RTR Road Race

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aruss
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RTR Road Race

Post by aruss » Mon May 01, 2017 8:15 pm

A group of five Wheelers headed over to the small community of Albion to begin Race the Ridge festivities. The trip over the scenic Golden Ears bridge was picturesque as the mighty Fraser flowed west. The once rural farm lands of Albion have become urban, "the vinyl monster" has crept into the sleepy woods that could lull you to sleep if not careful....
Enough jibber jabber! Race report time.

Upon arrival, Deborah was already finished having put the boots to the Cat 4 women with a solo performance to glory. She could tell you more, her competitors not so much as they did not see much her up the road. NEXUS Lane to Cat 3!

Jackson, Duncan, Nic and I (Andrew) rolled out with 40 odd Cat 1/2/3 elite riders. The course was a great mix of false flats, a stepped climb, and a wicked descent reaching 85kph. The rain held off for the majority of the race, a downpour opening up about three quarters of the way through to keep with the Spring racing theme.

So, what happened? Smart Savy started things off with a number of attempts to establish a break. When one solo SS rider took a flier half way through the first lap the inevitable "peleton sigh" occured. Things slowed up to a spin until the Masters break caught us. This caused some confusion as no sooner had they passed, they began to slow up. The elite group was forced to neutralize and give the Masters break a gap!? While all this was happening said solo SS was jamming out to the sweet tune of a 3minute gap!! After the Commissaire allowed racing to resume things pepped up. It was like the race was reborn with early attempts to form a break. Andrew was enjoying this very much so. Duncan and Nic each had a turns out there showing no fear amongst the 1/2's. The course had several high speed corners and corners into uphills which made them great spots to jam it out. After these games subsided the SS rider still had 3 minutes and we only had 50k to go. This is where Langlois Brown took the race by the horns, be that Dylan Davies sat on the front for 25k. After one hell of a pull only 30s had been chipped away from the gap, chapeau SS chapeau. In a strange event up the stepped climb, Langlois teammate Kinney attacked Davies sending the group into a strung out hipster. I would say the group was caught in half with that move, including Davies, did not make sense to me. The rain ensued and things stayed fairly steady, not quick enough to bring back the lead rider, this was a reality with 20k to go. With two to go up the stepped climb I put in a few digs but it wasn't until the final time where things really tore apart. Nic was in great position leading into the climb, however the rest us were not and paid the price. Surfing wheels I leap frogged my way up the shrapnel until reaching the end. A sizeable gap presented itself to get across to an organized looking bunch of 8 riders. I went all-in at this moment to save my race. I got across and told them to "hit it" as we had a large gap. Nic headed to the front and drove the pace into the descent. As we headed home along the straight to the final corner I drilled it to the front. Taking the corner as quickly as I could in the wet I got a gap on the others leading into the sprint. This was good for me as it played to my "fade from front" approach which got me 7th 1/2. Nic uncorked a great sprint for 1st Cat 3 and 6th overall. Jackson and Duncan made it home in the second bunch to take top 5 and top 10 Cat 3 placings respectively. Overall an impressive outing by the team, showing form among BC's best

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