MUCKERS Vietnam Race 2 of 6. 08/06/23
Rouvy Route Used: Vietnam – the awesome Ha Long Bay | 18.86 miles | 275 ft climbing
Route 2 of the Vietnam challenge and Race 2 in my mini Vietnam championship.
31 Registered | 17 Finishers | 4 DNF | 10 DNS
First of all an apology. Sorry, I’ve no idea why I set this race up at 7:30 rather than my usual 7pm, must have been a ghost in the system or a senior moment… and it was only bought to my attention on the day of the race so it was too late to rectify it by then so for those who needed it to be 7pm, I apologies.
so at half seven, we were ready to go on what is normally quite a boring flat route with a bridge section 10 miles in to make it interesting, then a flat ending. So yes, the draft would be needed here big time!
The top 2 riders tonight finished strong in round 1 so well done to the winner “Tuden” and 2nd place “MikeHagen” for taking full advantage of todays field and especially Mike for getting the Muckers a Silver medal!!!
A Race for Bronze was next and it was Spanish rider “jakimati” who just got the better of our very own pocket rocket “Andy_UP” whoclaimed a very strong 4th place.
Another gap, then yet another sprint finish, this time for 5th place, with Muckers Worldwide team rider “kin_kwan” getting the better of his fellow Canadian “rouvy1bryon” by .3 of a second!
7th and in a bit of no mans land came the Portuguese rider “EdAlves” then what looks to be another solo effort over the line for 8th for yet another Muckers Worldwide team rider “S.Ludford“!
A very strong ride for the 5th Muckers Worldwide rider “jeff65” for 9th place, then the final top 10 place mention goes to “andybenw” with the English rider coming home just 5 minutes and 13 seconds behind first place.
So, did this ride go as planed, a disaster or better than expected? please leave us a comment in the comments section if you can as its always great to hear how the race went from your perspective.
cheers everyone and see you on the next Muckers Race/Event
Sunday morning race and a chance to win the Muckers worldwide Racing kit for your Avatar is in the link below:
https://my.rouvy.com/onlinerace/live/123564
Muckers Tuesday night race link below:
https://my.rouvy.com/onlinerace/live/122851
TONIGHTS RACE RESULTS:
| # | Category | User | Points | Team | Racetime | GAP | Av.mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men |  Tuden | 100 | Flø Garage Cycling | 0:43:39.2 | 25.92 | |
| 2 | Men |  MikeHagen | 96 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:44:54.9 | 0:01:15.7 | 25.19 |
| 3 | Men |  jakimati | 93 | Pegate Ahi | 0:46:26.1 | 0:02:47.8 | 24.36 |
| 4 | Men |  Andy_UP | 90 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:46:29.5 | 0:02:50.4 | 24.34 |
| 5 | Men | kin_kwan | 88 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:47:04.8 | 0:03:25.6 | 24.03 |
| 6 | Men | rouvy1bryon | 86 | 0:47:05.1 | 0:03:25.9 | 24.03 | |
| 7 | Men |  EdAlves | 84 | A. D. Grijó / AutoMarques | 0:47:42.9 | 0:04:03.7 | 23.71 |
| 8 | Men |  S.Ludford | 82 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:48:17.8 | 0:04:38.6 | 23.43 |
| 9 | Men | jeff65 | 80 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:48:44.7 | 0:05:05.5 | 23.21 |
| 10 | Men | andybenw | 78 | 0:48:53.2 | 0:05:13.1 | 23.15 | |
| 11 | Men |  Mick_Michel | 76 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:49:49.1 | 0:06:10.8 | 22.71 |
| 12 | Men | Mucker1974 | 74 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:49:50.9 | 0:06:10.9 | 22.71 |
| 13 | Men | Hinni | 72 | 0:50:32.4 | 0:06:52.9 | 22.39 | |
| 14 | Men |  derrydingle | 70 | 0:51:10.2 | 0:07:30.8 | 22.11 | |
| 15 | Men | Ryanio-Bianchi | 68 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:51:10.4 | 0:07:30.9 | 22.11 |
| 16 | Men | kylofski | 66 | Muckers Worldwide | 0:51:13.9 | 0:07:34.7 | 22.09 |
| 17 | Men |  robinagy | 64 | fittikék | 0:53:01.2 | 0:09:22.6 | 21.34 |
| dnf | Men |  UncleE64 | 4 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | maratonbiker | 3 | GURE | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men |  Mare77 | 2 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | NEILPEEL | 1 | dnf | – |
a fantastic 2 rounds for Tuden, Mike and Andy! Kin, Mucker and Mick nice and consistent with nice points then Ryan, Ste and Kyle just getting those rides done and getting the points in. you can already see the battles forming!
next race in the championship link below:
https://my.rouvy.com/onlinerace/live/122674
| POSITION | RIDER NAME | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | TUDEN | 196 |
| 2 | MIKE HAGEN | 184 |
| 3 | ANDY-UP | 174 |
| 4 | KIN KWAN | 156 |
| =5 | MUCKER1974 | 150 |
| =5 | MICK MICHEL | 150 |
| 7 | RYANIO BIANCHI | 138 |
| 8 | S.LUDFORD | 136 |
| 9 | KYLOFSKI | 124 |
| 10 | JOSE COSTA RONDA | 100 |
| =11 | ADAMPEL | 93 |
| =11 | JAKIMATI | 93 |
| 13 | KAREL SOUSEK | 90 |
| =14 | ROUYIBRYON | 86 |
| =14 | R4-404-SALVATORE | 86 |
| 16 | EDALVES | 84 |
| 17 | DON JULIO | 82 |
| =18 | CHORUS | 80 |
| =18 | JEFF6S | 80 |
| 20 | BASAK OZTAN + ANDYBENW | 78 |
12th tonight. tried in vain to hang onto a group battling for the last few positions for the top 10, but even in the draft, I struggled and i soon got hung out the rear then dropped below the dreaded 50ft gap so lost the draft. tried going Solo for a while which seemed to be working but it was just boring so I backed off and let the group behind catch up so I could get in the draft and maybe have some fun. Ended up doing just that and by the time stronger riders came and went, it was me and Mick riding well together! Not catching up to 10th, but more importantly keeping “Hinni” far enough behind that he didn’t think he was in with a chance of catching us. If it hadn’t been for hinni, i would have backed off but he kept the pressure on!!!! Sprint between me and Mick at the end, and i was leading with about 10ft to go , and even at 700watts, i just didn’t have enough to keep him behind! enjoyed that.
