RACE REPORTS ? (fwd)

[T. Erickson]

Here's one for the home team.  Hope you're all having on awesome summer
wherever you are.  See ya in a few short months.

Busto-Magusto



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 15:46:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: "T. Erickson" <mtbiker at u.washington.edu>
To: "Bentson, Patrick J" <Patrick.Bentson at PSS.Boeing.com>
Cc: "'\"Big Guns\"'" <johnk at nw.ering.com>,
    "A. Erickson" <ae at u.washington.edu>,
    "'\"Dr. Kevorkian\"'" <radquer96 at aol.com>,
    "'\"Kippered Snacks\"'" <scottk at ms.kallback.com>,
    "'\"MC Hammer\"'" <Mark.Hanson at wwireless.com>,
    "'\"Omega - Man\"'" <loren.hanson at attws.com>,
    "'\"Splatman\"'" <splatman at u.washington.edu>,
    "'\"TB Chops\"'" <joebrown at u.washington.edu>,
    "Hendricks, James M" <James.Hendricks at PSS.Boeing.com>
Subject: Re: RACE REPORTS ?

Just did a little road racing action out at Snohomish.  This was by far
the dopest road race I've ever done, not because of the course(it was cool
though) but because I was in a dope three man break with a teammate that
actually worked well together and gained a large gap on a chase group.
This was in a Cat four race no less!  I don't know how many times I've
attacked in cat 4 races and found people only unwilling to work.  

My teammate from the UW team and I took the race by storm, attacking
repeatedly and alternately after about 20 minutes in the race(enough time
to see the course once and judge the field a bit).  We both took solo
fliers that didn't do much for ourselves but did split up the field as
there were some small hills on the course.  

After several attacks on both of our parts there were only 8 people left.
One final attack with ~15 miles to go and there was just one dude, my
teammate Richard and I left.  We got rid of the hangars on and worked
incredibly well together to gain a minute lead quite quickly.  I felt
total Euro.  

Since it was us two from the Husky squad we know it was gonna be one for
the dogs but we wanted to drop this other kid for the heck of it(visions
of crossing the line together were discussed-what fun is racing without
drama?).  With about two miles to go the course hit a short(250 meters)
ascent followed by a steep half k descent.  On previuos laps I had noticed
a hesitancy in the kid's legs up the hill and Richard was bombing the DH.
So the plan was for me to attack the ascent and Richard to catch me on the
hill.  We figured with any gap at all we'd be good to go on the mile long
flat finish section as we could work together and the kid would be alone.

Well, plans rarely work out like they're supposed to.  The kid jumped
right on my wheel up the hill, but Richard and I did have about 20 meters
on him at the bottom.  We did not jump hard enough and he caught us.  I
led out for a while before flicking the elbow(total Euro brohas) for
Richard to take the lead just inside one k.  The kid was reluctant to
follow though so I slipped in behind Richard in 2nd, hugging the center
line.  At 250 meters I just told richard to go and held the kid back.
With Richard a guaranteed first, I kept looking over my right shoulder
waiting for the kid to go.  When i looked back and he wasn't there I
realized the cheaky lil' monkey had gone across the center line(NOT open
for the last 200 meters today).  His sprint was to great for my hobble so
he took second.  Still, it was a dope day:  an awesome breakaway, a
teammate in first(I guess my block could be called the assist) and got my
entry fee back.

................................
How 'bout Saturday's TT.  

Ulrich to media:"Boo-yah!"


Busto