Saturday – Fork Shoals Road Race-
The day started out early, driving over, temps were down from last week’s 70+ and there was already a wind. Looking at the start list, the RealCyclist.com team was coming back in for the races as well as the Team Type1 Devo team, and of course
Pro 1/2 Start
Big George was back along with around 90 more of us!! We spoke with Rich Hincapie prior to the start and he said that this was the largest field to ever contest a spring series event. 108 riders lined up for what would be a very stressful race.
One thing about this course is that it is on country roads, which are already narrow, throw in a large pack of jacked up Pro 1-2 riders, a yellow line rule, and you have a recipe for some stressful racing. In these situations, being at or near the front is paramount to success or just keeping out of trouble. From the start, it was brake check city. We witnessed two younger riders almost take the front end off a car on the first downhill, just narrowly missing it.
Things did not go as suspected, we would creep down the hills, and blast up the up hills. No major move ever got away, and really it did not even seem that a major one even attempted. Big George (Hincapie) was in the group, and it seemed like the larger teams just keyed off him, which is sad in a way that they did not try to take the race under control and really race their bikes. Several of our riders managed to make their way to the front a couple of times, attacking on the front stretch up the first hill. Bruce (Humphries) was first to go and got a decent gap, but no one came with him, and on a course like that, solo is no go.
The Green Machine on the Move
He tried again on the backside only to get reeled in again. Once we got down to the last lap, George puts the hammer down on Dunklin Bridge road to lay the ground work for someone to take off. A group formed with the big teams. Back in the pack, it was all over the place, people getting pushed way over the yellow line, officials honking for the ones who did to get back over, very stressful. Nick (Fishbein) ended up staying up in the front group taking 15th place for the day. Everyone else finished with the main field.
Sunday-Donaldson Center Circuit Race:
For anyone who knows, Donaldson always has a wind in some shape or form. Mostly on the flat area coming into the start finish line, there is a cross wind, and Sunday’s wind was coming in cross at a good clip. We knew that this area was going to be a decision maker. Big George was once again in the field, and with his classics campaign starting up soon, he would be looking to hone some form in the wind.
The day’s line up was a great show for the Hincapie-Green Creation team.
The Green Machine
We had Darren Fuller, Chris Harkey, AJ Meyer, Chandler Weekes, Nick Fishbein, Jake Arnold, Sam Adamy, John Delong, and Bruce Humphries which represented a very strong contingent of racers for the Green Machine. Realcyclist.com, TT1, Globalbike and more were there as well. This was going to be another packed field, but today was better. Speed was on tap for today which really made things safer. It is funny how the thought of actually more speed would make something safer, but it does.
On the first lap of 8, a large break of 20+ riders went clear including three of our own Hincapie Green Creation riders,
Harkey and Hincapie in the Break
Chris Harkey, John Delong, and A. J. Meyer. Also in the group were several, Team Type 1, Harley Davidson, and a few from RealCyclist.com; and of course Big George Hincpaie. Over the course of the next lap several riders got dropped and it was now down to just 13 which included Hincapie, three RealCyclist.com riders, three Green Creation jerseys and a lone Hincapie Development rider.
When the race hit the backside in the crosswind section on the next to last lap Hincapie laid down the gauntlet and caused major damage to the group of 13. Unfortunately for us part of the casualties were John Delong and A. J. Meyer (who was pretty well placed in the overall). Harkey makes the decision to stay with Delong and Meyer. With one to go, the trio are about 30 seconds behind the Hincapie group, but 6 minutes ahead of the main peloton. They pick up a Hincapie Devo rider who was dropped from the lead group. For the next seven miles Harkey and company kept driving staying clear of the field and bringing Meyer home in 10th place. Delong and Harkey took 12th and 13th. Meanwhile back in the main group the green machine was still racing hard. Another move had occured after the initial Hincapie Move and the rest of the team was in it.
United Healthcare had three racers in the second group with us and no one in the front, so they had to try and pull the front back. This worked out great for the remaining Green Machine, since we just had to sit back, stay out of the wind and then maybe see what we could do at the end. The carnage up front was not over, because we kept seeing remnants of it all over the course. One to two riders at a time would be falling off and back in the pack, or just pulling off and stopping. We kept our wits and continued to let United HC do what they were doing, understanding, that those three guys were going to get tired soon. It started happening with three laps to go. One of the UHC guys pulls off the front and to the back. The two left get some help from some of the TT1 guys. Humphries rolls up to Darren Fuller and asked him what he was thinking. Darren tells him to do whatever he feels like, since the main group was not coming back, we had some free reign to test ourselves. He tells him to see if he can take Justin Lowe from the Hincapie Devo team with him if he has a go at it. Humphries tries a few times, but each time it is brought back. With about a lap and half to go, Humphries attacks on 3M hill into the cross wind, and then goes (as later described by Bruce Humphries) “full on praying mantis time trial mode”. Coming into the last lap, he had 45 seconds on the group. Now he has to fight the headwind. Humphries makes it up golf course hill and on the drop down from there, still have a gap and then, straight headwind into and up 3M hill. “This was tough, but my Quarq Powermeter was telling me what I needed to know, and what I needed to know was that I was right where I needed to be” Humphries says. The field closes to within 30 seconds, but he is now making the turn to the cross wind section again. “I knew that I could keep the pressure on the pedals thru this area and when I got to the transition in the pavement, I started pushing my power over. Little by little, I would get on top of the gear and keep pushing. Now I had a tailwind heading up to the line, I look back to see some of the pack trying to make a run for me, and with 500meters, I give it a twist on the throttle, all or nothing now and it works”. Humphries holds off the main field and takes what is known as the “best of the rest” for Hincapie/Green Creation. Overall the team raced a solid weekend and was a factor in every moment of every race.
Jamie and Hincapie
On the development team note, Category 5 racer Jamie Lytton took a 4th and a 5th place this weekend in only his 3rd and 4th road races ever! Congrats to Jamie on some great riding!!!
