Mad Cow Classic Road Race Full Reports!

The second day of racing in Grand Junction was the road race. For our C rider Robbie Jones this would be his first ever road race. It was a seemingly nice morning with moderately warm temperatures and a light breeze. All the groups started about 5 minutes apart from each other with the A men starting first. The C men would take off a few cycles behind them for their one lap of the lollipop course. The total length would be 30 miles. Robbie got off to a great start and held a good position throughout the race. It was a very hard road race with many hills and as each race progressed the wind got stronger and stronger. As Robbie came through the feed zone he was in the lead pack but there were a few riders trying to get off the front on this challenging climb. He kept his cool and began to work to make sure they didn’t get to far up the road. Robbie ended the day in a good placing for his first ever road race, 5^th.

The longest race of the day was that of the Men’s A field. They would be doing 72 miles or 4 laps of this hilly course. Fort Lewis started strong with 13 riders rolling off the start. With numbers on our side the A men decided that they would be the main factor in the race. Attacking early and hoping to get someone in a break. It happened. Alister Ratcliff attacked early which helped launch Ian Gordon into a 4 man break away. The break held strong increasing its gap every lap and also doing its part to shatter the field behind it. As this race went on it seemed to be getting the best of 7 of our 13 riders. With many mechanicals and sore bodies from crashes the day before we soon found ourselves with only three riders in the main chase group and one in the break. The main group held Yarden Gazit, Cody Stephenson and Jesse Dekrey. They were doing their best to make sure that Ian Gordon stayed in the break and would have a shot at the win. As the break started to come through on the last lap it was realized that the group had broken apart and Ian Gordon was hanging off the back of it and didn’t have much left. As the chase field came through, Matt Shriver our Men’s coach, informed the 3 FLC riders that the race was up to them and to attack because Ian was off. With this information Yarden laid down an attack which was unsuccessful. He was followed by an attack from Jesse Dekrey which was unsuccessful and finally Cody Stephenson through down an attack that pulled in a 3^rd place finish for him and a 4^th place finish for Jesse. Yarden followed in 8^th. Our other riders followed with Ian Gordon in 12^th, Ian Burnett in 18^th and Alex Howard in 21^st.

As the racing continued the wind began to blow at a steady 30 plus mile an hour wind. This made the already though course even worst, especially if you were alone with no one to share blocking the wind. However that was not true in the case of the Men B race. Our own Levon Kalemkiarian found himself in a break after the first major hill, alone, with 95% of the 3 lap or 58 mile race still ahead of him. With his teammates Grady James and Kenji Fortune in the field he was able to stretch his gap with every peddle stroke. He came through the feed zone the first and second time with over a minute lead. Kenji and Grady sat in nicely at the front of the main group ensuring there teammate as much time and help that he needed to stay away. As they came through the last lap the field was now on the attack and had Lev in their sights. But it was too little too late. Levon stayed off the front of the race, alone, all day for a victory. His teammates followed close with Kenji in 3^rd and Grady in 6^th. A very impressive ride for Levon but also an impressive show of team work on Kenji and Grady’s part.

Our A women also had a 58 mile or 3 lap race ahead of them. We started 3 girls today, Tina Dominic, Jess Lathrop and Sabina Krashaaur. Missy Erickson would sit out this race due to the injuries suffered in a crash the day before in the criterium. All our girls were a bit tired from their huge effort the day before but looked ready to go at the start of their race. Their race would be one of the windiest of the day which made this race that much more selective. At the first climb all our girls found themselves chasing to stay on to this extremely fast women’s A field. However, none of them made it back on to the group, but they formed their own group in a wise discussion to help each other stay out of the wind and get some good practice riding together in a race pace situation. As each lap when by the wind kept picking up. The women’s A field was the last on the course and suffered the brunt of the wind. By the end there were gusts over 50 mph! It was a great test of team work for these girls and they all came out stronger than they went in.

Our B women were also set and ready for a great performance. Sarah Sturm coming off her first win and Hilary Smallwood with a solid performance both got excited for there go at this demanding course. They too would be doing one lap or 30 miles. There race got underway and became very selective. The hills and the wind played a huge factor in this race and by the time we saw them in the feed zone the race was totally blown apart. One CU rider was up the road and Sarah was in second by herself all day chasing. With no group larger than two people all these girls had a challenging day in the wind. We soon saw Hilary working away up the feed zone hill, she can climb with the best of them, but like Sarah was all alone. At the end Sarah came in a strong 2^nd and Hilary followed in 12^th. Another great show of how these two girls are improving with every race!