MUCKERS French Adventure Race Night. 06/07/23
Rouvy Route Used : Sault Loop | France | 17.65miles | 1417ft climbing
Route 1 from the French Adventure | GRAND | Challenge & the 2nd race of the evening.
32 Registered | 24 Finishers | 2 DNF | 6 DNS
First proper race from the French challenge and should be a really good race route. And it was! apart from 1st place “Simon_Hahnenbruch” who finished nearly 3 minutes in front of 2nd place in what is possibly his most dominant display on a Muckers race! A sprint off for 2nd place saw “transberg” just pip fellow Dane “Tuden” to claime the silver medal!
Top Muckers Worldwide rider “denny44” finished in a very strong 4th for the team, with “MikeHagen” in 5th, “rmadden1” in 6th and “Kylofski” in 7th and just at the back of a 4 rider Muckers peloton!
8th and 9th are not very regular ( or possible newcomer) riders to my races. 8th place to “RuudBaars” and 9th to “jcriollo” with average speeds over 20mph! strong rides!
And finally, 10th place to our 5th Muckers Worldwide rider in the top 10 “Andy_UP” Well done for 2 strong races tonight!
well done to everyone for doing this race and especially to everyone who did both races tonight.
cheers.
| # | Cat. | User | Age | Team | Racetime | GAP | av.mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men |  Simon_Hahnenbruch | 40-49 | Cycling Team Rhein-Main | 0:45:17.5 | 23.38 | |
| 2 | Men |  tranberg | 30-39 | CK GOG | 0:48:08.3 | 0:02:50.7 | 22 |
| 3 | Men | Tuden | 40-49 | Flø Garage Cycling | 0:48:08.3 | 0:02:50.8 | 22 |
| 4 | Men | denny44 | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:49:11.3 | 0:03:53.7 | 21.53 |
| 5 | Men |  MikeHagen | 60+ | Muckers Worldwide | 0:49:20.9 | 0:04:03.3 | 21.46 |
| 6 | Men |  rmadden1 | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:49:23.8 | 0:04:05.5 | 21.44 |
| 7 | Men |  kylofski | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:50:05.3 | 0:04:47.8 | 21.14 |
| 8 | Men |  RuudBaars | 40-49 | Rouvy Achterhoek (NL) | 0:50:24.7 | 0:05:07.1 | 21 |
| 9 | Men |  jcriollo | 40-49 | Team JC | 0:52:48.1 | 0:07:30.6 | 20.05 |
| 10 | Men |  Andy_UP | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:53:05.7 | 0:07:47.5 | 19.95 |
| 11 | Men |  Kikimunari1975 | 40-49 | GSC FONTANIVA | 0:53:05.1 | 0:07:47.6 | 19.95 |
| 12 | Men | jeff65 | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:55:19.5 | 0:10:01.1 | 19.14 |
| 13 | Men | Ryanio-Bianchi | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:57:28.9 | 0:12:11.3 | 18.42 |
| 14 | Men | PerC.1965. | 50-59 | Per.C.1965. | 0:57:59.5 | 0:12:41.9 | 18.26 |
| 15 | Men | Svard | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:58:28.5 | 0:13:10.9 | 18.11 |
| 16 | Men | Rens_Piccavet | 30-39 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:59:20.4 | 0:14:02.9 | 17.84 |
| 17 | Men |  stelviobound | 60+ | 0:59:32.8 | 0:14:15.2 | 17.78 | |
| 18 | Men | DolphWader | 50-59 | MTB Crash Boys | 0:59:43.7 | 0:14:25.5 | 17.73 |
| 19 | Men |  robinagy | 40-49 | fittikék | 1:01:22.7 | 0:16:05.1 | 17.25 |
| 20 | Men | dan-l | 40-49 | 1:02:47.10 | 0:17:30.4 | 16.86 | |
| 21 | Men | Swifty | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:05:14.7 | 0:19:57.1 | 16.23 |
| 22 | Women | dawniol | 40-49 | 1:06:11.8 | 0:20:54.3 | 15.99 | |
| 23 | Men | Mucker1974 | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:06:14.5 | 0:20:56.1 | 15.98 |
| 24 | Men | gkientzy | 60+ | 1:13:37.3 | 0:28:19.8 | 14.38 | |
| dnf | Men | fazzo34 | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | user_1001678 | 60+ | dnf | – |
23rd on this but i went with a zone 4 (HR) training session as i had put all my effort into the first race. so i just chilled and focused on that 141ish bpm but when i caught up to “dawniol” i tried to help her along to the end by just staying in front so she could get the benefit of the draft. Nice route but didn’t race it so not much to report. 😁
Flat start and then a downhill, and *then* the Montbrun les Bains climb. One just knew there would be no attacks and a big group together at the start and on the downhill. And so there was. That was fun. On the climb, I just went at my own optimal pace and did not worry about what others were doing. That worked; a third of the way up, Simon, Tuden, tranberg, and denny44 were together at the front, but rmadden1 had fallen behind and I was slowly (so slowly!) gaining on him. But RuudBaars was gaining from behind. About 1/2 way or 2/3rds the way up, the three of us came together, and I saw then that RuudBaars had the stock Reacto frame while Roy and I both had the Cervelo. So RuudBaars had a slight advantage on the climb, but we probably had him on the downslope. And that is the way it worked out: Roy and I pulled away from RuudBaars on the more gradual upslope before the top, where the Cervelo aero frame makes a bigger difference. Toward the end we were gaining on denny44 but too far back to catch him and, besides, I had no desire for any massive power surges. I hoped Roy wouldn’t do a finish sprint, but I put out 500 watts or so in case he did. That way I wouldn’t be too far behind. But he didn’t respond at all so I ended up a few seconds ahead. IRL you can negotiate that you will finish together, but can’t do that virtually, unhappily.
