roadcx.net

The 2007 Soto stage race is done. The road race went pretty well. The final results aren’t up on the website yet and I took some photos of the results sheets….

Results for the Memphis Velo-cat IV team.

• Aaron, 30th @ 1:19 [30th @ 5:40]
• Bryan, 33rd @ 1:31 [34th @ 7:34]
• Ryan, 54th @ 3:19 [57th @ 14:42]
• Mark, 71st @ 7:48 [78th @ 32:45]
• Todd, 80th @ 16:33 [80th @ 38:34]
• [84 finishers]

The race played out with most of the field staying together up to the base of the climb. My plan was stay towards the front which I did for the most part. Aaron, Bryan, and I stayed in the field that numbered about 60 at the bottom of the climb. We did not see any serious attacks along the way. Mark was in the chase group behind the field and Todd in the next group back.

To the base of the climb, sometimes it was a struggle to get over some short sharp hills and to chase back on after the long descent, but I stayed on. (For some reason, I was unusually cautious descending…so much that my brakes/rims heated up to the point that I started to get noticeable brake fade…which of course caused more braking.) Our race only had one crash (that I saw) in which a rider drove off the road into the ditch on the first part of the descent. He was off to my right, so I didn’t see the aftermath…I later heard that his bike pitched up into the road and then run over….ouch.

The main thing is that it was fun weekend. Although I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, it was a great weekend of racing with nearly perfect weather (no rain, low to mid 80’s). It could have only been made better if it was slightly cooler and if I had the legs to make the cuts in the crit and circuit race. It is funny that road race results nearly exactly match the placings in the final g.c. with most of the time gaps for earlier stages. The results posting efficiency was amazing. I know they paid a service, but it is very easy to get spoiled by this. Waiting 30 minutes for a handwritten number sheet will surely disappoint after getting full labeled stage and g.c. results in short time.
—

Spencer, Tennessee: stage 4 finish and town hall.

Here is my Polar data dump:

Here are the photos I took of some 3’s and master’s finishing [link]