MUCKERS 7pm Tuesday Race Night. 18/04/23
Rouvy Route Used: Paris Roubaix | Hell of the North | France | 22.46 miles | 650 ft climbing
Route 3 from the Taste of Spring Classics | Medium challenge
44 registered | 25 finishers | 7 dnf | 12 dns
Perhaps not so brutal as the real thing, we provided every rider with a wooden board to attach to their rear wheel and replicate the pounding of a million cobblestones, you did all fit it, yes? …no? … just me then. A cloudy day in Rouvy World but plenty of mud and puddles to keep our Avatars busy.
Well … that was fast. 32 riders turned out tonight in a race that suited riders producing a constant high power with little climbing to hinder ‘us’ heavier types. If you had no idea of your FTP before today, your average power in this race will give you a good reference point.
In an extremely strong field of riders 1st place honours went to “hinsbergen” who came over the line in 0:50:11.5 less than half a second before 2nd place “luke_vin”. In fact, the first 5 riders came over the line with just over one second between them … talk about a bunch sprint!! 3rd position was taken by “adampel” (hinsbergen’s Team Adam-Chris team-mate). 4th place “Simon_Hahnenbruch” split up the final top 5 team pairings coming over the line before (luke_vin’s CK Vinohradske Slapky team-mate) 5th place “karel_sousek”. Amazing performance Guys, we beg you to comment below to describe how this race was for you – any team orders for the final sprint?
French rider “stephane-martin” rode home in 6th place two minutes after the leaders, not sure if this was a solo ride or whether Stephane was dropped from the leading group. The final top 10 positions were filled by riders from the 2nd group bunch on the road. 7th “PatrykS_Gdynia_PL” and 8th “robbiedoo”, both Muckers Race regulars who had done the major share of pulling on the group that also included 9th place German rider “Loki1972” who pipped Canadian “MikeHagen” to the line in 10th place.
We would love to read your comments on the race, please add below, after all, we all shared the moment.
Thank you to everyone who entered our race tonight, a good turn out increases the likelihood of everyone finding another rider to work with, regardless of your finish position. It just makes the pain, agony and effort so much more enjoyable. Hope you can join us Thursday, everyone is welcome, steady Pacers, eager Chasers or red hot Racers.
PS: Thank you for this awesome race report “S.Ludford” in the absence of “Mucker1974“.
| # | Category | User | Team | Distance | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men |  hinsbergen | Team Adam-Chris | 22.463 mi | 0:50:11.5 |
| 2 | Men |  luke_vin | CK Vinohradské Šlapky | +0 ft | + 0:00:00.4 |
| 3 | Men | adampel | Team Adam-Chris | +0 ft | + 0:00:00.4 |
| 4 | Men |  Simon_Hahnenbruch | Cycling Team Rhein-Main | +0 ft | + 0:00:00.7 |
| 5 | Men | karel_sousek | CK Vinohradské Šlapky | +0 ft | + 0:00:01.5 |
| 6 | Men |  stephane-martin | TroyesAubeCyclisme | +0 ft | + 0:02:22.2 |
| 7 | Men |  PatrykS_Gdynia_PL | Dream Tri Team | +0 ft | + 0:03:40.8 |
| 8 | Men |  robbiedoo | Eastbourne Rovers CC | +0 ft | + 0:03:55.5 |
| 9 | Men | Loki1972 | +0 ft | + 0:04:26.9 | |
| 10 | Men |  MikeHagen | +0 ft | + 0:04:27.9 | |
| 11 | Men | denny44 | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:04:54.1 |
| 12 | Men |  Jogl | +0 ft | + 0:04:54.9 | |
| 13 | Men | S.Ludford | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:04:59.2 |
| 14 | Men | Daniel_G. | +0 ft | + 0:05:14.4 | |
| 15 | Men | xzapirou | +0 ft | + 0:05:30.8 | |
| 16 | Men |  Rens_Piccavet | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:05:34.4 |
| 17 | Men | rouvy1bryon | +0 ft | + 0:05:36.8 | |
| 18 | Men | Mick_Michel | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:05:37.4 |
| 19 | Men | Andy_UP | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:06:28.5 |
| 20 | Men |  SwissChris69 | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:07:58.7 |
| 21 | Men | lrollin | +0 ft | + 0:08:02.4 | |
| 22 | Men | kylofski | Muckers Worldwide | +0 ft | + 0:08:14.8 |
| 23 | Men | enrico99 | Vin | +0 ft | + 0:08:53.5 |
| 24 | Men |  R_Castle | +0 ft | + 0:12:42.10 | |
| 25 | Men |  Ivan02 | +0 ft | + 0:18:28.7 |
I’ve been waiting for this race for weeks. Hills fatigue me quickly so this route was basically no different to a typical UK 25 mile time trial effort, perfect for me. I knew top 10 was a very long shot as soon as I saw the starting list but I still wanted to go as hard as I could…I wanted a 25mph average but had to settle for 24.4mph. I started fast, too fast really … in these races you never know which is the last train leaving the station. I was in the fast 2nd group that included “PatrykS_Gdynia_PL” , “robbiedoo”, “Loki1972”, “MikeHagen” and fellow Mucker “Andy_UP”. It was all I could do to hang on for 7 miles, then 10 miles solo with approx 1000ft gap infront and behind me to the 3rd well organised group where I repeatedly saw new names sharing the pace. “Andy_UP” dropped back, I had a minute to decide if he was tired or dropping back to help, the chasing pack were soon upon us. Team mate “denny44” was only feet ahead of “Daniel G”, I had to grab the draft of “denny44” quickly and offer very brief support so we could maintain a gap. If not for this assistance I probably would have fallen back more positions. Then we had one more battle, “Jogl” was powering towards us, I knew he had me, I tried to give “denny44” one last bit of my energy then watched him outsprint his opponent on the line … it felt like a small victory.
