Fayetteville Stage Race

By Kirk English

March 17 & 18, 2007 -- Cat 3 report:
Jason, Lance, and I started the Cat 3 race. Slade had to pull out at the last minute due to a sick child and Jeremy was in the middle of buying a house. RR 1 was a relatively predictable affair w/everyone racing pretty cautiously to conserve for the afternoon TT. However, after the smack that he’s endured on the TXBRA forum for achieving results in an “easy” state, Louisianan Mat Davis came for blood. He got away late first/early second lap of our three lap, 75 mi race w/ one other guy. Since we had only three guys, one of whom (Jason) was planning on a big TT, we thought it best to let the other teams (San Jose, GS Tenzing) that had 8+ riders chase. At the last hot spot/KOM climb, we absorbed the other breakaway guy and could see Davis at the top of the climb, probably ~30 sec up the road. Instead of surging though, the field wilted after the climb and he reestablished his gap. Davis went on to solo in about 1 min up on the field including time bonuses. Back it up. I’ll let Lance provide all the details but suffice it to say, he went down hard and nasty late in the 3rd lap. Rumor has it that he was in such shock that he was overheard singing “Pieces of Me” (Ashlee Simpson) as he gazed at chunks of his tissue scattered all over the road. Confirm or deny? Anyway, Jason and I finished in the pack and ready for the TT.

For those of you that have been to Fayetteville, the TT was the same ole 6.75 mi undulating loop of wind and pain. I started at 1801 followed at 30 sec by fellow Houston racer Ricky May (GS Tenzing) and at 1 min by Jason. I was highly motivated and knew that those 2 guys would be breathing down my neck. I got a good start (maybe a tad fast) and began powering up the climbs while trying to still push the downhills as well. I caught my 30 sec man about halfway through and kept driving. Unfortunately, about 4.5 mi in, Ricky came cruising by me. I kept my head down and was thrilled about 1 mi later when Jason came flying by. I could see that Jason had made up 10 or 15 sec on Ricky. When the results were posted, I came in 25th w/ a 16:40, Ricky was 3rd (~15:45) and Jason was 2nd in 15:29!

Sat night deserves an entire report in and of itself as King Tut (that’s Lance…in bandages. You say it like Antonio Banderas in Shrek: “Puuuuss…in booots”) shrugged off his injuries and served us a dinner fit for a (mummified) king. We had chicken breasts, baked pasta, and an awesome spinach salad (w/ glazed pecans and feta cheese). Now you’ve got to know me to understand the significance of this, but when you serve chicken and pasta (amongst my favorites) and I’m impressed by the salad, that is saying something. Brad (The Rookie) built us a nice fire, Lance tractored out the chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows, and skewers, and we had us s’mores. Thanks a TON, Lance!!! Then everyone bedded down and we proceeded to sleep until 0630—and cut it really close (~20 min) to missing the P12 race start!

Back to the Cat 3 action. After the TT, the GC showed Mat Davis (riding alone) in 1st, Joseph Tokarski in 2nd, Jason in 3rd, Ricky May in 4th, and a San Jose guy in 5th. Sunday, the basic plan for Jason and I was to be sure we were in any move that involved the top GC guys, and to go for the hot spot time bonus on the 2nd of 4 trips up the climb. Not 1 mi into the race, 3 San Jose guys began attacking Mat Davis, HARD, one right after the other. Mat single-handedly pulled every one of them back. I stayed glued to Mat’s wheel and although I felt bad for not helping, that’s the price of being at the top—w/o a team no less. The one big question for the first 2 laps was: where was Tenzing? I kept thinking that maybe San Jose and Mat would take off together, force Tenzing to chase, and then if they stayed away San Jose could attack Mat from the break. Fortunately for Tenzing, that didn’t happen. A couple of miles from the hot spot climb on the 2nd lap, Tenzing came roaring to the front w/ Ricky in tow. I stayed near the front w/ Jason on my wheel. 150 m from the top Tokarski, Jason, and Ricky (2nd, 3rd, and 4th) all jumped for the KOM time bonuses. It was a great battle. Jason surged past Ricky but couldn’t pass Tokarski and they finished in the same order as their GC placing—no one picked up any time, in fact, the gaps widened a couple of seconds. Right after that I had a little misadventure of my own as I was squeezed over the yellow line. Although I didn’t advance, the official pulled me 100 m off the back, made me slow down to about 18 mph, and then had me chase back on.

Shortly after this, 3 guys got away and quickly built a 2 min lead on the field. However, none of the major teams were in it. By the final lap, the gap was down to 1:15 and Tenzing was ready to get things going. W/ Ricky at the front, they flew over the final lap, shedding riders and gobbling up the break a few miles from the finish. The race ended in a field sprint; Jason and I rolled through in 28th and 29th. He ended up 3rd GC, 29 sec out of 1st and 17 sec out of 2nd.

Kudos to Jason for an unbelievable TT, a great hot spot sprint, and solid steady riding through cramps and in crosswinds to get a big result.