Club Race Report Sept 19

[Chris Helwig]

The weather cooperated as the rain stayed away as about 20 riders showed up for the Exeter crit. The pace was steady but not super fast as a few early attacks animated the action. Eventually a move got up the road with Tony, Forsdike and Ben. They built up a pretty good lead and soon were out of sight. I am guessing Westhaven was working for Forsdike as even though the numbers were even they didn't want to chase. Ben came back as Tony and Forsdike continued with a good gap. I got half way across and Carlos came up to me, but for some reason he didn't want to work. A few words were exchanged, mostly in good fun and I sat up. Not long after Blair Purvis made a strong solo move to bridge up with no one on his wheel. He eventually made the bridge. Back in the pack we were crawling. I mentioned to Charlie that Blair is a very good sprinter and would likely win from the break so a chase was mounted. Charlie, Carlos, Paul, Kees, myself and Vedova started a pretty strong chase. After about 8 laps of chasing I realized I was a bit overextended. At this point Charlie started a series of hard attacks that split the group. The chase group was wittled down to what I think was Graydon, Charlie, Steve Meyer, Kees and Mike Thornton. Behind we stayed pretty organized and mounted a chase. With about 6 laps to go the break was caught. With 3 laps to go our chase group made the juncture just as Carlos and Steve Meyer went off the front. They built a BIG gap quickly as no one seemed too motivated to chase. Vedova did a good pull with 2 to go but the gap was still quite big at the bell lap. Graydon put in a huge acceleration on the right side of the road. It was all in ones and twos behind with Charlie next then a gap to Forsdike and Blair and another gap to Tony and I. It was all Raymer as he caught and passed Steve and Carlos for the win with Charlie finishing a strong second, Carlos in third, Steve in 4th, myself in 5th and Forsdike in 6th.

My E Load Stars:

Steve Meyer - First big impressive result, and remember he is a first year junior
Tony - In a super long break.
Blair - Impressive bridge and in the break
Forsdike - In the break all night and still has a decent sprint
Carlos - Wiley Vet knows just when to go and was strong
Charlie - Strong when he needed to be and second place
Graydon - Can anyone beat this guy is a sprint?
Vedova - Did some good pulls and active

[the Superstar]

Graydon is a complete rider, reminds me of Valverde. He can be with the best in any area on the bike. Sprint, climb, hammer, bridge, in the woods. That attack last night caught my totally off guard and he was going so fast I could not close the gap. He held it for an entire lap and still won from the front - most impressive. I'd like to see him on a TT bike to see what he can do against the clock.