First a massive thank you again to “S.Ludford” for stepping up in the (work trip absense of “Mucker1974”) you’re a star.
I may have come in 22nd out of 25 racers in the Paris Roubaix, but it was a race to remember! Battling through mud, cobbles, and climbs, I stuck with my pack – “SwissChris69”, “lrollin”, and “enrico99” – for most of the race. We encouraged each other, shared snacks, and even offered mechanical help. The finish line was a sweet victory, regardless of our positions. “SwissChris69” claimed 20th place, “lrollin” took 21st, I came in 22nd, and “enrico99” finished 23rd. It wasn’t about the numbers, but the memories and camaraderie that made the race truly special. Cheers to the thrill of the race and the bond among fellow racers!
And here it is again. Strong field and a lot of pain just from the start, but this is what we love, isn’t it? No one was missing in the front group except of PatrikS, who probably just left a small gap, but it is almost impossible to catch back if the group is flying away. This was my biggest fear too, so I try to stay up front, alert and active. It was all heading to a “bunch sprint I will probably not win”, so I tried all I could to avoid it. Karel was just warming up and the rest seems just fine with the bunch sprint scenario. In the half I was done already after few escapes tries, so I calmed down a bit, just waiting what will happen, but Karel just got bored and started few nice attacks, so when caught it was my turn. Adam and Chris show a big patience, letting Simon did almost all the defense work for the rest of the group. When we were at 700m to go, preparing for sprint, Karel got the gap again, everybody just watching at Simon if he would close the gap again. I thought he would not help Adam and Chris again, hoping for Karel to take a surprise win, but it did not happen. Simon closed the gap like 300m to go, I was perfectly in the draft, but just missed the moment and started the final kick a little too late, but still got to second, good for me. Chris and Adam takes the 1st and 3rd as a reward for their patience. Brave Karel 5th, Simon spending most of the time on the front also without the podium spot.
Thanks for the comment, that top 5 race would have been worth watching. I love the tactics and yes, Simon’s lack of teammate probably cost him podium. Who thought virtual racing could be so exciting.
I agree. These tactical battles just raising it to another level.
Great summary – and I thought this was just another sunday morning group ride.
Just imagine how fast we would have gone if this would have been a real race 😉
All well done and played 🙂
Superbe course, je me suis bien fait mal aux jambes 😀
Bravo a tous
moi aussi, merci pour ton commentaire
That was really excellent! A group of six at the front right away and I knew they were too strong for me to go with. Settled into a second group of six following them, and that was a nice pace. Sitting in the group, but wary; a few times needed a surge to get back on or get dropped. At one point, PatrykS_Gdynia attacked and got away, a couple others dropped back, with 8 km to go it was Andy_UP, Loki, and me. I attacked, didn’t get away, Loki immediately attacked, and that is when we dropped Andy. Loki and I getting tactical for the finish, I tried to surprise him by jumping with 350 m to go but, even though it was my highest 30 seconds of power on the year, it wasn’t enough and he pipped me. So fun though!
Thanks for the great race. At the last race Mike was too strong for me, this time i was lucky to have reacted at the right moment. Great community here!!
Best regards
Loki.
Once again a fantastic race! Thanks Muckers. I was in the 3rd group with denny44, Rens_Piccavet, Daniel_G. and some other guys. Although it was pretty hard to keep up with this group, about 8 km before the finish I thought “all or nothing” and attacked on the last steeper hill. But the riders here are too strong for me, it didn’t work out (did I ever really think it could work out? Probably not 😉 ). But anyway: cool race and I’m happy with 18th place, see you on Thursday….
Michael aka Mick_Mickel
Mucker Mick Mickel (welcome to the team). It was fast and furious, always hard to break away from a strong group – but you have to try something before the finish line – that’s racing.
Un grand bravo pour le résumé de la course pour mon cas j’étais dans le groupe d’échappée j’ai été surpris par une grande accélération pensant revenir à la pédale mais le groupe était trop fort donc pour moi l’objectif était de géré mes efforts pour que le deuxième groupe ne revienne pas sur moi.
c’était un effort très fort, chapeau. Ce sont des cavaliers incroyablement forts.
Very well done folks. my time of 0:54:21 a week before was not so bad either. I would have ended up somewhere in the top 10 I think. Amstel Gold is still missing in my challenge list “Taste of the Spring Classics”. Isn’t that a type of beer? What does that have to do with cycling ….
CU there, hopefully I can make it tonight at 8 pm
Chris alias “uffzynda”