Tour de Rock – National Duathlon Course

24.71 miles, 697 ft elevation, with climbs 3-4%.

On the 2007 USAT National Duathlon Course, I hung on to Group A for a very short while. While six (Tyler, Peter, Scott, Jeff, Trevor, Kirk) in the main pack sped out, Bob and I sparred for a few miles, then he dusted me. Bob has definitely figured out how to play the Computrainer game. Well played, Bob! I pulled up 8th in last night’s fast race. Earlier that morning, I pulled something the wrong way on a Standing Head to Knee Pose (see pic below). Fortunately, I my tweaky back from that aggressive hot yoga class didn’t hold me back.

Here’s the course profile, and Bill’s race reports.

Bill’s Report – A Group

The Merchants struck back tonight, buying some of their previously lost time. Riding for the Merchants tonight were Tyler, Peter, Trevor & Bob; while riding for the Cannibals were Kirk, Scott, Jeff & Joe.

The pace started off hot, hot hot, with Tyler putting in a huge surge right at the drop of the flag. This succeeded in popping off Joe & Bob within 1/2 mile. After that, a group of six settled in, with anticipation hanging in the air.

That anticipation was warranted, because at Mile 5 on the first climb, some hard climbing by Scott put Trevor into trouble and succeeded in dropping him. Even with Trevor gone, the pace stayed high on that climb, and a power surge by Tyler ditched Jeff at Mile 7.

This thinned the front group down to Tyler & Peter for the Merchants and Kirk and Scott for the Cannibals. Some attacks were made, but this group looked like it was going to stay together for a while. However, while they were testing each other, behind them Bob was able to drop Joe at about Mile 11.25, and then set off on a chase to see if he could catch Trevor. He was able to link up after about 15 miles, and these two stayed together until the end.

Up front, the big action occurred at the intermediate sprint at Mile 11.6. Tyler went early and laid down a pace nobody else could match, putting him across the line first. Peter was about 15 feet behind in second, with Kirk taking third. However, the brutal pace coming into the sprint was too much for Scott, and he fell away thanks to a post-sprint attack by Tyler who saw him wavering.

This left Kirk alone with Peter & Tyler, and as expected, the attacks began. Kirk held strong for a bit, until a huge surprise attack by Peter on the 2nd climb at about Mile 12.25 dropped both Tyler & Kirk. Tyler let him go until Peter had opened a lead of about 300 feet, then Tyler surged hard and was successful in getting away from Kirk at about Mile 12.8. Tyler was then able to link up with Peter, and the two set off for the finish line, setting a blistering pace along the way.

Further back, Jeff was carrying on in his own private No-Man’s Land, while Bob and Trevor were doing good work swapping pulls. Towards the front, Scott pushed hard and was able to catch Kirk on the last climb, and the two of them started to work well together. However, as well as they were working, they couldn’t hold a candle to Tyler and Peter, who were able to open a gap of over a mile on them over the last third of the race.

At the end, Tyler surged away from Peter, crossing the line in 1:03:25, while Peter’s time was 1:03:28. Kirk came next at 1:06:42, pipping Scott for third place, with Scott at 1:06:43. Jeff followed them in at 1:11:08, with Bob & Trevor both coming across in 1:14:55. Joe soldiered in at 1:20:03.

So – the Merchant’s team time tonight was 4:36:13, while the Cannibals’ time was 4:47:15, a gap of about 9 minutes. That made up for the 7 minute loss from last night, leaving the Merchants about 9 minutes adrift overall. In the sprint points, Tyler cleaned up with 20, with Peter taking 12 and Kirk getting 6. So, that leaves the sprint points standings as follows:

Tyler	46
Peter	35
Bryan	28
Kirk	21
Phil	14
Jeff	12
Amy	12
Bill	8
Rudy	8
Steve	4
Gregg	4

In the overall individual race, the leaderboard after Week 4 is:

