Race Report: Church Creek and Ride Sally Ride

By Martin • June 7th, 2010

Church Creek TT: Kevin, Marcus, Dennis, Tom J., and Tom S. braved Bay Bridge traffic and the prospect of a wind-swept, pancake-flat course and headed down to the Church Creek Time Trial on Saturday. Tom S. and Kevin both did their respective ITTs (Tom as a Cat 4, Kevin as a Cat 3), and then Kevin turned around and what only a true hardman would do — join Marcus, Dennis and Tom J. for the Cat 3/4 TTT. In the TTT, District Velocity Racing p/b The Bike Rack completed the 40k course in 57:34, second only to NCVC (which, we’ve been told, used little motors in their bikes) and ahead of Evolution.

A few quick thoughts from someone who did not participate in the TT madness. First, Kevin apparently got two times listed in the results for the Cat 3 ITT — 1:01 and 1:27. So, depending on how you look at it, he either placed eighth or last. We’d like to think that he actually completed a second full lap of the course in 26 minutes, which would likely be a world record. Someone get the man a rainbow jersey. Second, 41 Cat 5s participated in the ITT. Forty-one. That would be the single biggest field of the day. Did someone tell them that an ITT counts towards an upgrade? And the winner was Robert Wade, who rides for Battley. Umm, since when did Battley have a development squad? Either way, they picked well, because the guy put in a 54:59, only about two minutes off of the Cat 1/2 winner and better than the Cat 3 winner. Hot damn.

Ride Sally Ride: Matt R. led the DVR charge with a third-place finish in the Cat 4 race at Ride Sally Ride. From his account, he apparently discovered that instead of jostling for position going into the final turn, it’s just easier to open up a sprint super early and hope for the best. He got caught about five meters from the line, but the move paid off. And in showing what a classy guy he is, he donated his winnings and got a massage for it.

I raced solo in the Cat 3 race, which was distinctly uneventful until the 2010 Thunderstorm of Death rolled over the course with three laps to go. We were promptly neutralized, and the race was subsequently canceled because of lightning and deluge. (The 4:15 p.m. 1/2/3 race, which Brian S. was going to do, didn’t happen either.) Conclusion? No one won. Or lost. We just didn’t finish. I feel like we all have to head down to Hains and do a lap to at least get some closure. Because I know I was going to win. By at least eight bike lengths.

On a strange note, this is the second year that a race at Ride Sally Ride has been marred by, well, something. Last year, the Cat 4 race (which I was in) was called half-way through because of a crash on the course. I took second in the impromptu kinda-last-lap-but-not-really-the-last-lap sprint, when there were really about 10 laps left to race. Sweet! But then it was decided that the race should be finished, so we lined up again and raced the remaining 10 laps. This time, Kevin placed third. Sweet! Not sure what it is, but Ride Sally Ride has something against those of us that raced Cat 4 last and are racing Cat 3 this year, or we just have a terrible influence on it.

Finally, my warm-up for Ride Sally Ride this year consisted of the always-epic D.C.-Poolesville-White’s Ferry-Leesburg-W&OD ride. Lots of people rode out to Sterling along the W&OD, too. All told, it wasn’t as terrible as I had feared to race after already putting about 50 miles in on the legs. I did call the girlfriend and mercifully plead for her to come pick me up after the race, though, but that had more to do with the tornado warning than it did with fatigue.

Comments(7) Results

Comments

By Pete Custer on June 7th, 2010 at 6:55 pm

I noticed that the 3′s this year likely had a large number of 4′s from last year who had their finish all messed up due to the Jake King crash. I think next year, I will do whatever race you will be in, because karma will probably grant you and endless tailwind

Good call on settling the race at HP. Watching the race, I was sure you guys were gonna finish well before the storm got there, but the skies really did open up all of the sudden.

For the record, I had you winning by 9 lengths, not 8

By Kevin on June 7th, 2010 at 6:58 pm

You didn’t throw in Sugarloaf and Doner on your way to RSR?

Disappointed in you, man.

By Martin on June 7th, 2010 at 7:21 pm

Don’t worry, Kevin. I’m planning a Sugarloaf/Doner Kebab ride on the way to Page Valley. I’ll show up on the line with 170 miles in my legs and proceed to win on a solo breakaway.

By Siggy on June 8th, 2010 at 4:08 am

Motors in our bikes?! Blasphemy. The NCVC “Program” consists only of pop rocks and coke, and the occasional haka dance.

Hains Thursday = RSR redux. How about we make it interesting… the best of 7 laps?

Right before I left RSR I went up to John K. and asked him with a huge smile, “Are we gonna restart?” I don’t think he found it very funny…

By FatguyRacer on June 8th, 2010 at 9:23 pm

Oh no Siggy, I found it funny.

By Drew Armstrong on June 8th, 2010 at 10:22 pm

Wait, where’d you guys find the TTT picture. I wanna see our badass train.

By Tom on June 15th, 2010 at 2:26 pm

TTT pics are mine – I leapfrogged along in my car after doing the ITT earlier.

I’ve got a couple of the Evo guys, but all my NCVC and Battley photos came out blurry (as I only really set up for our guys; the rest were shot blind out the side of the car while driving – which my autofocus wasn’t really up for).

http://picasaweb.google.com/tsimchak/ChurchCreekTTJune2010