St Peters Road Race

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This past Saturday, Matt, Anne, Zack, and I all made the trip to the booming metropolis of St Peters, IN for one of the hardest races in the Ohio Spring Series.  It featured a monster climb, tons of headwind, and a smaller, yet somehow rather painful second climb.  By and far the best Hungry outcome was Zack getting a strong 8th place in the 4s race.  The course is an absolute monster, so Zack’s place is definitely is his best of the year.  Matt finished not too far behind Alex and Anne nearly pulled off a monster placing in the women’s 1/2/3 race .

I rode the cat 3 race and the field was super strong.  Lots of mountain goats (climbers) showed up for the race, there were about 10 people in that race that could have won it.  Every race you learn something, and boy this one was a whopper of a lesson.  I was feeling great up over the first time up the monster hill (we did it 5 times) in our 64 mile race, yet somewhere around mile 10 (14 mile loop race), I felt play in my rear wheel and realized I was losing air and fast.  I then stood up for the next three miles (by the way, not a good idea to stand and ride for that long, saps your legs) until I found someone with a pump.  I realized what was loose (http://www.zipp.com/accessories/detail.php?ID=120) on my wheel.  It look about 4-5 minutes to diagnose and re-inflate the tire.  However, by then the field was long gone.  So I then decided, well, I’m here, awake and sober, I might as well do a stupidly hard 50 mile time trial.  I did catch a few guys who got popped off the back and according to a few friends, gained a ton of time on the field.  However, the 5 miles of headwind on every lap after the climb really took their toll.  I really had no time to coast or recover, making it that more difficult.  It’s amazing the level of pain we can self-inflict on ourselves, and as I write this the next day I felt like I got hit by a truck.  The mind is a fascinating thing, normal pain receptors are shut off when you’re competing, yet if you’re on a training ride, they’re there all the time giving you feedback.   The podium wasn’t happening for me today, and all I was going for was to try to catch the back of the group and avoid the “DNF” awarded to those who drop out of races.  Yet for some reason I kept a punishing pace for a very long, lonely 2 hours and 20 minutes.  It builds character?  Maybe I’ll act within 10 years of my age?  Here’s the Garmin output data for my race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84113588

A bad day on the bike is better than any good day at the office.

-Andrew

Waaah. I'm lonely.

2011 St Leons Road Race…

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this is what i know, all of it. chewning couldn’t go for 3 victories in a row because he got sick this week… get well slumberjack!
zach was in the cat 4 breakaway and said his sprint attack went out a little too early and he died before crossing the line. he got sucked back into 8th place. top 10 zach!


anne felt really strong, but is being plagued by a tight/sore back and hip stuff. she started cramping up and feeling like she was swimming in molasses going up the last hill of the women 1/2/3. she said the grrls she normally hangs with just rode away from her as she limped into the home stretch. luckily at the MOBO event she won a visit to an accupuncturist and masseus!


hardball finished in the teens. best  road race placement this year! much better than last week when he threw up on lap three trying to inhale a cliff bar.


doc flatted… he sure looked good with those random arm-warmers. they’re probably virgin silk $800 rapha warmers, but i know not of these things.

congrats to all. hope to see you guys and gals at the next race!

OSRS Road Update

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Man!! Has MC Chewy been killing it!  2 week back to back podiums at 2 of the windiest races I have ever seen.  Last week was Vandervorts Corner.  A guy from Abundance got away solo with 2 to go and he seem like he was long gone.  Andrew and MC were in about a 12 man chase and what sounded like andrew had completely destroyed every last person in that group.  The solo break worked and MC and Andrew’s chase was coming in.  MC Came from about 6 wheels back and destroyed the sprint.  Good Day for Hungry!

Yesterday was Spring Valley.  A favorite course among many riders.  I had Harbaugh in my field and Anne and Blair had each other.  MC was all alone due to Scott nursing an injury and Andrew out of town.  Needless to say I got shattered in the 2nd lap and faced a hard day in the wind by myself.  With about a half lap to go I hear the Cat 3 Break coming behind me and it was about 6 guys.  Chewning was in it and i was stoked.  With the Climb left to go I was crossing my fingers all the way up to the line hoping to see how mike had done.  Looks like MC ended up third.  2 guys attacked on the climb and chewning was sitting a couple wheels back.  He said he didn’t want to jump and have the other guys just hold his wheel to the top.  He sat in and made up some serious ground again in a sprint.  He nabbed 3rd.  Sounds like someone is working extra hard this year.  We are all proud of that!  MC Hammerfest

2011 OSRS#1 Deer Creek – Anne’s Perspective

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LesbiAnne shares her first 1/2/3 race….

anne on the right digging

In the pic I’m coming up from back on the right.  I blew past half that pack and knocked off Tierra Kier (powerful Dayton chic) at the line by about 1- 2 inches.  It was so close that I had to dispute the results. The race offficial pulled the video up on the laptop.  While it was insanely close, it was clear that I literally nipped her.   He changed the results and so I finished 9th overall for cat 1,2,3 women.  That doesn’t sound too impressive but this group of 1,2,3 are crazy good.

Rest of race report is as follows.  First lap shifted between hard efforts and stupid slow soft pedaling games.  Three girls got away and Dayton controlled rest of main field so no one chased.  Then another major break at beginning of lap two.  My weakness is getting pushed towards the back and so I could bridge with that group.  I worked with 3 other girls (including Blair) for probably twenty miles.  We took short 20-30 sec pulls and the field was always in view.  I knew we had a chance to catch them but it was not going to be easy.  At 5 miles out one of the women in our group broke away and I bridged up with her. She and I worked together until 1.5 miles out.  I could see we were closing in; within striking distance.  I told her that if we were going to go it had to be now or never.  I let her take a real short pull and then I just exploded up there and then quietly jumped in the back.  One girl just looked at me very confused and said, “did you just bridge up here”.  I smirked and just nodded with a total game face on.  It was time to sprint this thing out.  Soft pedal for 1 mile.  Then, the all out sprint at 200 meters–that pic is probably 100 meters out.

2011 OSRS #1 Anne + Blair

OSRS #1 Deer Creek

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Awesome first race for the hungry men’s and women’s squads.  Anne and Blair both had an excellent showing in the women’s 123.  Definitely going to be on the podium regularly.  The Cat 5 men’s field was dominated early on with a 2 man break.  Adam settled on finishing with the bunch.  Nice work!  The Cat 4 race was a strange race.. many failed break attempts lead to a tired bunch and a the group finally got away on lap 2.  Zach, Matt, and myself remained silent in the rest of the bunch just trying to stay up right through the end.  I’m just happy I finished with the group!  The Cat 3 race sounded brutal from the words of Scott, MC, and Andrew.  Andrew got away with 2 others on the last hill and that group stay away until the finish.  It was really close between the break and the bunch.  Andrew Ended up at 3rd, MC took an 11th place spot, and Scott was tucked in the group somewhere.  Official results to come soon.  All in all it was a great day.  Hungry is definitely going to name associated with fear and pain this year!

edit: james vote for pic of the day

stinky