Quick report on a short race.
Today was the first of the Ann Arbor Velo Club’s Spring Training Series in an industrial park near the Airport in Ann Arbor. These races are great instructional races for beginning racers or racers who are dusting off their road skills. In this case, I was the latter and my son was the former…his first road race ever.
Jack 3 did not want me in the same race and I wanted to give him space to find his way through his first race, so he went on to face the “C” race and I did the “B” race.
The weather was similar to what the team faced at the Lowell 50, but then again it was April fool’s day, so, jokes on us! (Froze our behinds off). Jack 3’s “C” race was a 15 minute race plus 3 laps on a football-shaped oval on a slightly rolling 1 kilometer course. The race was quite gentlemanly, with no attacks off the front, but a very nasty crash on the final stretch. The finish was an uphill finish and the group was probably going 28 miles per hour when one of the guys went wide and took too much weight off his front wheel and lost control. I did not see the crash, so he may have been forced out of his tuck, but the result was the poor guy took out a mailbox and broke a 4x4 that the mailbox was on. A fire engine and 2 ambulances took care of him, he was sitting up, but did not seem to know what day it was. Pretty sure his helmet kept him in one piece to race another day. In the meantime, Jack did an excellent job of staying with the group and finished just off the back and loved every minute of it…I think we may have a candidate for next year’s development team!
My “B” was more than I could handle—and I knew it going in. The B race is cat 3/4 racers and I am a cat 4 on my best day. But giving Jack 3 some space was more important, so I worked up the nerve to join guys who have traditionally crushed me in other races. I thought this race was going to be 25 minutes plus 3 laps, but when we lined up, it was announced that it was a 30 minute plus 3 laps…I was not amused. In our first turn, one of the racers hit his pedal on the ground and took out at least 3 riders, I was able to steer clear and stay connected to the pack. (As in most of these cases, the group attacks just a little bit and a separation began.) I was able to fight on to the lead group and hang on for 20 minutes. There were two cyclists who worked together off the front and owned the group. In the final laps, I worked with some very talented cyclists (though, I use the term ‘worked with’ loosely as I probably only pulled 1 lap of the final 5 or so).
All in all, it was great as usual to be amongst some great riders and enjoyed the day with my son. It was a happy April Fool’s Day. Go Team Active powered by WSI.
Jack Miner (II)
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