Race Report for Mississippi GranPrix from BlakeR (May 24)

Monday Morning Race Report
Mississippi Grand Prix 2006 ` Brookhaven, MS
Cat 4 ` RR, TT, Crit

My first racing weekend of `06 started out with Josh Jacobs and I
heading out of Memphis Saturday morning at 4am, yes, 4am, in order to
make the 10am start of the road race in south MS. Just in case you
haven`t experienced 4am since college, it sucks. However, the traffic
is non-existent and we could get in some really good circuit training
on 240 if you guys want to schedule something at that hour.

Well, after Josh forgot a crucial piece of luggage (requiring a
return to his house), missing the exit to 55 south, and an overheated
radiator in Jackson, MS. miraculously, with a few minutes to spare,
we made it to Brookhaven and the race site in time. It was a
California dreamin` morning, blue skies, light winds and a perfect
temp.

Road Race ` Josh and I lined up in our spanky new, bright orange
Memphis Velo Smith and Nephew outfits with about 30 or so Cat 4
riders. According to Josh, this group included some of the same teams
and bad apples from the ill-fated Tour le Fleur so I was worried
about potential carnage and post race fist fights.

The 20 mile loop (x2) was a pussycat, mostly flats and easy rollers.
There was one ever so slight hill, but that was it, so I thought the
pace would be pretty fast, but it turned out to be very tame.
Occasional surges followed by a Sunday driver pace. At one point we
were only going 15mph! There was just one early break that stayed
away for any significant amount of time. Two guys got away early into
the first lap and at one point were out of sight. I think one of the
guys was on a team that had several guys in the pack, but they made
no effort to try and help their guy and control the peleton. I think
they knew it was doomed from the start. At one point Ryan Bosio(sp?)
tried to bridge up, but Ryan told me later that when they saw him
coming they sped up! Another goofy incident that occurred during the
chase, since the escort was with the away riders, part of the peleton
blew past a turn and had to turn around and chase back. Well, the
break was eventually reeled in and any other break was immediately
shut down with an immediate surge from the group. This went on for
the remainder of the race.

As anyone could predict, the pace got hot as the finish drew near.
Once again one of the dirty riders from Bob`s Bikes went on an
unregulated, way over centerline flyer straight to the front, but I
don`t think it ultimately did him any good. This was the only
flagrant infraction I witnessed and he got quite a few jeers from the
pack. I just don`t understand cheaters.

The finishing stretch was gradual 1/8 of a mile uphill with the line
about 50 meters around a curve. My goal for this my fist Cat 4 race
was to lay back, gage my fitness against the group and stay out of
trouble. I did exactly that and stayed in striking position for the
last 2K. At the 500M mark which was right as the bottom of the climb
to the finish, I saw this guy from the Team LaSport who I had not
noticed during the race come flying up the right side of the pack
with several riders in tow. For some reason it was at that point that
I noticed the Hulk Hogan thighs and glutes that looked like two
volley balls stuffed in the back of his lycra. I wasn`t having
a "Brokeback Mountain" moment, but thinking "Oh crap! There`s a
monster sprinter and I just missed the move of the morning"! I jumped
and navigated traffic at full gas, but they had about 30M on me and
not enough road to close not that I could have closed on this guy. I
later found out that he was the one who won big at the Tour le Fluer.
I came in at 2:02:40 for 5th place, 7 seconds behind in the GC.
Average heartrate: 142, max: 182, Average Speed: 21.1.

Time Trial ` Man, I don`t even want to talk about the time trail. It
is my weakness and it showed. It was a short one only 4 miles with a
few slight rises in the road at the beginning and then flat all the
way to the line. Josh rolled out 30 seconds ahead of me and I was
going to try and catch him. I never did. I was pumping hard, but only
managed a 22.3 mph average and came in with a time of 10:09 for 25th
place. The worst part of it was hearing the sound of one of those
disk wheels coming up behind me and getting passed by Craig from
Motorwerks. Now I know how Ullrich felt at the last TDF when Lance
blazed by him like he was sitting still. The winning time in our
category was 8 minutes and change. This knocked me back to 17th in
the GC.



Crit ` This was supposed to be a circuit race, but they changed it to
a crit because the course was a little too short, so crit rules were
in effect.

