I went to work for half a day to grind out some TPS reports, it was Hawaiian shirt day after all, then rolled down to Devou around noon thirty. I park, unload the bike, throw my bag on my shoulder and ride up to the Rogue tent area Butch and Jeff had set up earlier in the day. The women's 3/4 race was going on which involved Heather (Butch's wife). The Cat 3's were going off immediately following the girls. Butch and Heather have a 2 year old with them. So I am put on kid duty while Heather finishes and Butch warms up. That's ok because the other option was some guy in a van with a mural of a wizard painted on it.
Hez finishes her race and looked fresh
We get ready to watch the 3's go. Mass start with no gaps between age groups. 150 folks all trying to be at the front. It was chaos to say the least. After sandbagging the 4's last week at Fishstix Matt finished 7th in the 35+, Jeff and Butch got the finger from the official and were pulled with 2 laps to go but still finished 15th and 21st respectively. Butch had a flat on the start, threw a minor temper tantrum, grabbed a demo bike from a shop tent, and kept riding. It was pretty awesome.The Master's Men race was next. I got a chance to get out and pre-ride in between the races. Um, lets just say it made Fishstix look on-camber. And every uphill off camber turn was littered with acorns. Yay...
So the masters men went off, nothing spectacular happened as far as I know. Mark Legg Compton won. Shocking.
Elite women was dominated by Katie Compton. Surprise.
Elite Men took off and actually had a good race going on. Trebon wins, Wicks second, J-Pow 3rd. Much better race analysis on podium insights, bike clicks, cx magazine etc.
I line up for the fours and again mass start with all ages together. I got a great start and was up at the pointy end of the race for while. Then I hit a giant pot hole and thought I broke my headtube. Then I hit another giant pot hole and did knock my bars loose and they rotated down so I am riding all bent over when on the hoods now. A few people pass me, I pass a few people and we settle in to what little rhythm you could get out there. I can see Christian Amjorn in front of me about 50-75 feet. I try like hell to catch him but just can't reel him in. I finish 50 feet behind him for 11th. Up front Spencer Petrov put in the ride of his life to take the win in the open 4's. Spence, Will Bain, and all 50 of the red zone kids are the #1 reason I am glad I turned 35 this year. Jeff H banged out another win in the 45+. Another race, another RRP podium. We gots quite a streak going on. Congrats Jeff!
Last year this race was dominated by the mud and attrition. This year the course was brutal hard with climbs and loose off camber stuff. I know of at least one collarbone taken out. I was talking to one of the elite women and she told me something like 8 of the elite men either did not take the start or lined up and pulled out immediately upon the whistle going off due to safety concerns. I am not casting judgments on the Darkhorse crew cuz I know most of them and I know they worked their asses off to make this a great race (and it was) but it was the toughest course I have ever raced.
Some pics, I don't have many yet so there may be a pic dump post later in the week.
The proprietor of the best bike blog ever* making the off camberness look easy.
Above is the obligatory Bob's Red Mill picture. Not sure who it is or what race it is from.
Butch with J-Pow and Trebon, sort of. Lots of pics on Facebook, posiuminsights.com and the UCI3 site. Stay tuned for Sunday report. I am not racing Saturday so check the OVCX sites for reports. If something awesome happens and I learn of it I will post it here.See ya on Sunday.
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Will and I talked on the way home about seeing if you'd let us do a guest blog for the UCI 3 weekend. I see that already happened and he doesn't have time anyway, with school & training & racing & mowing the lawn & texting friends & facebook & all those other teenagery things. However, I wanted to add a couple of things. First, Jason said he didn't have a witty title for the Devou race but Will deemed it "The Great Depression." For anyone (besides 12 yo Spencer)that is a very apt title! It was even depressing for the spectators, starting with the mile or so hike from the car because the cop wouldn't let anyone thru to the parking places you could see up ahead. Apparently the fact that cars were leaving didn't justify letting anyone else thru in. By jove, the fire dept said it was full & he considered it full until everyone left! The set up was not as nice as last year, and last year was no picnic. They didn't let us anywhere near that nice museum with indoor plumbing :-). The 2nd thing I'd like to add, is that Devou & Java Johnny both kept alive your designation of the Men's Cat 4 Open/Children's Race...and it wasn't my child who won this time. Congratulations are in order for 12 y.o., 81 lb, Spencer Petrov, who seemed to float thru the dust & over the bumps of Devou Park and to the awesome 13 y.o. Ian McShane who tore thru a great course at Java Johnny's on Sat! The streak was disrupted at Harbin Park by some upstart guy from California whose name we don't recognize. We have no idea who he is but we've theorized that he's probably some pro's mechanic who decided to jump in & race on Sunday morning. Most of the Cat 4 Louisville children (including mine) raced the junior races on Sunday so they could get home in time to finish their homework & let their mothers' prop up their poor tired feet after running around in the dust for 3 days :-)
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