OVR - Deer Creek SP - Savage Hill

Half of this win belongs to Todd Lee.

He did an amazing job of staying up near the front early covering breaks and making sure we were represented in the action. It allowed me to sit-in the first half of the race, conserve energy, and not worry that we would get punked with neither of us in the winning break. The Biowheel guys had a large showing and did most of the early attacking. Nothing was able to stick until with about 20 miles to go in the race, two BW got up the road and few more people bridged up. I was able to bridge, got gapped once with two others, drug all 3 of us back onto the break, matched a few accelerations that I thought were going to kill me, until finally the pace settled down to something bearable again. Eight guys, with 3 cat 3s and 5 cat 1-2s, made up the break and we hammered to build up a sizeable lead. Everybody nailed it on the final climb before the finish and it blew apart. I rolled across the finish into the headwind at what seemed like 2 mph but it was good for 4th in the combined 1-2-3 field, 1st in the cat 3s.

This race report is dedicated to Larry who corner marshalled so that I could race, and Sunny who lovingly infused all my clothing with her shedding hair.

Nipped at the line.

Speaking as the organizer it was a wonderful day for a race, not too hot, not too windy. Speaking as rider, it could have been better.

The day was dominated by cat and mouse tactics with lots of short quick accelerations (as Jim Parker - DarkHorse and I discussed people must have been feeling frisky today). Jeff Ely starting things off for us around turn 1 but didn't make it far because a GC contender went for him. Jeff came back and rested then went again up the small climb after turn 2. George got himself in the day's only real break away which managed to stay away for just over a lap until Craig, 2 Saturn team members, and myself got up the finish climb quickly and made a hard charge. As the field closed on us we kept pushing a reeled in the break around turn 1 to start lap 3. German, the self sacrificing workhorse, cut a tire and got back in the field on lap 3. The planned attack of the day was to come up the climb to begin the 4th lap. Craig and I were just right and took off with our companions but never really gapped the field so I killed the attempt.

Relegated to a sprint finish, not that I minded, I stayed very close to the front. German did a ton of work through the long stretch of Rt 207 with the cross wind. Craig stayed on my heels. Just after turn 3 the road makes a 90 degree bend to the left, Craig slid up in front of me with German in front of him. I had told Craig that he had to "ride like he stole that thing" down the descent so I wouldn't run him over. German took the pace up, then handed off to Craig. Fred from Breakaway slid in between us and moved me slightly out of position entering the final turn. As we crossed the bridge, to get back to Craig, my momentum was just a bit too much. So as not to lose momentum I had to hit the gas at least 100m further back then I wanted to. I caught the field by surprise and got a good gap keeping it all the way to the top but found with the legs cramping I just ran out of gas.

Thank to the team for putting me there you all did your jobs, especially Craig and German you guys are work horses.

Missy (Bandwidth) did a great job setting the pace for the majority of this race. I ended up in the back more than I should have and I knew it... bad habit. Especially, when we had an attack on the first hill and I heard Wendy yell. Luckily, I was able to surge from the back and bridge it; however, I brought the whole field with me.

Thought for sure that we'd have an attack again on the same hill, but we never did. I thought about attacking myself, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to stay away on my own. It was great to see Katherine and Wendy still by my side and offering advice on the final lap! Katherine had figured out exactly whose wheels we needed to be on and did a great job staying there. I'm still lacking that aggression and killer instinct that it takes sometimes.

I lost some ground and energy on the corners...still need to work on those, but I guess I had a lot left on the final climb to the finish. I probably should have attacked a little sooner at the finish because I think I had more left than I should have. Staying up front, aggression, cornering and attacking ... my list of things to improve on is growing.

Thanks to my parents who helped out so that Craig and I could race. And thanks to all the SH volunteers for the cheering support and race organization.

This was the best I felt all year. If it wasnt for some technical issues with my gears at the end, I could have walked away with this one. Mad Props to everyone that made this race run like a well oiled machine. Thanks Allen for keeping me out of the wind.

