This year, the Florida State Road Race Championships were held at a new venue in Ocala, Florida. Although a departure from the Tallahassee location of past, the rolling hills took it’s toll on many of the riders. Probably the most menacing challenge of the weekend was the 100 degree heat, which took it’s toll on everybody, spectators and riders alike.
I would like to thank everyone that showed for their support, as well as many of the Cycle Logic teammates that volunteered their time, cars, and significant others to the cause. I can’t say enough about volunteering for these events because if there are no volunteers, the quality, quantity, and safety of the races will diminish. This year, the races were spread over two days. Saturday hosted the age-group riders, and Sunday’s event included the category riders. Our up and coming super star Justin Pfaff performed superbly on the hilly, overheated course on Saturday to gain a 3rd place finish in the Junior 10-12 race. If you didn’t get a chance to ride this course, trust me it was no joke. We’re all really proud of you Justin.
Sunday, Cycle Logic had riders in the Women’s 1-2-3, Men Category 4, and Men Category 5 races.
Rachel Hallum gave it all she had in the Women’s race to finish 12th in a much smaller field than us men are used to competing in. If you’re unfamiliar with racing in a pack, it is a much harder race when there are only 10-15 people racing than with a pack of 50-75 people. Drafting becomes an issue, especially when riders start dropping off. Congratulations Rachel.
The Men’s Category 4 race included Paul Messal, James Penrod, Scott Pfaff, Roger Montes, and Steve DeRoche. With the race starting at 1:00 in the afternoon, and the temperature rising near 100 degrees, we all knew hydration was going to be an issue.
Thankfully, we had some great support with Joshua Pittman managing the support in the Cycle Logic feed zone. With the combination of the hills, the heat, and the squirrely riders in the pack, we lost a few riders half way through the race, but James and Steve stuck in the pack to see how they would fare at the end of the race. Unfortunate results were had by both unfortunately: James took an unsuccessful flyer off the front on the last hill before the finish, opening a gap that just couldn’t be sustained on the 40+ mph approach to the finish line. Steve, in hopes of getting to show off his sprint, got bumped off the road at about 300 yards from the finish, and although an accomplished mountain biker, and excellent bike handler, he chose not to sprint for the finish in the grass, and through the spectators tents. The Men’s Category 5 race included Anthony Hutton, and new Cycle Logic teammate Regan Woodall. For some reason, the hills didn’t seem to affect our two mountain biking cat5-ers, probably because their used to climbing.
Regan looked poised to stay off the front at the beginning of the race, with a gap opening after the first lap, but the pack closed the gap, and the group finished together. Unfortunate results again cursed the Cycle Logic riders. Apparently a rider that was not competing in the race somehow got caught up in the pack, forcing riders to scramble out of the way of the slower rider, resulting in a chain reaction that sent several riders rolling along the asphalt at 35+ mph. Thankfully, Anthony and Regan were not injured, but both suffered in their placings due to the wreck. Anthony still pulled out a 5th place finish, and Regan 10th. Good job guys.
We look forward to seeing everybody at the next race.
Keep the rubber side down.
JP/ CL
No comments:
Post a Comment