MUCKERS TUESDAY LA VUELTA RACE 2. 12/09/23
ROUVY Route Used : La Vuelta 2023 | Stage 16 – Bejes | 10.67miles | 1827ft climbing
Route 4 from the Medio challenge and Route 12 from the El Diablo challenge
46 Registered | 20 Finishers | 6 DNF | 20 DNS
So, did we all make it to the 2nd race? I hope so!! short one now but steep, especially at the end which is a great way to cap off a tough night! 26 on the start line and if you’d done that first race, you were looking at all that red and orange at the end of this route with, lets say, not nice thoughts 😂
Fresh legged “JoseCostaRonda” secured a comfortable 1st place, with the top 3 from the first race taking the next 3 positions in this one with “Tuden” claiming 2nd, “nelsonsnyder” 3rd and “Karel_sousek” 4th.
“transberg” got 5th just in front of countryman and top placed Muckers Worldwide team rider “nielsbrynnum” in a superb 6th. Team mate “MikeHagen” crossed the line in 7th , with “tieutieu” in 8th and “yetiwrangler” in 9th.
“tyrone2526” gets that all important last mention for a really strong ride to 10th place.
Link to the video of the race below:
20 of you finished this tonight, with a lot of the quitters, actually giving up on the climb at the end so well done for completing this hard route, especially if you did both races tonight as well.
| # | Cat. | User | Age | Team | Racetime | GAP | av.mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men |  JoseCostaRonda | 40-49 | G. D. A Ronda | 0:35:38.7 | 17.96 | |
| 2 | Men |  Tuden | 40-49 | Flø Garage Cycling | 0:36:49.8 | 0:01:11.4 | 17.38 |
| 3 | Men |  nelsonsnyder | 50-59 | Raceperre | 0:39:03.7 | 0:03:24.1 | 16.39 |
| 4 | Men |  karel_sousek | 40-49 | CK Vinohradské Šlapky | 0:39:23.7 | 0:03:44.1 | 16.25 |
| 5 | Men | tranberg | 30-39 | CK GOG | 0:42:42.4 | 0:07:03.7 | 14.99 |
| 6 | Men | nielsbrynnum | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:43:41.1 | 0:08:02.4 | 14.65 |
| 7 | Men |  MikeHagen | 60+ | Muckers Worldwide | 0:46:30.5 | 0:10:51.8 | 13.76 |
| 8 | Men |  tieutieu | 30-39 | 0:47:32.4 | 0:11:53.7 | 13.47 | |
| 9 | Men | yetiwrangler | 50-59 | BoulderCentre for Orthopedics CyclingTeam | 0:47:51.3 | 0:12:12.6 | 13.38 |
| 10 | Men |  tyrone2526 | 40-49 | 0:49:10.4 | 0:13:31.7 | 13.02 | |
| 11 | Men |  denny44 | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:50:21.2 | 0:14:42.5 | 12.71 |
| 12 | Men | TomBuilder | 17-29 | 0:50:25.1 | 0:14:46.4 | 12.7 | |
| 13 | Men |  amun1000 | 50-59 | 0:51:14.6 | 0:15:35.3 | 12.49 | |
| 14 | Men |  Squalo_delle_Alpi | 40-49 | Shark Attack | 0:54:01.5 | 0:18:22.8 | 11.85 |
| 15 | Men | Fuji54 | 60+ | 0:54:32.5 | 0:18:53.8 | 11.74 | |
| 16 | Men |  Mucker1974 | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:57:33.5 | 0:21:54.8 | 11.12 |
| 17 | Men | S.Ludford | 50-59 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:00:14.9 | 0:24:36.2 | 10.62 |
| 18 | Men |  DeHunter | 30-39 | DOWDV | 1:00:26.3 | 0:24:47.6 | 10.59 |
| 19 | Men |  Andy_UP | 40-49 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:04:17.3 | 0:28:38.6 | 9.96 |
| 20 | Men | RostaG | 40-49 | 1:10:32.2 | 0:34:53.4 | 9.08 | |
| dnf | Men | bmosst80 | 40-49 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men |  AgustinBosch | 40-49 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | ManuLhom | 30-39 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | tabuyo | 50-59 | OnceOnce | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | Timojoli | 40-49 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | Fernando_C | 60+ | dnf | – |
So this route was a, uhm, clever choice for the second race of the day (though “clever” might not be the favorite descriptor–“perverse” maybe better?). Starting in the town of Pains, I mean Panes, and going up the same road we just did (thought it looked familiar) to La Hermida, Then we turned uphill (very uphill). The geologist in me noticed the red ferric oxide staining on the rock faces near the top of the climb. Anyone else see that? Or maybe it was the red haze in front of my eyes at that point. But I was happy to sustain a pretty good effort all the way up that last five km. Kudos to everyone who finished both races today; that was tough.
