Chris Winn: Ramblings From The Road

pedal.write.pedal.write.pedal.



19 April 2010

Fly Like An Eagle.

Ah I think these Monday morning posts are much easier to write now that the race season is happening.  Or maybe it's the java that's just been downed, the Smashing Pumpkins playing and the scrambie eggs in the gut.  Probably a combo of all three I would say!

Okay Haystack TT.  Boulder Colorado folks is quite a competitive little place, and on a cold a drizzly Saturday afternoon every man and his disc wheel was out there on hwy 36 for a 12.mile throw-down.  And when I disc I mean it, with plenty of guys out there sporting gear that came straight off a ProTour truck.  Me, well I was on a data collecting mission to have a closer look at some potential pacing issues that I seem to have had trouble with over the last few TT's, so a standard Powertap wheel was my weapon of choice.  Not very fast but knowledge is power I say.  And looking at the post race file I was right, averaging 20W less over the last half of the race.  For a 20km TT that's pretty significant and good to know. I am definitely loving the challenge of this time trialling gig.  Last year it was more like just blips in the radar during stage races on borrowed gear and wacky positions but this year I am trying to crack the puzzle with a bit more time and effort into the process.  So anyway results wasn't flash, but my data mission was deemed very successful.

Air Force RR.  What a cracker.  Held on the 86' Worlds course down at Colorado Springs, I was pretty stunned when told we were already at 7000ft off the start line.  Not bad at all.  Loop is cool, quite straight forward really with the first half kinda flat and the last half rollers and some significant little climbs.  No doubt that's where the shit would hit the fan.  Field was decent with Fly V, United/Healthcare, Jelly Belly and Mountain Khaki's riders making up the pro contingent.  Fly V were the ones to watch hearing rumor that the next month of races are internal selection races for California.  Plus they're just THAT strong.  Was cool to catch up with Jai Crawford who is on the squad this year after racing him on the mtb back in the day.  As far as the black and red burrito boys were concerned we had a full squad out there and we were eager for a good showing.  Holt rolled into the early move and is fast becoming our breakaway specialist and doing a bang up job of it.  Back in the bunch the first lap was very tame with the break getting 2mins super quickly.  Then the second lap onwards the Fly V train casually went to the front and just turned the screws a little more and more each time up the climbs.  Pretty soon the bunch had been whittled right down, and with Holt still up the road we had Bingham, Garcia, Gray and myself left in the front chase group.  Up the climb for lap 4 of 5 Chris Baldwin attacked hard and caused a major ripple in the group.  Gray was able to respond and make the selection that shattered the rest of us.  Going into the final lap Garcia, Bingham and myself worked in a small group until the fun began about 5kms out from the line.  Brad attacked hard on one of the steep pitches drawing the group to follow.  Not content to give up that easily he attacked twice more, before slipping away over the crest hoping to snag the last spot in the top 10.  With some tired legs at that point Groove/Subaru's super strong man Greg Krause slipped away on the downhill to try and catch him back.  Sensing a sneaky move like this I glued onto his wheel ready to pounce anytime Brad (who was giving it full gas solo to the line) may have got caught.  Luckily Brad held on over the uphill finish and I rolled over Greg to finish on Brad's wheel for 11th.  Gray finished up around 8th after surviving some silly speed's from United and Fly V I'm sure.  Overall I was so stoked on how the team rode.  We gelled well and were confident on the road to hold our position when needed and when the shit went down we had the most amount of guys left compared to the other amateur teams.

Time now to rest.  Leave for Bisbee on Thursday.  Thanks for reading and have a great Monday wherever you are...cw

5 comments:

Gunsle said...

Keep up the good work Winny!
Thinkin of ya back here in Oz mate!

Chris Winn said...

Thanks Steeley...hope all is well with the shop, crew and family...looking forward to hanging out down the track for sure mate.

Kat said...

Hold on...you made eggs for brekky? How come I had plain cheerio's? :(

Chris Winn said...

I got a little hungry after you left! Tmw okay!! XX

Kat said...

But tomorrow you were sleeping!