MUCKERS 8pm Tuesday Race night 14/03/23
Rouvy Route Used: Atlantic Road | Norway | 11.55 miles | 393.7 ft climbing
Route 3 from the Scandi Spin with Liv Cycling | EASY challenge
30 registered | 16 finishers | 2 dnf | 12 dns
Only 18 on the start line for this 2nd Muckers race of the night, meaning, over 50% of the riders will get mentioned in this report! And people say I can’t do quick math/maths ( delete which one is country specific… )
Perfect race length and only 400 ft of climbing means……. “why did I put so much effort into race 1!!!”
So, off we went on what was in theory a flat race but I think some of those bridge climbs, especially near the end, were harder than the +900ft we did in the first race!
“Adampel” got the better of his team mate this time round and finished 7 seconds in front of “hinsbergen“. One win each for this impressive duo, but only just in front of “EdAlves” who was just under 2 seconds behind in 3rd.
“PatrykS_Gdynia_PL” came home in a strong 4th place, about a minute in front of fellow Polish rider “RobertDarlowo” in 5th. Next was the best placed ( and fresh legged😁 ) Muckers Worldwide rider “Chak” in a very strong 6th, just out sprinting the following 3 riders.
7th: ” robbiedoo” (10th in the first race)
8th “Svard” (14th in the first race)
9th “Shrek-1970-Challenger” (15th in the first race)
finally for the top 10 mentions comes new Muckers Worldwide team rider “S.Ludford” with a strong time just under 30 minutes. Thanks for joining the team and also jumping on the chat group, hope you enjoy it.
As per usual, thank you all for racing, and especially all those that did both races.
cheers
set off thinking I’d use this as a recovery ride but then, first time in a while I’d seen my good friend “swifty” on a race in a while and he set off strong!! So I naturally had to just up the effort to not get dropped and although it took a little longer than expected to catch him, I did, then I was in a quite happy zone but with with “lucasm” catching me. I decided to back off and let him catch quicker and see if we could help each other along. He was strong though and near the end he did drop me and I thought all was lost. then the 2 bridges came and I put in my best effort over the first one and caught right back up to him, then on the last bridge I did the same again and pulled out a manageable gap to the end. Came over the line totally spent and not the recovery ride I had planed, not by a long shot!!
Split second decisions … after the usual mad 10 seconds of Avatars and Names bouncing all around my screen it seemed 3 groups were forming, 5 fast riders way down the road, next Chak, Robbiedoo, Svard & Shrek-1970-Challenger then Myself being closed down by Leon Ledoux, Mucker1974 & a few more. I was trying to gauge if they could reach me before the 2nd group were too far for us to work and catch. Decision time, panic, “Bridge, bridge, bridge” I jumped, OMG … 4 & 5w/kg and I was still dangling desperate to see those magical ‘green watts’ to signify any drafting. I decided to give up, then they suddenly eased up slightly, one last mental sprint and I bridged to the group. Chak, Robbiedoo, Svard & Shrek-1970-Challenger were in a tight ball working well, I’d like to say I played my part rolling through, but each time I hit the front it was the accidental result of my mini-surges trying to stay with the group … In honesty, I was ‘fried’. The inevitable drop followed and my Avatar started doing that nervous look back over his shoulder expecting to see Leon Ledoux anytime. Hindsight tells me a faster start would have put me in 2nd group sooner and fresher. Hindsight also reminds me how good the Pro Peloton are at split second decisions. Enjoyed the agony immensely, thanks Muckers.
superb post Steve, you can’t beat enjoying the agony immensely can you! great quote.