Torelli Spring Classic--Mid Ohio

Fast run race. I want to thank Will and Mitch for their great team support at the end of the race. Will and Mitch took off with 1/4 of a mile to go, I jumped on Mitch’s wheel for a great lead out to a close second place in the field sprint. When I looked over my shoulder after crossing the line, I was surprised at the distance we put on the field.
Thanks for the effort!!

Our field of 7 started with the cat 4-5s, and the pace was too fast. At the start of the third lap, I dropped. Several women were soloing behind me. One caught me a lap later, we decided to work together, and then we lost time when we stopped after two men crashed ahead of us--one was her teammate. That allowed a third woman to catch us shortly thereafter. We worked together along with a 4-5 rider we caught, but after one of my pulls I had to drop.

We got the bell lap as we finished lap 7 of what was supposed to be a 10-lap race. The other women were too far ahead of me, still working together. In the last four turns before the finish, one dropped, and though I made up good ground, I couldn't catch her before the finish. Thanks go to my sister, who came up to watch. During that last lap, I used the mantra she reminded me of, which goes along with the bike I'm still riding: "Old bike, young legs."

It was the best day of the week, beautiful weather, and the best race course I've been on! Thanks to Tym Tyler for the best race course I have raced on!

Tym started the B group 2 min. ahead of us. I think eight of us caught the B group with 11 laps left out of 20. Then I started the 2nd attack four others joined all of which were A riders.

Later on Mike Sterr left a gap from the other 3 riders, this happened two other times. So I thought he would close the gap again. He told me I had to chase, so I decided to wait too long and ended up getting dropped. How stupid was that!

What a great race course!

Attack attack attack. I'm not sure it did any good, but I came to the race for a workout so that's what I did. The biggest benefactor of my surges was Tris Hopkins who countered off one of my moves and took a 3 lap solo flyer for 6th. I tried to bridge up to Tris with 2 laps to go, but didn't quite make it.

With 1k to go I pulled up to the front with Mitch to start the leadout train. But Mitch didn't wait for me to slowly ramp up the pace. As soon as I said "let's go", Mitch jumped around me and shot off with Blair glued to his wheel. His surge split a group off the front of the field and he just kept driving it right up to the final stretch delivering Blair to the line. Kudos to Mitch for such a dominating leadout - especially considering there were 1s & 2s in the field. Blair took 2nd in the sprint.

What was it one of Spike Lee’s characters said as he trash-talked one of his opponents: “… gravity-bound…”? Pretty much describes where I am right now—and I’m not sure that course even had what would qualify as a “hill.” As Will launched his late-race, per lap attacks up the gentle rise, I saw numbers on my HRM that I have not seen in 10 years. Ouch.

I’m sure I’m getting fitter, but, apparently, so is the peloton.

Hats off to Will and (especially) Mitch for a great lead-out of Blair. I’m looking forward to doing the same thing—hopefully sooner than later.

Overall, it was a nice day. It was warm, the rains stopped, and the track was nice—with the exception of a few little ruts. The only downside was that every worm within a country mile was out on the track, being chewed up and sprayed all over by the peloton as we went. That made Power Bars unnecessary, but now I need to de-worm my bike.