Spring Classic Atomic Long

Share your ride and race stories, stats, and fabrications here!

Moderator:vicwheelers

DuncanBryson
Posts:7
Joined:Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:56 am
Your Ride:Tactic
Favourite Ride Style:Road
Spring Classic Atomic Long

Post by DuncanBryson » Mon Apr 03, 2017 3:14 pm

Feeling strong after Bradner on Saturday, despite an unfortunate flat, and with Nick coming off a second place finish we were feeling pretty optimistic for the Atomic long race on Sunday. Without a chance to preride the course we had no idea what to expect for the race. We were slated to race 6 laps for 78km, but after miscommunication among the organizers we found out midway through the race that we would be racing 93km instead. Possibly because of the initial expectation of a short course, the race was on from the gun as we came onto the uphill finishing straight. After only a few minutes the field had been stretched, and Nick and I were in a group of 11 or so riders off the front. With hard pulls the whole way through we came to the finishing climb again, only for one of the riders to attack the break again midway up. I was two wheels back, and when the rider in front of me gave up the chase I began to slow up until I heard Nick shouting at me to keep pushing. When I looked back at the top of the hill the move had shattered the breakaway again, leaving us with only six riders for just under 6 laps of 13km remaining. The first hour was a hard start, but things began to settle in a bit. The breakaway was working well together and there was no chase in sight (we later found out that the 'group' had actually shattered into many groups of only a few riders). In the last 2km of the lap one of the breakaway riders made a hard, but very short push to try and split the six man break even further. As I pulled through he realized the move wouldn't stick, and slowed down. I looked back to see a gap of several meters back to the breakaway, so decided to ride steady until I was caught. As I reached the finishing climb the gap had grown to about 14s, so I settled in for a solo pull. Through the line I discovered the mistaken lap count when I saw 5 laps remaining, so made sure to not burn many matches given we had 60km remaining. After about a full lap off the front I saw the gap shrinking down, so eased up to recover for the inevitable counterattack. With a bit of effort I matched the counter, and all 6 riders still remained for the last 4 laps. The group settled down for the sprint as most were too gassed to make any more big efforts. With a very slow approach to the finish Nick got strung out on the front. Still feeling strong, I pulled through to give him a wheel and found myself stuck at the front for the last 1.5km or so. With nobody willing to risk an early sprint I rode within myself to the final rise with Nick on my wheel. With still no moves being made I launched up the last 100m puncher. Nick took the leadout and was up against a junior from escape velocity for a very close uphill sprint. Nick came second by only a few centimetres, and I took third. More upgrade points, and a good reassurance of fitness for both of us for the coming races.

Post Reply