First race of the season is under the belt. Saturday was the
Morgantown Road Race,
ABRA #1. Mr.
Petsko did not
disappoint with this race. The course was slightly changed from last year to remove the somewhat dangerous section of Rt. 7 into
Blacksville. Though the course was shorter there was even more climbing than last year, which already had lots of vertical. There was also another fine turn out of racers for this challenging course with 250
pre-reg. riders and even a waiting list.
The members of
MoTown Velo to make it to this race were Tim, Sean and myself. Others had to work on Saturday, bummer. Tim and I arrived early to Mt. Morris and scored a VIP spot close to the registration tents. We quickly got signed in to avoid the line of people that was sure to follow. Then we settled in and watched people roll in. It was cool to see a lot of folks that I haven't seen since the end of last race season. It was a great day to just sit around and soak up the sun but we were there for some bike
race'n so it was time to suit up in the team kits and start warming up the legs.
Quickly it was race time. The 1/2/3 class rolled out @ 12 then the 4/5 lined up. It was a large field with 75 races. At the start I was a lot further back in the group than I was
comfortable with, almost all the way at the back. Not a good place to be in a 4/5 group with lots of
eager but
inexperienced riders. Saw a lots of
bobb'n and
weave'n but not
misshapes. After the first large climb past Kirby I was able to pull a little further towards the front group and by the top I was in the second group. Next up was Mile climb were I was able to maintain and had the leaders within about 20 seconds. Once back in the valley I was in a group of about eight racers. I was happy to see another
MoTown Velo jersey, Sean. The group tried to make a somewhat organized chase on the lead group which was within sight but had a
sizable lead.
On the next climb I
decided to test the climbing legs and
cranked up the watts. I was able to put a gap on the group except
WVU's Bala. We worked together on down to Rt. 218 and picked up another racer on chase down the leaders. Almost to
Waynesburg our original group caught up to us (including Sean) and we jumped back in. Normally, I wouldn't drop a large chase group like that but I was using the race more as a training ride than a full on race. So you young racers out there remember you can conserve more energy in a larger group and save it for when you need it.
After
Waynesburg I dropped my chain and spent over a minute trying to untangle my chain from my
derailleur. I had lost my
teammate and the group and my legs were feeling the burn from a week of hard rides. So, I put in survival mode and just enjoyed the rest of the ride. Mostly solo, which started to hurt with the strong winds.
I got caught by my closest competitor from the
WVMBA series, Donald P. on the closing stretch on Big Shannon. There was nothing I could do about it. I stood up to close and cramped up wicked bad. I had a flash back from ACE last year. You got me again Don.
I had a great time but was totally spent. Luckily there were some yummy treats and
sammiches from the new Rising Creek bakery in Mt. Morris to help me recovery.
Check out the
results.
Less than 2 weeks till Big Bear. Sweet!
limb felt pretty good as I passed several more people and headed back to the transition. I tagged Megan andwent to see the carnage at the finsih line. Jason Cyr came across first to take the overall win. Zach came across shortly after to finish 6th overall and 1st in his class 20-29. Megan came acrossed the line not long thereafter as we took second in the relay. It was all in all a good day and a lot of fun. Looking forward to Big Bear and hope to see all of you there.
