Jun 30, 2010

WW- take the lake

A new route for WW this evening and I think it made successful debut. The return of Mike Sherer and Ryan Knapp to WW meant it was a top quality group of 25+ riders who steadily wound their way via the bike route south of town with no traffic issues before turning onto Fairfax to pick up the pace. Avoiding Ramp Creek was a good decision as Fairfax and then Strain Ridge allowed a large group to get some good quality speed work, where the pace seemed to pick up significantly when Knapp got on the front.
As the Dam(n) climb loomed, the pace slowed before Ryan Shanahan attacked and led to the base of the hill with a small gap. As expected the group shattered on this steep ramp with a front group of approximately 8 riders getting a small gap on a ragtag group of chasers. A truce at the front allowed a 15 rider bunch to reform before the same separation occured on the next always-surprisingly-tough climb. The front group of Hamilton, Sherer, Knapp, Shanahan, Hays, Pilling, Rose, Golas kept the pressure on and gapped Neibler on Chapel Hill Road who then dropped back to the creeping second group of Hans, Parry, Lewis, Templeman, Quay, Allen and the Hoosier Climber.
This group stayed together until Neibler lit it up back onto SR446 definitively gapping Allen. Surprisingly the remainder of the group stayed together up the Causeway hill and toward the sprint where Neibler won it from Hans, Lewis and Parry as the group caught Pilling who had been gapped front the front group. I'm sure the 4th of July fireworks came early on the Causeway hill in the front group with a likely trio of Hamilton, Sherer and Knapp getting away to contest the finish although I might be way wrong with that! Any other thought of the route will be gratefully received. Next week- 446 circuit.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was great fun last night!!! After tweaking those just trying to survive across Hardin Ridge, the lead element was reduced to 8: Hamilton, Golas, Shanahan, Sherer, Rose, Knapp, Pilling, and Kevin (Hayes?)
Ryan S. immediately tried to apply pressure upon reaching 446 and a small gap of about 100 meters formed before Rose took advantage of the tailwind and pulled the group up to him. The remainder of the causeway was filled surges, attacks and counter attacks as we tried to distill the group to the barest elements. Aaron got caught out after taking a strong pull at the front of the 30mph pace when Ryan S. countered with a huge surge. Though he hung on grimly, Kevin too had to yield and surrender his position in the pace line as we reached the lake. Sherer, after a hard weeks racing, was gamely sheparding his resources and leaving the rest to wonder if he was going to level a blistering attack to finally destroy the party or let it stay together for the ultimate sprint.
Down to 6 riders we approached the climb out together. A false calm ensued as we hit the base. Rose, feeling antsy, set the tempo climbing out in the hope of shaking out any last rider who might have run out of steam. Alas, this was not to happen today. Those left meant business and the rest weren't about to be cut adrift this close to the end. Near the top Rose was countered by Hamilton. Hamilton attacked yet again approaching the ranger station and the mad scramble was on to bring it close together.
From here to the sprint it was attack counter attack and chase with everyone having their turn. Shanahan and Hamilton being the most aggressive, with Knapp and Rose doing their best to pull things back together.

We were all a little fuzzy on where the sprint was but it was ultimately Hamilton who threw in the last attack for the win. (Golas had a mechanical turning onto Knightridge and thus missed the fireworks)

I can't say enough how much I enjoy days like these!!!

Cheers,
Fred

Anonymous said...

Good report. I think this route was a hit.

Anonymous said...

I have thoughts not regarding WW. Though I'll put them here because I had intended to deal with them at WW. What the hell was with the 20 lap criterium having 10 laps of primes w/ 6 coming consecutively only to end with 2 to go?
-Patches

Geraint Parry said...

The organizers of the Tour of Grandview had too many people give them stuff they had to give away I guess. I liked the fact the most lively sprinting was for a pair of socks! HA!