The second race of the evening for me. A nice route with a long descent at the start and a nice long climb about halfway, and some small hills back towards the finish. Since the evening’s first race hadn’t drained too much energy (and Simon H was also in race no. 2) I decided to have a bit of fun, instead of going after Simon H who I can’t beat anyway 🥴 Drove with a bigger group all the way to the climb. I was constantly trying to keep Tranbjerg, who I know quite well from other races, in the race to try to get him on the podium. I knew that in this group it would be possible. I let Simon H run his own race. It was really hard to try to play Sepp Kuss and help Tranbjerg over the climb without me dropping him, or him being picked up by the riders who were 50-100m behind us, but actually quite fun to try. We succeeded and we got over the top with a good lead. The plan was that I would drop him on the last little red climb just before the finish line. But could I drop him? No, he sat on me like a fly on shit😆 He simply had so much strength left that he could sprint too. And I lost by half a rim width🫣 Totally okay and a lesson for me😂 There were two Danes on the podium👍 But next time I’ll drive away with Simon H 😆😆
Wasn’t going to go to hard on this 1 after the effort in the first race but couldn’t resist there was a fairly big group formed at the start of this and we stayed together until the start of the climb was with denny44 for while but his pace was to hot so dropped back a bit I noticed getting to the top Mike hagen was coming up so waited no for very long for him in the mean time we both were passed by Ruudbaars but myself and Mike worked well together and clawed him back he soon got dropped on 1 of the drags we tried really hard to bring back denny44 but he done a great job holding us off in the end I was happy just to keep the pace high and Mike came around me in the finish was happy to just go deep tonight as heading on holidays now so won’t be racing for a while best of luck to everyone in the championship
Stayed in the lead group until the way to long climb for me started. As expected couldn’t hold the pace of all the top riders. Got passed by many, last one to pass me was an unknown (for me) Kikimunari. Once he passed me, he didn’t create a huge gap. Can’t tell if he was slowing down a bit, or I went a bit faster. He was in 10th spot, and I started to really really want that mention. So near the end of the climb, I found the strength to close the gap. He didn’t want to pull, and I (my legs) didn’t feel like it either. This way, I could reload my rockets. The gap with svard behind was big enough so we had time to fight it out. I could drop him a little bit on the last little climb, but my legs reminded me it was the 2nd race with a lot of climbing and battles. So he came back, I took his wheel. He was lvl11, so not so experienced so he did start early, I stayed in the wheel saving my big rocket. Fired it at 200m from the end and I overtook him. With 80m to go, he almost overtook me again and I had to put in everything I got to keep him behind. Never I’ve been so tired after a Rouvy sprint. All for that precious 10th place and a mention…
At the warm up I noticed that my legs were still tired from Tuesday races. Decided to chill at the first race and focus on the second. Had a good start and was happy to be in the front with all the good riders until the big climb. I was surrounded by excellent climbers and I didn’t see a chance to beat any of them except Andy. Andy went full gas at the first race so I assumed he will be soon tired. Simon, Tuden and tranberg were gone. I rode at 4.1 -4.2 W/kg and Roy and Mike couldn’t hold my wheel. I tried to keep the pace high and reached Tuden and tranberg. I knew that they try to recover a bit and I didn’t really scare them. I didn’t look at them and just tried not to fell off the bike because I was in the deep red. Before we reached the top the danish dynamite launched their rockets by going more than 5 W/kg. 200m before the top I got a cramp in my leg and had to reduce my speed. Kept on cycling at lower speed and luckily the downhill was not far away. Recovered a bit and had to go 5km solo. Mike and Roy were chasing me and doing a good job. Happy that the didn’t catch me. I was 4th which is fantastic for me. It was a great experience to be together with the top climbers even for a short moment. Great race as always.
Race 2 of the night was supposed to be the main event, but I pushed a little too hard in the first race. In my head, I was thinking I could start towards the back and see where I would end up. Off I went again, passing a few riders again, riding with “Rens_Piccavet”. We caught up to “Ryanio-Bianchi”, “Svard”, and “jeff65” and rode with them down the long hill. As we reached the start of the next hill, an 800ft climb, I kept a steady 4.0W/KG up the entire climb, overtaking “Andy_UP”, “jcriollo”, and “RuudBaars”. “jcriollo” and “RuudBaars” tried to stay with me, but right up to the very last little hill, it was “RuudBaars” and me. I pushed into 5W/KG for the last half-mile to keep “RuudBaars” at bay. I finished 7th in this race and I’m really happy with this result too. See you all next Tuesday night.
Wasn’t me Kyle I was at the back and last for a while. I wish I was up with your group.