22.70 miles, 1:05:19, Monday Group. Finished 1st. Plus Sprint points.

My race was tough but fun. Bill’s report captures all the action. Philip and I tried dropping Allen together, but Allen hung on for a long time. Eventually, I zipped off the front and Philip hung back with Allen and Allen didn’t chase me by himself. I got to the sprint spot first. I hung on to the end. This was the last stage of the Tour de Rock. What a great fun we had in the off season.

—

Monday Race Report.

There was more action tonight than I’ve seen in a while.  Well done to all the riders!  The Pushers were represented by Allen, Bob, Deanna & Mike Wade, while the Gunners presented Joe, Philip, Lindsay & Lynda. 

Things started out with a bang, as the riders got right into the sprint mode.  Lynda was dropped almost immediately, and two groups formed within the first half mile.  The lead group was composed of Allen, Philip, Joe & Deanna, while the chase group was made up of Lindsay, Bob & Mike.  Over the first couple of miles, that gap never got too big – maybe 600 feet at most.  Finally, at about Mile 2.5, Bob put in a dig, dropping Lindsay & Mike, and then started to bridge over to the lead group.  However, his task was made difficult by constant surging and attacks in the lead group, and he was unable to close the gap much.  The attacks were coming mostly from Joe, usually being chased by Philip, who was pulling Allen & Deanna along for the ride. 

At about Mile 4.8, one of these attacks popped Deanna off the back, and she immediately started to drop back.  However, her bad fortune was good for Bob, as he was then able to reel her in.  Bob caught Deanna at about Mile 6.5, and they set out after the lead group. 

After watching a few more of Joe’s attacks being nullified by his teammate, Bill explained (loudly) to Joe and Philip that they should not chase their own teammate’s attacks, but make Allen do the chasing.  Maybe they could even take turns attacking Allen and see what happened.  Joe was able to break away once or twice, only to be chased down, and Philip was able to get away once, also only to be chased down. 

However, the next attack which came from Joe, at Mile 8, succeeded, and he motored away from Philip & Allen while Allen was trying to get Philip to chase.  As a result, Joe was first to the intermediate sprint point.  Behind him, Philip made an early attack and Allen was able to nip him at the line as Philip was running out of steam. 

After the sprint came a long climb which wasn’t too steep. However, this played to Deanna’s strengths, and in spite of a long run yesterday she was able to drop Bob, and then chase and catch Allen and Philip.  At about Mile 11, Philip put in a surge to which Deanna responded, but which caught Allen out.  As a result, Deanna and Philip went over the top together.  Behind them, Allen dropped back to Bob, stating that they should work together on the descent to catch Philip & Deanna.  Behind them, Lindsay was doing a fine job of staying with Mike after a big run yesterday. 

Joe went down the descent first, and worked hard, opening a big gap.  Behind him, Deanna was letting Philip do most of the work on the descent, while Bob & Allen tried to close the gap of about 1/4 mile they had to Deanna & Philip.  Philip was working on and off, and Bob/Allen were able to hold a superior speed down the descent, but were not able to get closer than about 600 feet on the descent itself.  As the descent flattened off, they kept up the pressure, forcing Philip to work by himself while they worked together, and were gradually able to reel him in. 

Finally, at about Mile 18, Philip sat up and let Allen/Bob catch him.  Oddly enough, once he did this, they also sat up and these groups stayed stable about 100 feet apart for close to 1/2 mile.  After this long “phony war”, they closed up into one group.  The attacks started almost immediately, with Allen co-ordinating serial attacks on Philip by Bob, Deanna and himself. 

