Rose Festival Road Race Review

My first official Cat 1/2 race went well.  The Rose Festival Road Race was a 60 mile event that featured 3 laps over rolling terrain.  There were 17 Cat 1/2's that lined up to race for the 6 pay-out spots. 

The first noteworthy aspect of this race was the presence of 7 guys from Zealous Racing.  They had been dominant all weekend, so had earned much respect from the the rest of us. Some of the Iowa City area participants sort of formed a composite team to address the situation.

There were hills but they weren't steep enough to negate the energy savings of sitting in the draft.  Several riders had agendas that included getting in a breakaway, while others were content to wait until the final sprint, hoping that a large breakaway never formed.

Lou Waugaman(Velosport) and Kurt Hantleman(Zealous) eventually got into a break away situation.  This allowed Zealous to go into a defensive position.  Paul Deninger of Velosport also eased back a bit, though he was agressive throughout the race, perhaps hoping to whittle the field down.

Eventually this break got caught and several attacks transpired.  I ignored some of them, bridged some of them and even started some of them.  At the start of the last lap, it seemed like I had gotten involved in a group that could possibly work.  I went to the front, but no one came around, so our gap didn't last. Sort of taxed, I didn't have much of an answer when Dewey Dickey very strategically attacked the field. 

Brian West (colorbiotics), Ryan French (Zealous), and Lane Anderson (Zealous) followed this move with Lane and Brian able to stick with it til the end.  I would have loved to have tried to bring this move back, but didn't seem to make tactical sense so I just hung out near the front and felt things out.   I knew I was feeling good, however, because I attacked my own attack leading into the last corner (about 5 miles to go).  I thought maybe the group would let me go, but Zealous was very attentive.

I unleashed an awesome 500 meter sprint perfectly launching off of an inadvertant Zealous Racing leadout.  Oops... I did this at the 1000 meter mark, and couldn't hold it the last 500 meters... Unfortunate, because the last 400 meters to the line are uphill, which could have potentially been to my advantage, if I would have had more patience. 

All things considered, a great racing experience in Iowa that has provided me with good insight with respect to racing at this level.

Men's 1/2 - Rose Festival Road Race - Results
1 Duane Dickey, Mercy/ICCC
2 Brian West, Colorbiotics
3 Lane Anderson, Zealous
4 Finn Kolsrud, Calavita Inc.
5 Jarod Osterloh, Zealous
6 Derek Cassaday, Bikes 2 You
7 Michael Sencenbaugh, Unattached
8 Ryan French, Zealous
9 Adam Price, ICCC
10 Chad Bishop, Melon City
11 Carson Christen, Mercy/ICCC
12 Paul Deninger, Velosport
13 Dave Lippold, Zealous
14 Jerome Rewerts, Zealous
15 Lou Waugaman, Velosport
16 Kurt Hantleman, Zealous
17 Chad Vandelune, Zealous

Now, heading to Wisconsin for two days of mid-week racing at the Tour of Dairlyand.