This weekend was the first full weekend of racing to test the winter legs. CBR took 9 Columbus riders to test themselves against the others looking to get a good "gut check" on where our fitness measured against the racers in the Southeast. John Stowe was looking to make an impact on the category 3's, Mike Loftus, Matt Ragan, Adam Weinbaum, Jose Solis Jr, were looking to test the category 4/5 combined group. Jose Solis Sr. & Steve Murray were racing testing the older legs in the Master's 40+ group.
Saturday's racing kicked off with a short 3.5 kilometer prologue that twists and turns through downtown Albany. The route had 12 turns which includes a round-about. It is technical and it's almost an all out sprint. The course definitely showed who was fit versus who was really fit. It is a lung burner from the start. The weather was around 65 degrees and extremely foggy to start. There was an accident on the course where two riders collided head on and both were taken away by ambulance. Those of us who went early had to swerve around. Here's how our boys did;
Master's TT
3rd - Steve Murray
8th - Jose Solis Sr.
Cat 4/5 <35 TT
Matt Ragan - 16th
Tucker Solt - 17th
Jose SolisJr. - 18th
Mike Loftus - 20th
Cat 4/5 35+ TT
Adam Weinbaum - 17th
cat 3 TT
John Stowe - 12th
The second event of the day would be the criterium. It uses the same course as the prologue with a slight configuration change. It is a modified figure 8 with - you guessed it - 8 turns. The criterium is a closed course where each group races for a specified period of time. The races were anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour for the respective fields. The racing was hard. Everyone is out in the early season to show they are strong, fit and fast. This makes each race a real test and rider after rider goes to the front and pushes the pace. Constant attacks with the addition of primes ( one lap races within the race to challenge the field to be the first rider across the line for that particular lap) made the pace consistantly high and weeded out those that just didn't have the "high end" in their riding yet. Bottom line - the criteriums hurt everyone and only the select few were able stay in and fight it out until the end. Early season races tend to see higher attrition rates in the criteriums as the high exertion levels just "blow up" those whose training has not provided the upper end efforts. Many riders use these races to "race into shape". The course had a couple of sections with head wind that made it that much harder each lap. The first group off was the Master's 40+. Steve and Jose raced in a fairly small field of around 20 starters that eventually weeded down to an 11 man main field. The field stayed together with multiple attacks that could not stay away. With 5 laps to go, a rider from Security Bank out of Macon took a strong flier off the front. He stayed away until midway through the next to last lap. On the final lap, the group slowed as no one wanted to use their energy to pull everyone to the sprint. As we approached turn 4, the group slowed and Steve moved into the lead and did a moderate pull through turn 4,5 & 6 then stood and jumped. The group did not expect such an effort so far from the finish and it caused a slight gap to the main pack and three riders on Steve's wheel. Steve felt a calf cramp and knew he would not carry this to the finish. Jose Solis was on Steve's wheel and took the inside line, took the corner and sprinted to the next corner. Steve slowed a little to keep anyone form catching Jose's wheel. This allowed Jose to maintain his gap and take it in for the win. Jose put in three huge sprints to keep the lead and was able to finish with his hands held high! Steve kept racing and was fourth across the line.
For the Master's race -
Jose Solise Sr. - 1st
Steve Murray 4th
Jose's Criterium Podium
The Cat 3 crit highlighted John Stowes fitness level. John sat in on a fast paced race with little to no real effort. He was positioned well all race and sprinted for the finish and placed 3rd. It was a good race for John and another podium for the team!
Cat 3 - John Stowe - 3rd
Albany's Region Bank Omnium
For the Cat 4/5 race - our guys held their own and showed off a good bit. They all rode well. Jose Solis Jr. had the best finish. All the guys were able to stay in the pack and stay upright. We had a really good showing across the board. This was the first race for Jose and for Tucker. Both rode so well, they look like old pros going at it.
Cat 4/5
Jose Solis Jr. - 3rd
John Litz - 5th
Mike Loftus - 11th
Tucker Solt - 14th
Matt Ragan - 17th
Adam Weinbaum - 16th
The Road Races were held on Sunday near Leesburg, Georgia. The course is flat and exposed to the wind. Our team went out and rode very well. I had the worst day of our group with and early flat that ended my race. However, there were some nice highlights. Jose Solis Sr. was in the Master's break away group and was in the final sprint and placed third. In the 4/5 35+ group - John Litz was 6th and Adam Weinbaum placed 13th. In the Cat 3's John Stowe had a good pack finish with 12th place. In the cat 4/5 <35 group, Mike Loftus placed 5th, Matt Ragan placed 6th, Tucker Solt placed 10th and Jose Solis Jr. placed 18th after expending alot of energy in a 3 man break away that rode on their own for 15 miles.
A big congratulations goes out to Jose Solis for his weekend - he was third overall in the Master's field for the weekend. Great Job Jose!!
