Walburg and Pace Bend Race Reports
Man, that was a tough weekend. Fun, too. I love a good hard race.
Saturday started nice and calm which surprised everyone. However, there was a line of dark looking clouds off in the distance that looked very threatening. Sure enough at the start of the second lap, someone turned the fan on “High” and the fun began.
Echelons and gaps everywhere. I missed the main split but worked my way into a group of 8 and we worked together for the next 40 miles hoping we’d catch the leaders. No such luck with the horsepower up ahead of us coming from a group of mostly former pros. And most of that 40 miles was spent leaning the bike over 70 degrees trying to fight the wind. I was looking forward to a little reprieve on Sunday at Pace Bend, but again, no such luck. With a field of 130 riders, many, many fit guys and a fast, non selective course, the pace stayed between 26 and 30 mph the entire time. Add to that the stress of riding in a tightly grouped pack for several hours made the race a tough one. About half way through a group went up the rode that looked promising. The bigger teams were represented so I went to the front to ride tempo for a couple laps to try and keep the gap down. With some help from a couple other guys the break was brought back with 4 to go and Fawley was able to attack and form another break that looked good. The big dogs weren’t about to let them stay away and went to the front. They caught Fawley and Co with about half a lap to go and then the Heads of State battled it out for the V. So no luck for us this weekend but I’m optimistic about Lago. I’ve won there as a Cat 3 before and always have good legs for those races. Look for Park Place on the podium in the very near future! Thanks again for all your support Jorge. You coming down this weekend? We still need to meet and share more racing stories. LD
