Troy Classic

Because of the dearth of Michigan racing this month, we made the decision to venture into Ohio to see how it is done in the land of the nut. Troy is one of Dayton's bedroom communities located about ten miles north. The race course is situated right in center of town featuring multiple turns. The last turn before the finish is on a traffic circle that orbits the city's water fountain. It was a very cool setting with amazingly smooth pavement. No potholes but there was some hot tar that had to be negotiated.

James and Abby rode the junior race at noon. Abby won and James took third. It was already smokin' hot by the time they hit the course. James crashed on the tar his last time by the fountain on his way to the sprint. He looked very, very good against two very fast racers his own age. It's a shame he went down because he was seriously in the hunt for a win.

The cat 3's & 4's went off around 2pm. By then it was even hotter. We lined up myself, Giff, Steve and Craig in a 50-60 rider field. From the whistle I hammered for the first lap shooting to the front by the first turn. I get some kind of primal thrill out of this. There have been so many races when I go out easy and some dude throws down the hammer and I am sort of taken aback by it. Nerves are frayed at the beginning of the race and you don't know what to expect and that initial attack leaves me feeling out of control. Jumping out there and doing it to everyone else gives me some kind of psychological boost. It must look crazy but I think it helps clear my head.

The race is sort of blur to me now. I stayed at the front trying like heck to get away. It was tough though. There were a few opportunities but nothing would stick. Not knowing most of those OH racers didn't help either. I was in a good position to take an opportunistic prime at about the midpoint. I was sitting about five riders back and no one was jumping. It wasn't my first choice but I decided I should take a shot and just keep going. I missed the prime by a wheel but got a gap. One rider followed but again, nothing.

One of the riders who always seemed to be at the front was this rider from "Mortgage Cycle". At least that was what was written on his rear. He had the physique of a bike racer but he lacked the all important ability to not run into stuff. On one occasion, he came out of the traffic circle and very nearly clipped the curb with me on his wheel. Close one. Later, he did something very similar at another corner, again, with me on his wheel. This time he apologized. These close calls didn't impact my race they only reminded me how close I was to a really spectacular crash with stretchers and ambulances, etc.. His third gaff cost me the race. I was in the groove feeling great and heading into the last half of the last one mile lap three wheels back. When I have a great chance at a win I can feel it. I don't know what it is but I can just feel it. Maybe it is fifty minutes of evaluating the field,my legs, reserves, position, etc., and just knowing I have a great chance. Well, Mortgage Cycle was right in front of me, again, and he had a problem making a right hander just before the traffic circle and the finishing straight. This ended up forcing me toward the barricade on the outside of the turn. It looked like I was going to crash. Brakes, swerve, riders go by and my great chance has just turned to dust. I don't know how many went by but there had to be at least ten riders in front of me now and I had just lost five to ten mph. The only thing I could do was to jump as hard as I could and try and take back as much as possible. I risked it going through the traffic circle by keeping the speed up then hit the sprint. I recorded 1214 watts max power and crossed the line in fourth place. At the time, I had no idea how I did. I was so gassed it took half a lap to catch my breath. When the results came out I was fairly pleased.

Giff was right behind me in seventh (?). For much of the race Giff was up front trying to do the same thing as me so we were sort of tag-teaming. He would go for the break and I would block then we would switch up. Craig took a crack at it also. The average speed was around 26mph for the entire race making an escape difficult with so few team mates in the field.

We stayed for the 1/2/3 race which was awesome. It was 50 laps or around 55 miles in 90F heat. Chris and Tony signed up for the race. Tony finished with the pack and Chris cracked the top 15!