the Superstar
07-19-2006, 12:41 PM
Forgive me if I miss anything, please feel free to add your perspective. We had a smaller than usual group out to the police & fire games route, maybe becsause of the distance. Notably absent were Julio, Bob Steer, Fred Brewer, Kees, Joe T., Brandon, Mat and pretty much all the juniors, so there was a lot of firepower missing. However, that wasn't going to stop Charlie and Graydon from handing out some red cards and sending people out the back!
The race was a pretty simple one - On the hilly part of the start/finish straight, and on the two hills on the back stretch, Graydon try to blow it apart but people slowly crawled back into contention. He tried several hard attacks throughout the race but for some reason they were all neutralized fairly quickly. At one point, he and Charlie went back and forth and I think if they had given it one more hit, they would have found themselves alone for the rest of the race. As it turns out, they probably didn't have much left in the tank themselves to go again. So the race stayed together with a few people going out the back. Tony Frosst took a big lunge after teh first corner on the northbound section and stayed away for quite a while and when we finally caught him on the back straight, things went into the gutter and I heard him thank us for trying to kill him! Oh well, it was a good effort.
Later on the back straight, Craig Vedova took advantage of a lull in the action to lauch himself off the front and instantly got a big gap, resulting in the other long break of the race. When we caught him, it was just as we reached the corner to go into the sidewind, and I knew what was coming. Craig stayed on the front for a while after we caught him. Unfortunately he probably didn't leave much in the tank and was another victim of SGA (Squires Gutter Action). Chris also succumbed and I don't know else.
On the southbound section before the last corner, Charlie very predictably went to the front and put everyone in the gutter for the entire stretch. Apparently, a lot of guys went straight out the back but managed to get back on after we turned the corner. Interestingly, Mike Forsdike was the one guy who was trading blows with Charlie all along this stretch. Charlie would hammer, hammer, hammer and then take a break with Mike doing a stretch at a really good pace, then Charlie would get back on the front after a bit of recovery. It was hard. Wily Carlos, who was racing after a long layoff following yet another bone fracture, this time in his foot, placed himself right in the sweet spot in third position. After completing the first lap, a group of 10 came together - Squires, Nicol, Raymer, Forbes, Liokossis, Goncalves, Forsdike, Thornton, Browne & Frosssst.
After that, we worked together in a fairly organized paceline, a few guys missed the odd pull but generally everyone worked. This continued until we got back to the Palais de Gutter, where Charlie went to work again, this time even harder than the first lap. He tried and tried but no one would really come through, I normally would have but was knackered from the weekend, so I stayed put. He did 3 or 4 splendidly vicious accelerations, but everyone hung on. Then forsdike counter-attacked and got away before the last corner. Frosssssst and Raymer went with him and they got a gap but even though it was a good move, I knew it was doomed because I had enough juice to go across by myself if I had to, and if I can bridge solo, you're break is in trouble! After the corner, we regrouped and prepped for the sprint, which was at the top of the first hill on the finish straight. Halfway up the pace picked up with Forsdike again working, but this time he elected not to take us all the way and pulled over. That left a wall of Squires, Browne & Liokossis at the front, all going about 2 mph. Browne finally decided to take matters into his own hands and attacked and kept it to the line for the win. Graydon and Charlie were next in, I'm not sure which order, then me in 4th and the rest of the group was gapped earlier on the hill with Nicol taking the final points.
My E Load stars of the night:
Squires - superb gutter action, psychological warfare, serial attacks and then a good finish.
Forsdike - duels head to head with Squires and then attacks him to form a late break.
Raymer - for putting in the serious accelerations earlier in the race, getting into the late break and then a good finish sprint.
Browne - for a great sprint for the win
Frossssst - active all night, in two nice moves.
Goncalves - crap training, busted bones, nonetheless survives when others could not.
The race was a pretty simple one - On the hilly part of the start/finish straight, and on the two hills on the back stretch, Graydon try to blow it apart but people slowly crawled back into contention. He tried several hard attacks throughout the race but for some reason they were all neutralized fairly quickly. At one point, he and Charlie went back and forth and I think if they had given it one more hit, they would have found themselves alone for the rest of the race. As it turns out, they probably didn't have much left in the tank themselves to go again. So the race stayed together with a few people going out the back. Tony Frosst took a big lunge after teh first corner on the northbound section and stayed away for quite a while and when we finally caught him on the back straight, things went into the gutter and I heard him thank us for trying to kill him! Oh well, it was a good effort.
Later on the back straight, Craig Vedova took advantage of a lull in the action to lauch himself off the front and instantly got a big gap, resulting in the other long break of the race. When we caught him, it was just as we reached the corner to go into the sidewind, and I knew what was coming. Craig stayed on the front for a while after we caught him. Unfortunately he probably didn't leave much in the tank and was another victim of SGA (Squires Gutter Action). Chris also succumbed and I don't know else.
On the southbound section before the last corner, Charlie very predictably went to the front and put everyone in the gutter for the entire stretch. Apparently, a lot of guys went straight out the back but managed to get back on after we turned the corner. Interestingly, Mike Forsdike was the one guy who was trading blows with Charlie all along this stretch. Charlie would hammer, hammer, hammer and then take a break with Mike doing a stretch at a really good pace, then Charlie would get back on the front after a bit of recovery. It was hard. Wily Carlos, who was racing after a long layoff following yet another bone fracture, this time in his foot, placed himself right in the sweet spot in third position. After completing the first lap, a group of 10 came together - Squires, Nicol, Raymer, Forbes, Liokossis, Goncalves, Forsdike, Thornton, Browne & Frosssst.
After that, we worked together in a fairly organized paceline, a few guys missed the odd pull but generally everyone worked. This continued until we got back to the Palais de Gutter, where Charlie went to work again, this time even harder than the first lap. He tried and tried but no one would really come through, I normally would have but was knackered from the weekend, so I stayed put. He did 3 or 4 splendidly vicious accelerations, but everyone hung on. Then forsdike counter-attacked and got away before the last corner. Frosssssst and Raymer went with him and they got a gap but even though it was a good move, I knew it was doomed because I had enough juice to go across by myself if I had to, and if I can bridge solo, you're break is in trouble! After the corner, we regrouped and prepped for the sprint, which was at the top of the first hill on the finish straight. Halfway up the pace picked up with Forsdike again working, but this time he elected not to take us all the way and pulled over. That left a wall of Squires, Browne & Liokossis at the front, all going about 2 mph. Browne finally decided to take matters into his own hands and attacked and kept it to the line for the win. Graydon and Charlie were next in, I'm not sure which order, then me in 4th and the rest of the group was gapped earlier on the hill with Nicol taking the final points.
My E Load stars of the night:
Squires - superb gutter action, psychological warfare, serial attacks and then a good finish.
Forsdike - duels head to head with Squires and then attacks him to form a late break.
Raymer - for putting in the serious accelerations earlier in the race, getting into the late break and then a good finish sprint.
Browne - for a great sprint for the win
Frossssst - active all night, in two nice moves.
Goncalves - crap training, busted bones, nonetheless survives when others could not.