Redlands Wrap, Part I
The four days in Redlands provided TIME Pro Cycling with a very good idea of what it's like to race in the best field America has to offer.
The Prologue was highlighted by a fantastic ride on the tough 5k course from Daniel Ramsey who steamrolled to 22nd out of the 194 rider field. Three of us, Tom, Eric, and I followed within 1.5 seconds of each other.
Stage 1 changed things up a bit compared to year's past: the mountaintop finish on Oak Glen was out, and a tough, undulating 17 mile circuit in Beaumont was its replacement. The race was 5 laps, and the pace was outrageous from the start. Adam was on a very bad day and had to call it quits early.
The goal on the day was twofold: 1. For Tom and I to go with moves and hopefully make the break, 2. While Eric and David were to protect Daniel and make sure he was in a good position for the climb midway through each lap.
The making the break goal for the day kinda blew out the window early on with the full throttle racing...and the fact that the break rolled away in that first fireworking hour didn't help either. After that setback, the focus was on Daniel and just making it through the day.
That was a task all by itself...even the easiest lap (#3) almost saw me tossed off the back in a cross tailwind section where we were all completely spun out in our 11s desperately trying to make it back to the headwind. Every lap seemed like a huge adventure...like on Lap 4 when I blew to pieces and went from the first ten straight back through almost 150 riders, but still managed to catch on after a chase led by Henk Vogels.
The team goals were taken care of and pretty much everything was in place heading into the final lap and one more trip up the climb. I once again fell apart, whilst Daniel just didn't quite have it the final time up. He made it over in the second group with Tom. Guttenplan, however, rode very well to make the front group and then sprint to 10th on the day with third-ish in the field sprint behind the break. It was a great result for the team.
The Prologue was highlighted by a fantastic ride on the tough 5k course from Daniel Ramsey who steamrolled to 22nd out of the 194 rider field. Three of us, Tom, Eric, and I followed within 1.5 seconds of each other.
Stage 1 changed things up a bit compared to year's past: the mountaintop finish on Oak Glen was out, and a tough, undulating 17 mile circuit in Beaumont was its replacement. The race was 5 laps, and the pace was outrageous from the start. Adam was on a very bad day and had to call it quits early.
The goal on the day was twofold: 1. For Tom and I to go with moves and hopefully make the break, 2. While Eric and David were to protect Daniel and make sure he was in a good position for the climb midway through each lap.
The making the break goal for the day kinda blew out the window early on with the full throttle racing...and the fact that the break rolled away in that first fireworking hour didn't help either. After that setback, the focus was on Daniel and just making it through the day.
That was a task all by itself...even the easiest lap (#3) almost saw me tossed off the back in a cross tailwind section where we were all completely spun out in our 11s desperately trying to make it back to the headwind. Every lap seemed like a huge adventure...like on Lap 4 when I blew to pieces and went from the first ten straight back through almost 150 riders, but still managed to catch on after a chase led by Henk Vogels.
The team goals were taken care of and pretty much everything was in place heading into the final lap and one more trip up the climb. I once again fell apart, whilst Daniel just didn't quite have it the final time up. He made it over in the second group with Tom. Guttenplan, however, rode very well to make the front group and then sprint to 10th on the day with third-ish in the field sprint behind the break. It was a great result for the team.
posted by Jered at
9:38 AM
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