Twisted Spokes Racing Club

Another great race report from Joey Mason of the  Twin Bing Classic Road Race in Climbing Hill, IA. last week.
All,

 

Josh Peter from Sakari and I raced the Twin Bing Classic Road Race today in Climbing Hill, IA.  It was a great event, one I will put on my calendar in the future.  There was excellent attendance, especially from teams in Omaha, NE and Sioux Falls, SD.

 

Josh did the A race (Pro/1/2/3) and I did the B race (Masters men/4/5/all women).  I think I placed 6th or 7th.  To make a long story short, the major element in the race was steady cross winds that were over 20 mph from the south.  They blanketed the largely east/west course.  I attacked early, as soon as we hit the crosswinds after a north-bound start, but had only 2 riders that went with me that would not work.  When I realized they weren't going to work, I backed off and rejoined the pack.  I ended the race in a lead group of 6 or 7 of us.  A few miles out, I got dropped on a sequence of hills.  I set my own pace and caught the group at the base of the finishing climb.  Alas, I new that my legs didn't have a sprint in them, so I set my own pace on the climb and crossed the line as the last rider in that lead group.  If I placed 6th, I placed just outside the money! (5th would have gotten my entry fee back :^)

 

Josh hung on with the Pro/1/2's longer than anybody, but eventually was popped off of that group and caught by the chasing group.  He did not place top 10, but that doesn't tell the story of how strong he was.  Furthermore, he had raced 2 crits in IL the day before.  Among the A group was the cyclocross world champion in Masters 40+ from the UCI world championships in Louisville, KY a couple of years ago.  It was pretty cool to see rainbow stripes on a guy's sleeves.

 

Again, there was a good turnout and the race was very well organized.  It was truly a "spring classic" with the crosswinds.  It was an "only the strongest will survive" kind of race.  God bless.

 

Joey