was 18th, Keith 35th and Matt 44th. The results have Ryan 45th, an interesting finish considering he was standing on the side of the road for much of the race. :-)
I found the 35+ race quite a bit faster and harder than the 50+. I had no trouble leading the 50+ field on the climbs or false flats if I wanted to, while the 35+ field was hurting me on the longer climbs, and I would find myself sliding to the back after taking a pull, and then having to slowly work my way back up after catching my breath. The 123s looked rather faster than the 35+. There were all sorts of riders going off the back, including Ramone, a Harley guy, and some of our guys. But Stephen Wahl, still a cat 3, had a great finish of 22nd, with Brian Fouche 27th when he could not quite get to the winning breakaway on the climb. I think I heard he was a little too far back to get to them, though he was so strong a climber that he gapped the entire 123 field on the same climb on an earlier lap, but was reeled back on the downhill.
Next stop Walkersville.
I thought the new team colors CAAD9s and new kit looked terrific, and every team member I spoke with about the bikes was enthusiastic about them.
Ali
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