Snelling Road Race 2009

For the first road race of the season, Team AC brought a very strong team, and finished well.

Six Junior riders broken into two groups (Under 14 and 15-16), with Blair racing Cat 4 (he got the last slot, with 10 minutes to go!) and me racing Cat 5. The U14’s did two laps the 15-16’s did three laps, I did 4 laps, and Blair did five laps for about 65 miles! He gets the “hard man” award for the day, and really hammered with the pack the whole way!

Here are the pictures that Nicole took (thanks, Nicole!) and there may be others from Katie Fox later:
http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200902SnellingRoadRace?feat=directlink

The U14 race went well, with Spence duking it out with Dylan Drummond, down to the final sprint, with Dylan holding on by a few yards. Skyler worked with the peloton and finished very strongly – big improvements over last year from these guys!

The 15-16 group did an incredible job of actually running tactics – we had three “domestiques” (Isaiah, Bob and Alex) helping to hold back the pack, while Bjorn and one Specialized rider held onto a two-rider breakaway. Their race also turned into a two-man sprint, with Bjorn collecting a second place as well. The other did a great job of working with the other Specialized riders to slow the pack down and protect the break. Way to go guys!

I raced with the Cat 5 riders, my first road race in about 35 years. It was really fun, and I was surprised that I could stay with the pack for the first half of the race. But on the third lap, I missed one sprint, and then got dropped. So the second half of my race was a time trial, but I was very happy to finish (maybe not last) and had a great time.

Blair rode with a VERY strong group of Cat 4 riders (these were the YOUNG guys, not the 35+ race!) and he held his own the whole way. Their peloton passed me once during the race, and it was like a freight train. He did great, and felt like he could have kept going (Blair, is that the endorphins talking?). I am in awe of this, having “only” ridden 54 miles ;-)

Though the final results are not in, the finish order was:

Junior U14:
Spence Peterson – Second Place
Skyler Taylor – Sixth Place

Junior 15-16:
Bjorn Fox – Second Place
Isaiah Rapko (maybe 14th?)
Bob Siegel (15th?)
Alex Howard (16th?)

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and it looks like there could be a very interesting match up between Team AC and Team Specialized this year. Kind of a David and Goliath thing (right, Chad?) but it looks to be a very promising start to the road season!