Race Report: Leonardtown and Fawn Grove

By Martin • May 17th, 2010

Beyond our succesful day at Poolesville, on Sunday a few members of District Velocity Racing p/b The Bike Rack tested their (tired) legs at either the Leonardtown Crit or the Fawn Grove Roubaix in Pennsylvania.

Michelle, Jonathan, Tony and I travelled south to Leonardtown. Michelle jumped in the Cat 4 Women’s Race, which was dominated by Artemis. Despite being outnumbered, Michelle put in a solid performance and came in eighth. Jonathan joined in the Masters race, which after an early-race neutralization due to a crash ended up being a contest between a former Olympian and pretty much everyone else. We don’t have to ask you to guess who won.

In the 3/4, Tony and I mixed it up with a fast field, though we both suffered from mechanicals along the way. My left pedal decided to stop holding my foot in place, while Tony’s right hood slipped down and clamped his rear brake shut. He took a free lap after the first clampdown, jumping back in only to have the brake’s death-grip come back down on his rear wheel with two to go. I finished in the field, reminding myself to add a new set of Look Keo pedals to the week’s shopping list.

Despite serious complaints of local vandals littering the course with tacks, the Leonardtown Crit was fun, fast and sufficiently technical. We hope that the police catch those little tack-throwing bastards and the race promoter decides to keep the race on for next year. Better yet, make ‘em race in their own separate field next year, and let some of the 1/2/3 men that went down throw tacks at them as they ride by at speed. Jerks.

While we opted for the safety of a crit, Nate decided to one-up his Poolesville experience and drive north for the Cat 4 race at the Fawn Grove Roubaix, which featured 10 miles of gravel over 14 distinct sections. (It was a 30-mile race, if you need help visualizing how much time was spent off-road.) Nate explains that it took but three sections of gravel and some hammering at the front to blow up the starting group of 42, leaving him to ride either in small lead groups or solo for what was left of the race. Some well-timed attacks at the end put him on the podium with a third place finish, and he has entered the DVR history books as the only real Belgian hard man on the team.