Ian’s 2010 Coldspring Race Report
Posted on 03. May, 2010 by ernesto in Uncategorized
At the start of this season I had great plans. I had entered both the Tour of New Braunfels and Pace Bend but because of the commitments of my new job I was unable to make it to the start line of both. I imagine the pre race roll call to be like that scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off “Ramshaw…Ramshaw…Ramshaw…no reply”. I had even entered Fort Davis but the dates turned out to clash with my inlaws arrival in town from Scotland. These days I know better than to take the phrase “well you can go if you like” at face value.
So it came as great relief when I was finally able to make it to the start of my first race of the season albeit three months later than I had hoped. Coldspring was 3 x 16 miles laps with a few of those undulations that round these parts get described as hills. There were four of us competing in the 35+ 4/5 race; Hao, Yan, Dave and myself. From where I was sat in the peleton nothing much seemed to happen for the first lap or so. At the end of the second lap I moved up to the front of the race and put in a few attacks on the hills to see who would follow but was not able to really break things up. From that point on it was clear the race was going to come down to a sprint finish. Taking Hao’s advice I slowly moved myself up to the front of the peleton which for a lot of the last lap was being driven hard by Yan. Hao’s advice before the start of the race for the final 1km was to measure my effort up the first half of the climb and then sprint hard for the last 500 metres. This is exactly what I ended up doing and became more and more surpised as one by one picked off riders in front of me. I think with about 100 metres to go I realised that I could actually win this race. On the line it was inches. My lack of celebration at the finish was a mixture of shock, British upbringing and fear of crashing my bike like that idiot Nick Lopez bloke at the final Memorial crit last year. I was very happy though.
So a big shout out to wingman Hao, it’s always good fun riding with him and listening to his increasing shouts at the peleton of “hold your line” and “don’t divebomb” as we approach the finish of races. Thanks to Yan for his triathlonesque efforts at the front (but remember it’s OK to pedal at more than 70 RPM) and lastly well done to Dave for staying out of relative trouble in his first of hopefully many competitive races for M7.
Finally back to my first paragraph. In all seriousness work was tough at the start of the year but at least I could look forward to my weekly highlight of a Sunday morning ride with the team. It’s always a pleasure riding with you gents. Cheers, Ian.
