El Guapo sprinting for the finish line in the Cat 4 race. Not exactly a caven-dish fin-ish.

Race report for State Road Race Championship at Branched Oak, September 19, 2009

El Guapo, Sir Troy of Perry, Ted the Menace Lechnowski and young Connor Randleman all sported the stripes at the race. I'll let Troy and Connor contribute their own writeups, but congrats to all for taking state titles. Connor takes the gold in Juniors, Troy crushes his opponents (by Krom) in Cat 5 40+, and El Guapo is teh best of the old goats.

My race was 60 miles. Twenty-four Cat 4 racers of all ages circled Branched Oak 5 laps. There were a couple of ill-fated break away attempts, but the pack wasn't going to let anyone get away. I think only two of the 24 actually faded before the mass sprint at the finish. I spent most of the race yakking with my pals. Chased down one break away with Brady Murphy and Dan Ertz.

So the plan was to be ready for the sprint. Felt strong, thru the hills leading up to the final turn. Had to scrub a bunch of speed at the final turn, but found myself in about 6th position coming out of the corner. Decided to open up the throttles to the old diesel a couple of hundred yards out. Caught most of the racers napping and found myself on the front as we approached the finish. In the last 50 yards or so, saw two guys beat me to the line. Finished in 5th, but that was debatable.

Didn't really matter, since 2nd through 5th are all LOSERS. Congrats to the winner Brandon Fenster. I'd love to try it again and maybe suck a little more wheel leading up to the finish line. Probably launched a little too soon.

Oh well. I did take the state crown for 50+. All the the little packets of Geritol, errr....Gu, must have helped out during the race. Nice to compete against the young studs and not get dusted. Always wanted a state road race crown, so I guess I can check that off the bucket list, but it would have been nice to win the whole enchilada.

Ran the Corporate Cup the next day. First time I ever raced a 10K. Finished in 40.54. Not bad considering I was a little gassed from this road race, plus I cramped up at the 4mile mark and had to slow down a little. At least I know now that at sub 40 10K is doable. New goal!!

Time to call the road season toast. Can you say cyclocross??

Thanks to all for a great season. Velo Veloce did great as a team. Thanks teammates!