The Final Ride Report of the Winter Training Series……

The Winter Training Series officially ended today around 3:10 pm. It took a lot of work to put it all together , but I’m glad that we were able to make my idea of a local Winter Bike League a reality for the cyclists in the area. Before I begin my ride report, I would like to say thank you to the riders, sponsors and supporters of the Series.  The Series would not have been a success without all of you, and I appreciate your dedication to our sport.

Eighteen riders met at Cycle World this morning for the last ride of the WTS. We had a very special guest ride up with Melody Ellis shortly before the ride began.  Jeff Haire and Melody rode 25 miles early this morning and came by the shop at the end of their ride. It was great to see Jeff back on the bike after his long recovery from last year’s accident. He and Melody rode with us from Cycle World and headed back to their starting point at Breakaway Cycles. At that point, sixteen riders headed down Ledo Road for the start of a long, windy day on the bike.  The winds were out of the southwest so the ride to Leesburg and up to Stripling’s at the Veteran’s State Park was nice. We had a nice 22-26 mph pace most of the way and nobody seemed to struggle at all. We did the first half of the race course on the way up to Stripling’s….through Leesburg, out 32 to Mossy Dell, left on New York, right on Leslie Highway, right on Chokee to Cutts and Pryor.  We lost two riders on the way out as Andy Cooper and Steve Julian headed back early.  The KOM (and the first opportunity for the guys to get some of those double points) was the KOM of the road race on Pryor Road.  The KOM wasn’t very long but it was enough to make you have to work. Our top three KOM finishers were Selby Holler, Ray Fararo and Ryan Couture.  Even carrying an extra bagel, Selby can climb!

The group made their way on to Highway 280, across the bridge and into Stripling’s parking lot. The best part of the store stop for me was the lady who asked if our bikes cost about $600 because she saw some like that on “The Price Is Right” the other day and that’s what they said the price was.  After some of Kent’s now famous rice cakes and refills, we were back on the road and ready to tackle a 20+ mph headwind for 45 miles. Props to Gage for an awesome save as we made our way down Highway 280… not sure what happened but I was right behind him and I just knew he was going down as he swerved sideways and his bike started to come out from under him. He saved it without ever hitting the pavement.  The group hunkered down as we headed back toward the race course and the wind was directly in our face. As we made our way down New York Road, we picked up Bill Riddle and an extra set of legs to help fight the wind. We were spread out single file and fighting the wind when Alan B. and Company showed up to SAG for the remainder of the ride.  The attack zone, the second chance for points, started as we turned left onto Mossy Dell and ended at the “Stop Ahead” warning sign at the end of the road race course. As soon as we turned onto Mossy Dell, Ryan Couture took a chance and attacked. Nobody jumped with him. I stayed back and began to wonder why nobody went with him.  Were they thinking that he couldn’t hold it? Were they waiting for somebody else to put in the effort to try to catch him? I can’t say for sure but I can say that Ryan put in a huge effort and it paid off.  The chase group couldn’t get a good rotation going to reel Ryan in.  Mark Miller got tired of wasting his effort with the group and tried to solo off the front. He would’ve held it and taken second if it hadn’t of been for the efforts of Bill “Work Horse” Riddle. Bill came to the front of the chase group and nailed it. He pulled the group to Mark Miller just before the small hill up to the finish.  Ryan easily took first, but second and third came down to a sprint finish with Selby and Ray taking second and third, respectively.

We regrouped at the end of Mossy Dell and headed to Grave Springs. I had tried to stay out of the way during all of the attacks, but I wanted to push myself a little bit. I rolled ahead of the group on Grave Springs and decided to do some work. Kent bridged up to me while the guys stayed back to recover from their attack zone efforts. Kent pulled a little but then he backed off and let me take it all the way down Grave Springs.  The guys eventually picked up their pace, caught us and jumped on behind Kent. Alan had gone ahead of us on Grave Springs, snapped some pics of us in action and then continued as our SAG vehicle.  We took Forrester to Lover’s Lane to Century Road. The final sprint was at the end of Century Road just before the intersection at Palmyra. We crossed Highway 19 and the guys regrouped. I rolled ahead so I could see the finish, and I realized that Hal Carter was with me. He said that he had no intention of sprinting at the end so we rolled on. Alan motor paced Kent to the finish so he would be in place to video. I looked back over my shoulder as I made my way up the hill by the church and I saw one lone rider on the attack with the rest of the group way back. Who was that?? Then I realized that it was Trey Griffin, and he was on a mission. Trey had his head down and was pedaling like his life depended on it. Trey is one of our newer riders so I was excited to see him taking a chance like that. I started yelling at him and encouraging him to stay strong. I noticed the chase group was gaining ground on him and I didn’t know if he could hold it all the way down Century.  He had a pretty big gap, but the Work Horse came to the front again and laid it all on the line. Bill gave it one last hard effort and brought the group to the first set of cones (about the 200 meter mark).  Selby, Ray, Mark T. and the rest of the group hit it at that point and the race was on. Mark T and Selby nipped Trey at the line with Ray right behind them.  Mark Miller and Chip Carter rolled in next.  By the time I crossed the line with Bill, the guys were already protesting that Trey had jumped early and didn’t wait on everyone. I told them that they would be given 15 minutes to protest before the final results were posted. We made our way in on Palmyra and took it through the neighborhoods on our way back to Cycle World.

Mark Thompson was our Final Sprint Winner for the day, and he took home a nice prize box filled with goodies compliments of the PCP Race Team, Bike Warehouse and Cycle World. After I presented Mark with his prize for the day, it was time for the podium ceremony.  Ray Fararo took 3^rd place and $50 with 290 total points; Selby Holler took 2^nd place and $75 with 315 points and Mark Thompson took 1^st place, $100 and the Leader’s Jersey with 450 points. Awesome job!! Ryan Couture and Josh Fix took 4^th and 5^th place, respectively with 155 points each. Ryan finished ahead of Josh because he participated in more of the WTS rides than Josh. 

For those of you who were unable to participate in the WTS, I hope you enjoyed following it every week through my reports and the pictures that Kent posted on Facebook.  As I said before, I hope to make this an annual event.  Until next year, Peace out.

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