MADERA STAGE RACE

by: Mark King
Madera Stage Race: 3/12/2011 to 3/13/2011
Category: Masters 35+ 4, 63

Course: 20 Mile Criterium, 10 Mile ITT, 50 Mile Road Race

Conditions: 60+ degrees and sunny with moderate to brisk wind

IC3 Team: Mark King, Mark Klein

Other Teams: Taleo, Wells Fargo, Colavita,

Finsh: Mark Kling – Criterium = 42nd, Time Trial = 14th, Road race = 14th : Overall = 9th

Mark Klein – Criterium = 37th, Time Trial = 51st, Road race = 3rd : Overall = 32nd

Criterium:
The criterium was a flat 4 corner course with mostly good pavement apart from a rail road crossing. The group was focused and safe and the racing was animated. Our tactics for the race was for me to try to get away in a break and if that didn’t work to help lead Mark out for the sprint. I tried to time my attack so that I could perhaps get a 5 second prime bonus but the first attack only lasted for a couple of laps and I was swallowed back into the peleton. My second attempt looked promising as I was joined by two others but they refused to work and I got the impression they were just marking me so I sat up. With about 6 laps to go I was near the front when the rider hit a rock , stepped out and forced me outside of the cones. This ended me up at the back and I was unable to make any significant headway back through the field by the end. Mark Klein did a great job of keeping in the first 20 of the field for the whole crit.
Time Trial:

I Threw a set of clip on bars on my Trek for the TT and swapped out the wheels for some of the aero variety. It felt pretty windy out on course and there were a lot of bees buzzing around the parking area. My tactics for the TT was to just keep my pulse at 174 and suffer. Unfortunately my Garmin packed in after ½ a mile when I hit a huge hole so I just made it hurt all the way round. It felt like a good TT pace but the wind and terrible road surface made it really tough. The last mile before the finish was really hard and I lost some momentum on the final turn but it was tough for everyone. I caught one person, wasn’t caught by anyone and finished in 14th place which I was a little disappointed with, but it was all I had on the day. I doubt my Time Trial bike would have made much difference on such a bumpy course but I certainly prefer my TT’s a bit smoother than that.

Road Race:

The road race circuit was an interesting course with some fast sweeping roads coupled with a troublesome crosswind and a horrendous “Paris Roubaix” style 4 mile section. I concentrated on keeping in the front of the group but I didn’t have a very happy time on the rough section and ended up drifting to the back. I felt strong on the rollers near the finish and usually got to the front on them but it was generally pretty difficult to hold your place in the group. I chased a break down on the last lap and we had six people but no one seemed to want to make it stick so I ended up getting bounced down to the back on the final section of rough road. On the first roller I got up to about halfway through the pack but there was no way through and on the second roller Mark put in a big attack over the top. I was just about to jump onto his wheel when three riders in front closed the door and I had to sit up . Mark stormed away to a fantastic 3rd place finish and I picked my way through the flotsam to get 14th.

It was a great weekend of racing and I managed to get 9th place overall which made me really happy. A top 10 in GC and a fantastic 3rd place from Mark Klein made it a successful weekend for the Cat 4 fellows from IC3. Great stage race but don’t bring your best wheels.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Race Reports and tagged with , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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