As usual the 🦈, doesn’t plan anything, opens the path and boom… away until you find energy.
The nice thing is to think that the second race is more “relaxing mood” than the first and instead I check the altitude difference 3 times and it makes me laugh (thanks Neil and Kyle 😉🤣). The first part was wonderful because I found an excellent group who each gave something in turn to push themselves towards the infernal climbs. If I don’t forget anyone, we shot with S.Loudford, Denny44, Tombuilde and Fuji54. Then towards the end I was no longer able to keep Denny44 (always one step ahead). Andy_UP appeared to me at the fibe and I imagined he was tired and he gave me spirits back. Last km in control of the possible return of Fuji54, and I earned a well-deserved 14th place. Congratulations to all the riders who did the two races.
Strong riding tonight, well done 💪
Had no intention of doing 2nd Race tonight but I knew Neil would be disappointed in me if I didn’t, so I spent the time between races trying to cool down in a cold shower and finding dry kit. Decided to go fast to the base of the climb and then just plod home, but I missed the fast group, it’s been so long since I sprinted the start I’ve forgotten how it works. Found myself in a massive no man’s land and just sat up waiting for more riders until ‘Tombuilder’, ‘Fuji54’, ‘Squalo Delle Alpi’ & ‘denny44’ formed a group. Knowing I wasn’t racing the climb I just sat in the group looking for maximum draft to get to the climb with least energy wasted, hit the climb at exact point of catching ‘Mucker1974’ who provided the pace I needed … until he saw some potential scalps ahead and shot forward with renewed energy. I did 2nd half of climb with ‘Andy_UP’ who had clearly blown_UP big style and was limping home below 1.5w/kg, with ‘DeHunter’ gradually catching Andy managed a spell at 2.0w/kg which I thought would get us home with positions safe, but our opponent was now too close, so like a good teammate, I left Andy dying on the road and found the sprint I didn’t use at the start to stay ahead of ‘DeHunter’. I still don’t know why I raced twice tonight, but it sure gets the Rouvy challenges ‘ticked’ off.
Big S.Ludford, Never give up 💪🤙
Simple tactic for this one. Try to get to the climb with as few competitors as possible. And with the biggest possible lead. And from there try to keep reasonable pressure on the actual evil climb. My master plan was well helped from the start by Jose Costa, who, with completely fresh legs, set a furious pace. Karel, Nelson and a few others hung on with their nails until Mr Costa just gave it another nudge. I gave everything I had to hold his wheel and with his help we created a massive gap to the rest of the group. As the route was fairly flat for the first 12 km, there weren’t many opportunities to break away from each other before the climb. So we took turns to take the lead (mostly Costa😁) and just before the climb I thought it was probably best to let Costa drive away, as I was afraid of going completely cold on the climb, as I know I can’t beat him on anyway. So, as so often before, I found myself in the middle, and now only had to concentrate on keeping the pace high enough that the pursuers didn’t pick me up on the climb. This worked out well, and I was able to finish in second place.