Kissena Cycling Club

A report by Todd McLoughlin

Here is the Capital Region RR from my point of view:

It was a hard hot day on Saturday, but relatively simple.

I did my best to stay near the front throughout the rollers leading up to the climbs. Then up the hills I did everything I could to stay with the leaders. I made it through the first set of hills with the leaders and felt ok. After the hills CBRC was on the front and seemed willing to do the work. Al, Greg and I briefly discussed the situation and decided to conserve energy for the second lap. That was fine with me.

The back portion of the course, which is flat and slightly windy, passed uneventfully. The finishing climb and feed zone also passed uneventfully. On the rollers leading up to the hills I again did my best to stay near the front. I felt ok going up the hills and managed to stay with the leaders.

I spoke briefly with Greg on the flats. He looked easy going uphill so when he told me he was feeling pretty good I knew he really meant “hang on to your hat.” Shortly thereafter he attacked. No one went with him and at first no one chased. Immediately he had a good gap. Probably 10-15 seconds. Then CBRC and a few others started chasing. Then a few others joined in but the gap kept growing. Eventually Greg was out of sight.

At this point I thought he would make it. Others in the group must have thought the same thing and eventually everyone in the 15 strong group, except Kissena, and some poor guy who rode off course, started working. The gap started to fall but I still thought Greg would make it. We were single file the rest of the way to the finishing climb but with Greg off the front I sat on and stayed as fresh as possible.

I came through the right hand turn onto the finishing climb mid pack. The group bunched a bit on the first, and steepest, pitch of the final climb. I passed a few riders on the right and came out of the saddle to make sure I could stay in the big ring. I was 5th or 6th wheel with 1K to go. We caught Greg with 300m to go. As we passed Greg Shane Moran from West Wood Velo attacked hard. I put my head down (figuratively) and I caught back up to Moran on the final pitch. I gave everything to come around him but I had nothing. I couldn’t come around and Moran took the win. I very nearly got swamped at the line by a few guys but only one actually passed me.

That was it. I am happy with third.

Thank you to William and his sister for handing out bottles. It was a hot day and the water was very much needed.

Todd