The first casualty of these attacks was Deanna, who got popped off when Philip counter-attacked after an attack from Bob.  Once the group was down to three, there were more attacks, but one of Allen’s attacks dropped Bob off the back, at which point Philip counter-attacked and was able, after an agonizing minute-long watt-fest, to finally drop Allen at about Mile 21.  Once this was done, the die was cast.  Allen allowed Bob to catch back up again, in the hopes that they could work together to reel Philip in, but Philip had the bit between his teeth and held them at bay.  With about 1/4 mile to, Allen surged and dropped Bob, making him third across the line, behind Joe and Philip.  Deanna soldiered in a bit later, followed by Lindsay who was able to hold off a last-minute sprint by Mike, with Lynda bringing up the rear. 

Final times were: Joe 1:05:19; Philip 1:06:00; Allen 1:06:20; Bob 1:06:28; Deanna 1:07:06; Lindsay1:09:26; Mike 1:09:27 and Lynda 1:22:58.  The average time for the Gunners was 1:10:56 and for the Pushers was 1:07:20; so the Pushers made up a total of about 14 minutes tonight. 

Tomorrow – the “C” group!

—

C Group Report – Tuesday

Team tactics again……it’s almost unfair to call this a “C group race. as only one member of the Gunners showed up.  Luis was here, and the Pushers were Eugene, Gregg & Hank. 

The stage started off with a big surge, but all four riders stayed gruppo compatto for the first couple of miles.  Even so, there were several surges and attacks, mostly from Gregg, which kept the group nervous.  At Mile 2, Hank counter-attacked one of these attacks and got away, followed shortly thereafter by Eugene.  They surged up the road, while Gregg and Luis chased, with the gap gradually opening up to about 600 feet. 

As this chase occurred,, Gregg continued his surges, and finally made one stick at about Mile 5.75.  His teammates slowed a bit so he was able to bridge over to them, and then the race was on.  But, in this case, the race was to see how fast these three riders could finish as a group.  Luis was on his own behind them, and that’s how he finished. 

At the intermediate sprint point, Gregg tried to go first, and was able to hold off Hank, but Eugene surged by him with about 20 feet to go to take max points. 

After that, the stage essentially became a TTT for these three riders, and they did an excellent job of working together and keeping the pace high.  Over the course of the stage, they gradually opened a gap of a bit over 2 miles on Luis.  In the final sprint, Hank went first and was able to hold off Gregg, but was passed by Eugene with about 150 feet to go, giving Eugene max points again. 

The times at the finish (before time bonuses) were: Eugene, Hank & Gregg all at 1:00:28; and Luis at1:07:24.  Overall, thanks to assigned times, the Pushers picked up about 15 minutes on the Gunnerstonight, adding to the roughly 14 minutes they picked up last night. 

Tomorrow – the last ride of the “A” group!

—

A Group

The boys were drilling it tonight!  This very fast stage was ridden by Ben, Jeff, Bryan & Peter for the Gunners and Tyler, Jason, Jonathan & Tony for the Pushers. 

As usual, the stage started out with a huge surge.  Tyler & Tony were both dropped at the get-go, with Tyler being a few hundred feet up the road from Tony.  The other six surged along at a frantic pace.  Ben put in several attacks starting at Mile 1.  Finally, he got loose at Mile 2.75 with an attack averaging over 600 watts, and only Jeff was able to follow.  These two rode away, while Bryan, Peter, Jason & Jonathan decided not to chase at that time. 

Bryan had made a couple of attacks on this group, and at Mile 5.6, he got away and started working hard to bridge up to the front pair.  They slowed down a bit to let him catch on, and he averaged well over 400 watts for several minutes, finally catching them at Mile 6.7.  Once the catch was made, they powered away from the chase group with Ben doing most of the work, eventually putting nearly a half mile into them.  Behind this action, Tyler slowed for a while to help Tony catch on, but Tony had done a run earlier in the day and was unable to hold Tyler’s wheel for long, and eventually these two split up until the end. 

As the first sprint approached, a deal was made.  Ben announced that he would take the sprint, and would let the other two contest the stage win between themselves.  So, the first sprint was no battle, and they pacelined through, with Ben first, Jeff second and Bryan third. 

Past the sprint there was a moderate climb, which they handled energetically, followed by a 10-mile, mostly downhill stretch.  Once over the climb, Ben backed off and sat on wheels, content to let Bryan and Jeff settle matters between themselves.  They maintained a good pace over this stretch with Bryan doing most of the work, but behind them, Jason was making a huge effort with Peter and Jonathan, and they were slowly reeling in the lead group. Over the course of this long 10-mile descent, the gap came down from nearly 1/2 mile to about 1,000 feet at the end. 

In the final sprint, Jeff opened up with about 2/10 to go and put up some big watts (over 600) to pull away from Bryan, with Ben taking 3rd.  Less than 30 seconds behind them, Jonathan was able to come around Jason at the line to take 4th, with Peter taking 6th. 

Times at the line (before time bonuses) were: Jeff 55:46; Bryan 55:48; Ben 55:51; Jonathan, Jason & Peter all at 56:17; Tyler 1:03:24 and Tony 1:06:20. The winners’ average speed was over 25 mph for the stage.  Overall, the Gunners took about 19 minutes back from the Pushers. 

Tomorrow night is the “B” group, and the last night of racing in this year’s Tour de Rock.  As was previously announced, the awards ceremony will be held Monday night at 6:30 at the Craft Beer Cellar at 1353 Colorado Blvd.  Hope to see you there!!

—

B Group and Final Standings

Another good race tonight, and a good effort from all the riders!  Riding for the Gunners were Bill, Kirk, Alvin & Amy; riding for the Pushers were Mike Webb, Scott, Trevor & Allison.  As is typically stated, since I was a participant in this race, please excuse any omissions, inaccuracies or any slight slant which might appear. I was mostly racing and only keeping track of events as a side activity. 

As usual, the stage started with a bit of a surge, then settled in for about a mile before the attacks began.  Most of the attacks were somewhat half-hearted. until at about Mile 5, Mike got away, but was then chased down by Kirk, Bill & Alvin (in that order).  Once these four formed a group, the Gunners in that group drilled it for a while to ensure they had a stable gap on the other riders.  From this point on in the stage, Mike was in the enviable position of being a passenger, since all the others in the lead group were Gunners.  Behind this lead group, the other riders settled in to a pace, hoping to get to the line as quickly as possible. 

The first real action started at about Mile 9, as the run-up to the intermediate sprint took place.  The pace picked up, and surges were put in by Kirk & Alvin.  Mike & Bill stayed back until about Mile 9.7, at which point Bill jumped.  He got enough of a lead on Mike to take the sprint by a few feet, with Kirk coming third.  Further back, Scott made a surge to see if he could drop Amy, but Amy hung tough and Allison got dropped.  A bit further on, another surge put Trevor off the back, leaving only Amy & Scott together.  Scott tried a few times to drop Amy, but she was having none of it, and was able to stay with him to the end. 

After the sprint, the four riders in the lead group climbed the hill on the course with Bill doing the most work, followed by Mike & Kirk, and Alvin filling n the gaps.  There were no real attacks from this point forth, until about Mile 18, as the front group just settled into a rhythm.  Bill was providing the fast pulls, Kirk was doing the long pulls, Mike was trying to push people off wheels and, aside from three major surges, Alvin was doing a lot of dangling off the back. 

Somewhere past halfway through the stage, Trevor pulled the plug and slowed down to wait for Allison so they could work together.  Once linked up, they stayed together for the rest of the stage. 

At about Mile 18, the attacks in the front group started to get serious.  One of these attacks by Bill over the top of a rise caught Alvin napping and he got dropped. From that point on, it was just Kirk, Mike & Bill at the front.  Kirk and Bill started to team up and attack in turn, leaving Mike to chase each attack. On the third or fourth round of attacks with a couple of miles to go, Bill surged a bit too hard and dropped Kirk, while Mike was able to hang on.  At that point, Bill settled onto Mike’s wheel, hoping that Mike would slow down enough for Kirk to catch back on.  That didn’t happen, and Mike rode strong to the end.  Of course, that gave Bill the advantage in the final sprint, which he won going away after jumping with about 1/10th mile to go.  Kirk came home a few seconds later, with Alvin about 30 seconds back. 

