Ohio Valley Spring Series - Hueston Woods

As Rob and Chris mentioned earlier, Savage Hill had a good race. The outcome wasn’t as we had planned, but everyone did a great job.

My job was to sit in the field and then help to setup a lead out train for the finish. I did the sit in thing well, but had a hard time getting up front in the last few miles. Chris and I were trapped in the “gutter” about 20 guys back as our yellow train chugged along.

As the climb started, I got blocked by a couple of guys who apparently were seeing who could slam on the brakes the hardest while on the climb. It really killed my momentum, but I was still able to pass quite a few guys after getting clear. I could/should have had a top 7 finish (in the money) if I could have missed the near carnage.

I have to be one of the unluckiest guys when it comes to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t know how many times that I went from front to back. It seems like on most of the descents and flats there would be a couple of guys that would rush to the front and then die right in front of me on the climb, taking me straight to the back.

Some race stats: 52 miles, 23.2 mph average, and 2520 feet of climbing

Everyone did good!

After being brutalized on Saturday I needed a morale boost. By agreement I planned to sit in and just survive. Every race the field seems to get bigger and this one had 77 riders, the biggest so far.

Turned out that sitting in was no problem. With SHC keeping men in the breaks we worked on shutting down the field. While I didn't do much, it was easier and safer to stay closer to the front. With no crosswind to speak of and a pace on the hills that was quite manageable this wasn't hard to do.

Still, unless you were right up front and actively working it was easy to loose track of what was going on. First I heard that Chris was back in the field after his breakaway, then I heard he was still off. When I saw Chris next to me, drolling snot, I found out the truth.

With the last lap underway and Todd out of the race I figured that survival was no longer an option and I better help out. I went to the front and started taking direction from Rob. Hopeing to get a repeat of our Mt. Carmel strategy I took sacrificial pulls to save what I could of everyone else. In hindsight it might have been better to save just a little because on the second to final climb I was out front not feeling too bad when a solo rider took a flyer. I was on him but couldn't muster enough to stay with him and ended up having the pack catch me on the down hill. That rider was alone heading into the climb and I don't know where he finished. I was stuck on the inside going into the climb and got jostled off the side of the road, ruining any chance of placing. I was ticked but I was probably too burnt out anyway for it to matter.

Anyway, I felt a lot better about things than I did at the start of the day.

A perfect race for savage hill.!! We only messed up the last 400 meters. We had complete domination of the field. All breaks were represented with Savage Hill riders. Woody had a exceptional solo break. Chris got into a 3 man breakaway in the middle of the race. John, Jordan, Larry and I covered all the attacks and chase downs.. We had a impressive.. Last lap with 3-6 Savage hill riders on the front driving the field in a arrow head formation for the last 7 miles. With my self sitting on the gate and directing traffic. The team did a exceptional job on setting tempo. It's only my fault that I couldn't spring my self on the final climb. My legs weren't operating at their fullest and I was going into cramp spasms and lost at least 20-25 spots on the final sprint. I did a ton of work in the first 1.5 Hours of the race. I worked myself so completely for the team that I actually didn't think at times that I would finish the race. I didn't plan to have a lead out team till about 1 lap to go and by that time I wasn't too sure what I had left to even sprint. I appreicate those that worked trusted me enough to give me their best and I thank them for that. When I do sit in a race and become the leader for the race and the Yellow Train dominates the end. I will Win the race and take everyone to Taco bell.