Brooks RR and Griffin Crit and TT
by Chris Hurst, OTR Cycling

This past weekend Doug Gravino, Brad Moulard, and Chris Hurst kicked off the race season with appearances at the first GA Cup, the Brooks Omnium. Saturday was the road race, and it was  very windy with gusts up to 30 mph. Brad competed in the Beginner category. Brad held his ground and stayed strong, but the group quickly fragmented into small groups. The race ended up becoming a solo ride for most racers. Brad finished well for his first race of the season. Doug and Chris lined up in the Competitive category with a field of about 80. During the first lap Chris and Doug both managed to stay near the front third of the pack without too much exposure to the winds. Because of the winds the pack was surging a lot, especially on any slight hill into the wind. At the approach of the second of two laps, Chris made his way to toward the front and staked out a good spot in about sixth wheel. After the first couple of turns, Chris noticed a rider starting to go off from the pack and surged up to him, making the break. These two riders then worked together for the next three miles to stay off from the pack. Chris hoped this break would stick since the goal was to have a clean run at the KOM on the second lap. As Chris and the other rider made the final turn for the approach of the mild hill starting the KOM, Chris told the other rider he was going for the KOM. The other rider indicated he wasn't aware it was
coming up and he was just out to test his legs. The other rider then settled in behind Chris's wheel. As the riders passed the sign indicating the KOM was a few hundred yards away the other rider made a jump to the right and started sprinting. Chris was a bit surprised but knew what to do and got out of the saddle, hit the gears, and started cranking up the speed. Within a few minutes, Chris had overtaken the other rider and pulled ahead enough so that the other rider relented, allowing Chris to take the second KOM. The other rider then made an offer that the they keep at it and try to stay off, but Chris knew that there was still about 15 miles the finish with a lot of wind, and  he sat up. The field absorbed them shortly thereafter, and Chris dropped into about 12th wheel. Doug and Chris were able to move into a good position in the front third for the next several miles. With 5 miles to go, and after pounding several road reflectors, Chris bars slipped and spun down, and would not come back up. Chris decided to stay in the drops for the remainder of the ride and not risk getting on the hoods. The field rolled in as a pack, and Chris and Doug came in with the field finishing 30th and 40th.

On Sunday, Chris and Doug arrived in plenty of time to check out the crit course in the downtown area. The course was also windy with a strong head wind along the slightly uphill finish and a head wind on the short climb out of the first turn. The field was again fairly large and the race started normally. During the course of the 45 minute race there were only a couple of times when riders went off the front, but these efforts never lasted. About 18 minutes into the crit, a gap opened in the pack, and
several of the remaining riders drifted back less than a quarter of a lap from the front pack. After one lap of this the officials ordered this back pack off the course. Unfortunately Doug was with this group. Chris continued to to work on staying in the middle of the pack. With 8 minutes to go he found himself on the front for a short bit in an effort to obtain better positioning. Knowing this was not smart, Chris drifted back again, a bit too far back. With one lap to go Chris made an effort to move up some in the final part of the start/finish line segment but it was not enough. After completing the three turns to the finish line straightaway, the
riders started to go. Chris waited too long on a slowing riders wheel before going around and was not able to catch the front riders. He finished 19th.

Finally, at the Time Trial Doug and Chris made good preparations and checked out the course. Both were surprised by the the large hill in it. As Chris and Doug were mid way through their trainer warm up they learned, as everyone did, that there was an hour delay. So, both Doug and Chris got out the chairs and relaxed. Fortunately, the one hour delay stayed on track and Doug and Chris lined up. Doug was out of the gates first, followed by Eric Anderson (previous Boneshaker), then Chris. Chris managed to catch Eric, and Doug, and a third rider on the hill climb. There was a "ghost rider" before this third rider, so there was no one to match up to after this. Chris believes his time was somewhere around 16 minutes 30 seconds. Doug finished in 29th place and
Chris finished in 8th place.

All in all, Doug, Brad, and Chris made a good showing for OTR and felt like the season is starting out on the right note. Thanks to these guys for giving a great effort! Next up is Savannah, see you there!