This was a fun race. It was our race in more ways than one. We were running it for the team and racing it as a team. I love racing with my fellow squad mates. We work well together and just keep getting better together. It was another OVR race, therefor can not do better than 11th place. I really seem stuck in that 10,11, or 12 position. It doesn't help that I just ran out of steam that last time up the hill. I can blame it on the crit from the day before, yeah, that sounds good. To all my squadmates and Teammates that sacrificed themselves as cornermarshels, THANK YOU. You guys made this race great. I heard a lot of positive comments from the women and the other racers. Congratulations to everyone, this was a wonderful day.

*****Perfect TEAM WORK!*****


I’m not talking about the race, but the out standing team work done by our Savage Hill volunteers. I had several racers that personally thanked Savage Hill for putting on a well ran event!

OK the race. We had a combined 1-2/3 field of fifty riders. We averaged over 25 mph for a total distance of 60 miles. The cat 3s decided to let the 1-2s roll off the front until they were out of sight. On the back side I decided it was time to clock in, so I attached on a slight inclined. Looked back to see the filed strung out. Then the countered attacks began and we’re off the races now! My goal was to cover all the attacks and make sure Mike was not doing any work at the front. On the second lap we caught the cat 1-2s.

With a lap and a half to go the cat 1-2s began attacking. Mike rolled away and joined the winning break. Now my second job was starting and that was plying border guard. I stayed at the front of the race to discourage any bridging attempts. I set a moderate tempo a mile before the climb and then increased the speed up the climb. No one countered, by job was done and now it was recovery time for the final sprint.

Coming into the final turn, I was setting perfect, about third position. Then at the base of the final climb all hell broke lose. I was still positioned well, about two thirds into the climb my legs gave out. I think I roll across the finish line top 15.

Great ride Mike, your patience paid off! It was nice to have Mitch back to racing. You’ll be back to top form again. Blair, I’ve got pair of Mt. bike wheels to loan you.

I'm not suited for windy flat races. Knowing it would be a long hard 60 miles and that it was likely the 1-2s would affect the race pace, I sat at the back. I saw some other riders I knew to be strong doing the same, so I thought it was an OK idea. Wrong. Looks (from his race account) like Todd instigated the hard acceleration on the back half of the second lap. Suddenly five riders are gapped and I'm coming around them to try to catch the rest of the group. Stupid of me to think sitting in the back was an OK idea. Nothing, other than crashing, hurts worse than fighting in a three or four man rotation to catch back with the group unsuccessfully. That is what we did for a lap-me, two Biowheels, and a CycleDot. Powering into the wind takes strong butt muscles. I don't have a butt, let alone butt muscles. What little butt muscle I have was burning like crazy. We all got cooked trying to bridge in the heavy wind. So I did what any self-respecting failure would do-I let the 4s come around, sat at the back of their group, and enjoyed the sunny day.

Jim Matson was the story here. He not only organized the race (one of many shc members) but knew exactly how he wanted the race to go. He was currently sitting 4th in the GC. He explained who to cover, which of us he wanted to go first, who would lead him out. With exeption of a flat on the second lap, everything went according to plan. My race was broken down to chase every GC member that attacked, drag Jim and Craig to the break so they could counter attack. The last lap Craig and I sat on the front and drove the field to the one mile to go sign then Jim took over.

Craig and Jim attacked on the climb and Jim got pinched at the line for second. I had a great time supporting Jim. Props to Craig, George, and Jeff (Ely) for an awesome display of teamwork. We really worked the field over and it felt great. I had good form and surprising power considering the lack of time I have spent on the bike. It was a great day.

First race of the year. I hurt alot and barely finished the 4 laps. Congrats to Jim for another great race.

Riding a 100 miles the day before hurt but I still hung on for 24 miles before my legs disappeared. It was still a great day and fun for 2 out of the 3 laps. Lesson learned, next time I won't be riding that much the day before.

Jim and I planned to get in a break but could not get anything to really stick. At the last turn, hit the gas on the descend for the lead out. I had hopes of pulling Jim all the way up the climb, but only made it about 1/4 up the climb. I probably should have not pulled off, but didn't want to slow the tempo that I started. So I yelled to Jim to GO! The distance from the turn and up the climb felt alot longer than it was, but it was still fun motoring down the descend.

Zipp 303 wheel broke.