Somedays you’re the hammer;
Cantua Creek Road Race report
2/15/14
Elite 4 field
weather cool and cloudy, mild wind
teammates…
Placing; 1st
Cantua Creek is held on an out and back stretch of old hwy 33, ~26 miles each of 3 laps. The race finishes at the top of a short (~7min climb). Going into the races my plan was to attack the final climb but otherwise try to stay off the front and conserve for the finish and for Sundays road race. things were going great I spent 2 laps ‘tail-gunning’ and staying quite fresh. Attacks on the first and second laps got up the road and built solid gaps on the first couple passes of the ‘finish’ hill but were brought back by the descent and disorganized chases. Once the break was caught on the out port in f the last lap I decided it was time to get to the front, the next break might be the last and I wanted to be in it.
At this point I sensed that an organized group at the front could split the field, and one racer was trying to herd the guys near the front into a rotating pace line/echelon. I was willing to take part and did a few pulls but guys weren’t rotating through. Workking on the front pulling the pack along was not part of my plan, so after the third time that the next guy refused to take his turn I was furious. I attacked sharply and really pushed hard for a minute or two. Normally one doesn’t attack this way, I was really just trying to punish the guys behind me, but somehow I got a gap, when the pack didn’t chase and nobody bridged I settled into TT mode; tuck in, gear up, hammer down.
Not much to tell from there out. I passed the next field up the road and a lot of remnants of other fields and stuck the solo break for about 15 miles finishing well ahead of the charging 4s field. And, taking my first road race win
Joe