Place	Name	Total Time	Gap
1	Tyler	3:23:41	0:00:00
2	Peter	3:24:12	0:00:31
3	Kirk	3:28:10	0:04:29
4	Jeff	3:37:12	0:13:31
5	Gregg	3:39:11	0:15:30
6	Bryan	3:43:21	0:19:40
7	Scott	3:43:56	0:20:15
8	Bob	3:44:01	0:20:20
9	Amy	3:46:19	0:22:38
10	Trevor	3:47:29	0:23:48
11	Joe	3:48:15	0:24:34
12	Steve	3:50:51	0:27:10
13	Deanna	3:55:15	0:31:34
14	Allen	4:00:37	0:36:56
15	Phil	4:03:21	0:39:40
16	Rudy	4:03:31	0:39:50
17	Mike Bowdish	4:05:30	0:41:49
18	Sue	4:05:32	0:41:51
19	Tiffany	4:05:32	0:41:51
20	Mike Wade	4:07:04	0:43:23
21	Lynda	4:07:04	0:43:23

Next week is the Queen stage – should be interesting. While trailing overall, the Merchants have won three of the four weeks’ racing. Will they be able to even the score on the biggest stage of all?

Bill’s Report – B Group

Tonight was something of a surprise.The Merchants took this opportunity to play the “Bill card”, but it backfired, and the Cannibals ate their lunch yet again. Teaming up for the Merchants this evening were Amy, Rudy, Steve & Bill; while the Cannibals were represented by Bryan, Gregg, Deanna & Allen.

At race start, Steve got dropped almost immediately and spent lots of energy trying to catch back on. However, Bryan saw him coming, and while he got close a couple of times, there was always a burst of speed which prevented him from catching back on. At about 2 miles in, Bill pulled over with a flat, which changed the complexion of the race. While he was able to get the bike off the trainer, change the wheel and get it back on the trainer within 2 minutes or so, the race was already gone.

Up ahead, a group of six formed with all racers except Bill and Steve. In spite of his efforts, Steve was dropping further and further back from the lead group, while Bill started on a long chase. They stayed this way until the second significant climb, where the pace up the climb dropped Allen off the back.

It took a bit, but Steve and Allen linked up, with Steve forcing Allen to do most of the work. In the front, another surge for the sprint popped off Rudy and Deanna, leaving only Gregg, Bryan and Amy. They settled the intermediate sprint between them, with Bryan first, Amy second and Gregg third.

In the back, Bill was still chasing Allen and Steve, finally catching them at about Mile 14. Meanwhile, Deanna had managed to drop Rudy on the third significant climb, and set off to make up as much time as possible. At the front, Bryan began to think there was no good reason to tow Gregg and Amy to the line, so he put in a surge and dropped them both. However, Amy managed to hang with him closer and longer than did Gregg, opening up a gap which she held to the end.

Once Bill caught Allen and Steve, he started a series of attacks with the intent of pulling Steve free of Allen. Allen did a masterful job of anticipating Steve’s accelerations, and it took several attacks before he was finally dropped on the third climb. After that, Bill & Steve set off at a higher pace to see if they could catch Rudy, and maybe even bring him back toward Deanna.

They caught Rudy with about 5 miles to go, but he was already pretty much spent from trying to stay with Deanna’s surge on the last climb. He managed to hang on for a while, but each time Bill & Steve really started to crank up the speed, he tended to fall off. Bill went back to get him at least twice, bringing him back up to Steve. However, with a mile or so left to go, Steve went for it on his own, followed a while later by Bill. Bill was able to catch Steve and nip him at the line, while Allen was able to make up some time over the last mile on a fading Rudy.

At the line, the final results were: Bryan at 1:06:58; Amy at 1:08:40; Gregg at 1:09:32; Deanna at 1:10:42; Bill and Steve at 1:13:03; Rudy at 1:15:43 and Allen at 1:17:39. Total time for the Cannibals was 4:44:26, beating the Merchants’ time of 4:50:19, thereby picking up about another five minutes in the team competition. In the sprint points, Bryan took the mother lode with 14; Amy took 8 and Gregg got 4.