Author Topic: Kansas State Race Writeup  (Read 2740 times)

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Offline Plantains

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Kansas State Race Writeup
« on: April 14, 2008, 12:45:03 AM »
UNDCT's 1st race of the 2008 Collegiate Racing Season and it was a dandy.

Somehow our 10.5 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive. Yosts car lit on fire a couple of times and we finally made it to Kansas at about 1:30am Saturday.

Me tour gracious host Josh who rode for K-State and hit the hay.

9am rolls up pretty quick. Lots of riders showed up as our field had 37 riders which was excellent. Mario started the excitement off by breaking his chain on the warmup ride with his LEGS OF FURY!

Less than 5 mins to start and Yost put his superb mechanical skills into action proving yet again why he is one of the best team mechanics in the conference. Replacing a chain with a non quick link is no simple task and doing it VERY quickly was impressive to say the least.

As many of the D races go there was a crash into the first turn. We're still not sure exactly who caused it but some rider was getting out of the saddle mid peloton assuming that the chap in front of him was planning on doing the same and he just straight up rode into the side of the kid. Mario just plowed right into the chaos and Yost got mixed up in there to. Chad rode into my rear wheel this time (usually I ride into his  :lol: )

We found out later that the St. Cloud guys held up the peloton to give some of the crashed riders (which amounted to close to 15) a chance to get back in it. Yost and I were 2 of the last riders to leave the scene and I suspect the other fellow that was left behind was the culprit. No worries, he seemed really nervous.

My rear quick release became dislodged and I thought I ruined a wheel and it took me a hot minute to figure out that it had just popped out of the drop outs. Yost called up the chase car as his rear derailleur got muffed up. The mechanic jumped out and they tag teamed it and with all things back and functioning Yost and I began our assault back into the race.

We were in last place while Chad and Mario had gotten back into the peloton. Yost and I immediately started eating up the struggling riders off the back. We invited everyone to work with us as Yost did most of the climbing and I did most of the descending. None of the dropped riders could keep our pace.

We turned tailwind and Yost went off on his attack. He ended up eating up a bunch of riders finishing 22/37 which is awesome for being dead last. I finished 28/37 eating an additional 4 riders after Yost went away.

Chad and Mario were the stars of the day though pulling a 5th place finish (Chad) and Mario finishing close behind in the peloton.

Nebraska went off the front at the tailwind and won it outright with stellar riding.

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The TTT or Team Time Trial was the next event of the day. The TTT is a combined event where A, B, C, and D riders are all competing in the same category. It became painfully clear that our excessive work on team tactics as well as our TTT practices were going to come in handy since many of the teams looked as though it was the first time they had done it.

Our strategy was simple. Start with 4 and finish with 3. Most teams utilized this strategy. We got out start and I began the pull setting our initial pace. 3 rotations and 2 and 1/4 miles into the 9 mile course I was number 3 in line and as we practiced we dumped 2 riders to send me to the front. I began the smooth sprint which was to be my leadout pull. After that I dropped and it was up to the real time trialers of the team.

UND rolled the 5th wheel across the line posting a 3rd place finish overall which is PHENOMINAL! Posting an official time of 22:09 just 7 seconds back from 2nd place. Both 1st and 2nd were designated TTT clubs however. We posted this time on road bikes.

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The criterium can best be summed up by Mario's comments after the race. "Dave, if it wasn't for your crit training sessions... I would've died"

The crit got off to a rumbling start on Sunday. The course went through Aggieville which was AWESOME. I think everyone was a little timid at first as Chad and Yost ended up on my wheel. Mario went straight up the pack though and oriented himself well. The pack began to break up as the weaker riders (that most likely shouldn't be doing a criterium) came off the back. I pulled Chad and Yost through onto the main pack and rolled back a little.

The race went well as Yost and Mario both got Primes and everyone ended up finishing well. Chad was the high man again as he posted a 3rd place finish while Yost nabbed 9th and Mario nabbed 10th. I ended up being pulled for being down by LESS than a half lap and working with 2 other riders. I thought the officiating was poor as there is no reason to pull D riders out of a crit unless they are in danger of being lapped on that lap. But... I wasn't the official. It doesn't bother me though, although... that was the first ever crit I was pulled from. Thats what I get for taking a lax line and saying to myself... Dave, you don't have health insurance.

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Overall it was a superb weekend. A number of teams expressed what a pleasure it was to ride with a properly functioning team. Pointing out how well we worked together not only with our team mates but all riders. We received comments about our tactical knowledge and preparation as well as our form. We also made sure to get around and make new friends. All in all it was an extremely positive weekend for UNDCC and the UNDCT.

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We were unable to make this past weekends races @ KU due to weather unfortunately. But we'll be holding it down in the Twin Cities this weekend. Come watch us dominate.

Teamies... fill in anything I may have missed.

Cheers.
Alaska Unicyclist: if you ban me, i'll set your complex on fire.... just a heads up

 

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