Rose Festival Road Race... the Partridge Family Prevails

I lined up for a 60 mile cat 1,2 road race on Saturday.  There were 5 guys from Zealous, 4 guys from Bikes2You/, 3 guys from American Equity, 2 guys from Mercy, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree (Kevin Severs - Colorbiotics). 

I was ready to roll along with teammates Paul and Carson.  This is my kind of race, for many reasons, so I didn't have any of those nagging mental issues that I experience in some other race situations.  I shot up to the front from the start and participated in the early race tempo setting.  Fairly early into the race I found myself in a nice break of six guys.  All of the teams were represented, with B2U having two guys and Kevin (aka, 'the partridge'). 



The partridge is a cunning bird known for it's ground attacks
and the hit single "I Think I Love You".

 Partridges are members from the pheasant family known for their ground-nesting/seed-eating capabilities.  Kevin represented this trait well, as he firmly nested himself in every break, gobbling up seeds of strength as he fluttered his wings across the gaps.  He is a newly minted cat 2, so his presense is a fairly new phenomenon in the Iowa racing flock.

I thought this break had promise, but we hadn't even finished the first of three 20 mile laps, so that would have made for a long day for the rest of the field.  Because of this, several guys bridged up creating the final 'selection' of ten riders (Zealous/3, AE/2, B2U/2, Mercy/2, & Kevin).

It became apparent that no one was going to be able to break free from this group.  Every break needed to have one representative from each of the four teams to work, but, more importantly, the others not in the move needed to selflessly defend the move, which wasn't initially happening, causing everyone to chase down every move.  Lee suggested that one guy from each team volunteer to drop back, so that we would have a 6 man break (the race paid back 6 spots).  It sounded funny, but ironically, this was basically what needed to happen, so I pondered the situation for several miles.

At the start of the last lap, I bridged up to Brian West (B2U) who had attacked the field over the start/finish area.  This is exactly where he and Dewey made their winning move last year.  I poured everything I had into this move, hoping that the field would let us go.  Zealous and Mercy, however worked together to bring us back.  Ideally, one guy from each team would have bridged up (and Kevin), but not to be on this particular day.

Well, that took a lot out of me, so I knew I was going to have to take it easy for a few miles and just follow moves.  A rather 'soft' move formed that did, indeed include all of the teams (and Kevin).  Just as Mike Sencenbaugh(Zealous) started to bridge the gap, Jarod Osterloh(Zealous) called him off... that was that, the decision had finally been made...  I wasn't going to chase the move down because Paul was in it, Jeff Barnes relented to play defense for his teammate Mario, and Brian West didn't chase because Lee Venteicher was up the road as well.  We had to basically 'take one for the team', as it would have been extremely easy to bridge up to the group, but not without taking everyone else along for the ride. 

We slowed down to a crawl until the group was far enough up the road that we didn't have to think about them.  Before they got out of sight however, I had time to ponder what things might be like for that family of riders that was slowly flying off into the sunset, fueled by the strength of the mighty Partridge...



The Partridge family enjoyed success on ABC during the
early 70's and during the 2011 Rose Festival Road Race.

Random thoughts began to surface... I was glad that I had mowed the lawn Friday because that would give me more time Sunday for Dad's Day....  I wondered what we were going to talk about in my 'Sexuality in Counseling' class this week...  I sort of wished I didn't have such a long drive home...why was Danny Bonaduce so angry? etc. etc.

 Jarod and Brian didn't pull through, I guess they decided they were going to attest the sprint amongst the five of us (there was still money for 6th place).   I remembered that the 7th place would get an Iowa Cup point, so I stopped pulling through eventually as well.  Jarod began his sprint at about 300 meters out.  I was surprised to have my legs completely cramp up as I attempted to follow the move.  I came across the line a bit behind Brian in the 8th place... but more importantly, how did Paul do?

Paul got third, so we were basically happy with our day.  I really enjoyed this race and the team tactics.  I did wonder, however, what my day would have been like had I been flying solo, like Kevin, who ended up winning the race...  All in all, it was a good race for American Equity.  Paul did a great job beating Lee and Dave to the line, and giving Mario and Kevin a good run for their money.

STATE TTT - Just as I was about to dust off my TT bike for the year, to prepare for the state Team Time Trial on July 3rd, I learn that it has been cancelled.  Time Trialing is just not in the cards for me this year, but I am enjoying my road training/racing so all is well.