Amy did something similar to Scott after hanging with him for most of the stage, dropping him near the end, and finishing 6 seconds in front.  Allison and Trevor finished things off a few minutes later. 

The final times (before time bonuses) were: Bill 1:00:20; Mike 1:00:21; Kirk 1:00:30; Alvin 1:00:58; Amy1:04:22; Scott 1:04:28; Allison 1:08:07 and Trevor 1:08;07.  Overall, the Gunners picked up about 19 minues this evening, enough to win the stage overall by about 5 minutes. 

In the final standings, the Gunners beat the Pushers 196:08:38 to 1:99:55:56 – an advantage of about3:45:00.  In the individual standings, the top three finishers were Ben, Jeff & Tyler, with the complete standings below: 

Place	Name	Total Time	Gap
1	Ben	13:12:09	0:00:00
2	Jeff	13:30:37	0:18:28
3	Tyler	13:39:05	0:26:56
4	Peter	13:41:30	0:29:21
5	Bryan	14:01:27	0:49:18
6	Bill	14:19:14	1:07:05
7	Jason	14:26:07	1:13:58
8	Jonathan	14:27:37	1:15:28
9	Alvin	15:01:12	1:49:03
10	Mike Webb	15:06:58	1:54:49
11	Kirk	15:55:22	2:43:13
12	Hank	15:58:30	2:46:21
13	Scott	16:05:38	2:53:29
14	Allison	16:14:57	3:02:48
15	Gregg	16:15:21	3:03:12
16	Tony	16:18:57	3:06:48
17	Joe	16:30:58	3:18:49
18	Trevor	16:31:24	3:19:15
19	Eugene	16:42:11	3:30:02
20	Bob	16:45:14	3:33:05
21	Luis	16:53:32	3:41:23
22	Philip	16:56:13	3:44:04
23	Amy	16:59:08	3:46:59
24	Deanna	17:36:21	4:24:12
25	Allen	17:36:37	4:24:28
26	Mike Wade	17:42:34	4:30:25
27	Lynda	17:51:16	4:39:07
28	Lindsay	17:54:11	4:42:02
29	Danny	18:13:07	5:00:58

The final sprint standings show Ben in first, followed by Bill, then Jeff.  The full sprint standings are: 

Ben	89
Bill	63.5
Jeff	44.5
Joe	41
Allen	30
Kirk	28
Philip	28
Tyler	27
Eugene	18
Alvin	17
Gregg	16
Trevor	15
Mike Webb	12
Bryan	9
Danny	7
Michel	6
GT	5
Lindsay	5
Hank	5
Luis	4
Jaime	3
Michael B.	3
Mike Wade	3
Peter	3

And, as announced last week, the KOM crown was taken by Tyler, with Bill second and Ben third.  The full final standings for the KOM are: 

Tyler	111
Bill	96
Ben	86
Jeff	83
Mike Webb	55
Hank	42
Kirk	41
Danny	40
Gregg	38
Alvin	33
Lindsay	31
Bryan	30
Scott	28
Peter	24
Allen	21
Bob	13
TJ	10
Deanna	9
Philip	4
Eugene	3
GT	2
Luis	1

And so, that’s it for another year.  It’s been a wonderful series, and I would like to validate all of you for your remarkable performances, hard work, and persistence.  In addition to being a bit of fun, this should give you a good head start on the upcoming race season, giving you a leg up on your bike training. 

As has been announced, the final awards ceremony will be held this Monday night at 6:30 at the Craft Beer Cellar at 1353 Colorado Blvd, under the Eagle Rock.  Jerseys and cash prizes will be awarded, and the final podiums for each group will be announced.  We’re buying the first round for all attendees, so we hope to see you all there!