We almost blew it because Josh and I were following the directions to
the crit that they had had for the 1,2,3`s on Friday night in
downtown Brookhaven. We finally made it to the right location, a
community college campus about 10 miles outside of town and it was an
awesome location for the event. Another beautiful day, very light
breeze with temps around 80. The course was absolutely stellar.
Plenty of smooth, wide, road, good corners, a fast downhill section
and a very interesting finishing stretch. I loved this course.

The crit pace stayed fast and furious from the gun. It was very
strung out at times but everybody stayed together. Just like the road
race every attempt at a break was immediately snapped back up. Once
again, I wanted to play it cool and test the waters. I was able to
keep a good position towards the front for most of the race.

There were two primes announced before the race, one was for a time
bonus on the GC and the other for $25. At about 20 minutes into the
45minute race, they rang the bell as we sped by the start line, the
very unenthusiastic Emcee was saying something in the PA, but I could
not make out what he was saying. I knew it was a prime, but wasn`t
sure if it was the time bonus or the cash. Well, I thought maybe I
would help Craig from Motorwerks because after his strong TT he was
sitting 4th in the GC. I worked my up to him as we were approaching
the last turn before the prime sprint and asked him if he knew if
this was for the time bonus or the cash, he didn`t know either! So I
decided it must be for the cash, I was in good position so I`d take a
chance and go for it. I motored to the front looking for a lead out
and guess who was up there? Yep, Mr. Team LaSport with the hammer
gams, the guy who had won the road race and we were flying.

The finish stretch was a short climb that started off gradual as you
made a broad left turn, only then to straighten out up a slightly
steeper grade to a sweeping right up the steepest section onto a
level 100 meter straightway to the line. Anyway, I was right on Mr.
Gams wheel and launched on the steepest part of the hill, I got ahead
for a moment utill we got to the flat section, only to look over to
see Mr. Gams coming by looking at me with an expression of "Is that
all you got"? (I get that look from John Schmitty a lot). He just out
powered me and took the prime which as it turned out was the time
bonus, but they also paid a bonus for 2nd on this particular prime
and I picked up a 2 second bonus on my GC! Yee Ha! Hey, when you are
over a minute behind on the GC, every little bit helps right!?

Honestly, it was a dumb move and I could have blown my chances
because it took me a few laps to recover, but I managed to get the
heartrate back down and stay in good position. Lesson learned - know
what you are sprinting for and make sure it`s worth it.

The rest of the race was all surge and shut down. Someone would go
and would get reeled in. We got the bell for the final lap, I went
wide in the turn to the back stretch and stalked my way up the
outside of the pack to about the front 10. I had an absolute dream
trip because once I got to the front gaps just keep opening up that I
just floated through until I was forth wheel going into the last two
turns. Well of course, Mr. Gam Crusher was just ahead of me. We
sailed into the homestretch and the first jump came from a Regions
Bank rider on my right, I jumped on his wheel and went with him until
about half way up the hill when he started to fade. I came around and
went all in. In a split second judgment, I was hoping to get enough
of a jump to hold them off for the win, but what actually happened
was that I gave a beautiful lead out to Mr. LaSport and two others.
They all came around and I held on for 4th and the $15 that came with
it. Average Heartrate: 161, Max: 179, Average Speed: 24.6, Max Speed:
43.8, Overall GC place 15th.

All in all it was a great weekend. As far as my category was
concerned it was a very well run, organized event. Although we did
hear that one official got the Cat 5 road race lost by missing a
turn! From my perspective the officials did a good job and there was
not a repeat of the Tour le Fleur debacle. Of course, I understand
the sentiments of those who did not want to do another Mississippi
race after their last experience, but these courses were very well
suited for our team. I believe we could have been very successful
with a stronger contingent. Josh did have another "incident" in the
crit with his buddy from Bob`s Bikes, but I`ll let him share his
version. Other than that it was good clean, fun competitive racing.

One more side note, the new kits are awesome. They rode great and I
had several compliments on the color and design. Also, in a sea of
jerseys it is very easy to spot that electric orange, which can be a
blessing and a curse. Especially when your only teammate in the race
goes on a breakaway flyer with 4 laps to go in the crit. That is
another story that I`ll let Josh share. I wish I could have placed a
little higher for the team and sponsors, but overall I`m pleased with
the results and I`m glad to have my first bout with the 4s in the
books. Thanks for reading. See you at the meeting tonight.

Blake Robertson