QCW Racing
Posted by: Brian Nieport @ 2006.08.16.0107

The weekend of August 5th and 6th was a weekend of racing I have been looking forward to all summer because of the Pur Tour and Newport Cyclebration. On Saturday, I went up to Mason for the 5th edition of the Pur Tour. Since its beginning in 2002, I have always managed to place well in at least one race through out the day. It would be the same this year. There were about 25 riders lined up in the 1-2-3 race with about 5 Espiors (19-22 age group). I knew with the size of the field the break was going to go early. So, I followed the first attack but didn't do much work because it was coming back right way. Right after we were caught, two riders attack and gained a sizeable gap right away. When I noticed no one in the field trying to respond, I attacked and Jeff McClane and Phil Noble followed immediately. We worked together to bridge the two that were still in front of us. We would evenly take pulls throughout the race. About half way through the race we slowed down a little bit due to we had a large gap and started to conserve a little energy. Once we saw a chase group come into view, we pick up the pace, again. Towards the end, a Bandwidth rider tried to get away but meet with little success. I tried to surprise the sprinters with 400 meters left but it was unsuccessful and I managed to loose another sprint and got 5th in the 1-2 and won the Espoirs. Also, UC Cycling Club's newest memeber Noah Metzler won the Cat 3 race and finished 3rd in the Espoir race. I was extremely happy to have another strong result at the Pur Tour but I didn't take much time to celebrate that evening so I could recover for Reser Bicycle's Newport Cyclebration.

On Sunday, I woke up, ate, and went down to Newport to help with what need to be completed for the 2nd Newport Cyclebration. Once race time came around, the 1-2-3 field had about 25 riders and 2 Espoirs. Once again, I believed the break would go early for the second day in a row. I would be on the offense early and would never be higher than 5th in line in the field. Early on I would be in a couple small attacks but nothing worked. I would eventually spend about four laps off on my own before I was caught as we were entering a prime lap. A Barbsol rider and Ryan Gamm of Abercrombie & Fitch would start a break and I immediately bridge due to Barbsol had the numbers in the race. It would be the winning move. We quickly got an advantage of 20 seconds. It would hold steady for a while and then it started to grow again. After a while we could see we were about to lap the field. I was in shock that this was happening but excited. After we lapped the field, I tried to get away but I was being marked by the Barbsol team. Towards the end of the race I started to fail because of all the hard racing over the last two days. I would wind up finishing third and taking the Espoirs. I am happy with the weekends racing and am in shock at how fast I have been able to get this year. I now need to start concentrating on better tacks and figuring out a way to improve my sprint. Thanks to Reser, Doug Dobrozsi, and everyone else who worked hard to put on a great weekend of racing. Lastly, I am starting to get really excited about the Gateway Cup this year and hopefully the Newport Cyclebration better attended.

Name:
Email:
Enter:
Reply: