Clooooovis
9/8/2009 | Clovis results
Saturday - Harlan Ranch Crit 4 corner crit - 0.9 miles, best pavement of the year. Pretty windy by the last race.
35+123 - Got into a 3-man break about 1/3rd of the way thru, had Chris Black & Dennis King chasing. Both legs locked up in cramp-mode just before the last turn, rolled in 3rd. Jeff finished in the field. Pro12 - Got into a 4-man chase group with Bosch and a couple others. Kept getting windier thru the race. The lead group of 4 caught the field, then I got jumped by Shimahara and Bosch, they bridge across the 10-second gap and left me in no-man's land. Rode solo for 6 laps and held on for 8th.
Sunday - Downtown Clovis Crit 6-corner crit - 0.8 miles, fast and safe, dicey pavement in last corner. Pretty windy by the last race.
35+123 - Jeff goes early with Chris Black, they get caught, I counter and get into 5 man group. We drop two early, then Chris Black (MS), Curtis Eastin (Sierra Pacific) and I lap the field with about 8 laps to go. I slice right thru the field and go off again, but pull a Sierra Pacific guy (Bagley) that won't work with me. Back to the field to wait. Three to go, Jeff takes me to the front and launches me, unfortunatley on a $100 prime lap (which we didn't realize was happening, AND we failed to get the prime). I hit it anyway, and take a useless Lombardi rider along. He gives two 5-second pulls, I do all the rest. Get caught about 50m from the line by Black and the rest of the shattered field (Curtis cracked himself and everyone else pulling me back). Take 4th in the field sprint but 2nd overall (Jeff and the Lombardi guy were a lap down).
Pro12 - No Jeff for this one. Wind is blowing head-on 15mph on every straightaway. Field hits it immediately and a split happens, 7 go up the road (including Klein, Logan Loader, two French guys and Vincent Owens), I am stuck behind in the field. Few minutes later I give 'er a go, and bridge across the 15 second gap in a lap. Died a 1000 deaths in the process. Our group of 8 works well, lap the field about half way thru the 75 minute race. Another acceleration by Logan causes another split, and again I'm stuck behind with 6 up the road, but two of those are a lap down. We settle down and wait for the finish, then realize that we're about to get lapped again with about 20 minutes to go, so back to the front to keep the pace up. Flatted with 8 to go, no wheel in the pit but a bystander loans me his rear wheel. Jump back in and lead out the last two laps and get 8th.
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