For me this was a race of two parts, pre-bridge and post-bridge. A fast start as everyone looked to benefit from draft on a very fast course and we quickly formed a group of five riders, it looked like Mike was in two minds about dropping back to us in the early stages but he was able to power on without us. ‘jakimati’, ‘rouvylbryon’ plus Muckers ‘kin_kwan’, ‘Andy UP’ and myself stayed together all the way to the bridge and we picked up ‘EdAlves’ along the way. Kin, jakimati and rouvylbryon did the major share of the pulling as Andy and myself had other plans. My plan was to get as far as I could before eventually cracking and Andy’s better plan was to attack ‘the bridge’. I enjoy watching a smart ride and Andy’s tactics and good form almost delivered him a podium position tonight, well done Mucker. Once we hit that bridge, bang, I was out the back door and solo’d to the end nervously watching Mucker Jeff’s power efforts and working much harder than I wanted too. A few drafting issues again tonight, it didn’t affect my position but made life harder on a few occasions, my avatar seems to make poor positioning choices and sits too far to the side of the rider ahead saving 20w when it was approx 60w if my avatar positioned directly behind…weird. Very hot in my cave tonight, three fans on full power were not enough. Well done everyone and thanks for the race.
Well done Ste! thank you for your superb comments. you might do well on this championship if you can do the next 4 races??
Thanks Steven for the mentions!
Tonight’s race is not really my cup of tea. I’m more into climbs and hills. Being a lousy sprinter, tonight’s race was all about not dragging anyone to the finish line for me. So the master plan was to give it a full blast at the start and hope to get a big enough lead that any pursuers would abandon the pursuit. A cunning and simple plan, which can also backfire, as you can end up having used too many matches in the first half. But luckily the plan worked out, even though I long doubted whether Mike Hagen (Mucker’s Worldwide) would be able to eat into my lead. He is really strong on this type of route. Luckily for me, he couldn’t. So I could drive to the finish line alone. Even though the route was more boring than watching paint dry, you can’t deny that it’s good training, and that’s what counts anyway😉
Only one of the usual half dozen “top tier” riders on the line today, but what is Tuden doing blasting off like that? EdAlves was able to get on his wheel, but I was not. I was dithering about whether to keep going by myself, or wait for what looked like a fun group of about half a dozen behind me. A draft would be nice. Decided to keep going. Didn’t think Ed could keep up with Tuden, and when (if?) I caught him we could work together for the podium. But Ed was not getting dropped, and the two of them were slowly pulling ahead. Who would break first? Me or Ed? It was Ed. Finally caught him about 5 km in. Slowed and let him get my wheel. Pulled for a km, then it was his turn. Slowed, but he didn’t do a pull. Slowed some more . . . well, if he can’t or won’t do a turn, I’m not waiting. So I went. Soloed to the finish.
I think Ed was unable to do much work, he spend all his strenght trying to follow Tuden. In the end, he had no reply to riders he normally always leave behind.
Good point, Andy. I was impressed that Ed stuck with Tuden as long as he did. I could have been kinder when I caught him.
My plan nowdays is pretty much always the same. Don’t try to follow the 2fast4me guys, settle in the second group, try to follow and take it from there. So Tuden didn’t like any compagny today, as he flew off like stung by multiple bee’s. AdAlves did try to follow him. Mike tried to use his brains. We saw him doubting, wait, or go alone. He choose the hard way. It wouldn’t have changed any result if he choose to wait, but I do have respect for his choice and effort. The group I was in was flying around 40km/h. With powerhouses as S. Ludford, Jakimati, Kin Kwan and Bryon I couldn’t do much work on the flats. At this pace, me as a lightweight pulling requires so much w/kg and energy I burn up very quickly. So I apologies for that. Settling in the draft, watching the moves. Very strong Mike stayed ahaid of us and even pulling further away. Ed Alves did the opposite and had to slow down and join us. There was 1 chance for me for getting a good result, and that is to get rid of a few fast riders with great sprints, and that was on that 1 little hill. I fired all the rockets from bottom to top. 500m at 6w/kg. Came on top first with jakimati 12m behind, I was going to need hem to bring me to the finish. He pulled strong and I really tried to do my part, but he was just stronger. Very happy with my 4th place, and now 3rd in the championship! Nice!
Very good start for me. Formed a group of 5 with 2 teammates. rouvylbryon ,jakimati and I worked nicely together until the small hill. Andy attacked and couldn’t follow the wheels. Bryon and work together again to drop Ed Alves. I know Bryon is a strong rider, so hide behind him at the finishline to pass him at 30m. Very lucky to get a #5. First time beating my fellow Canadian Bryon.
You spent so much time pulling on the front, super strong last night, I had the will to help you but not the strength.
I’ve mentioned this several times before, but these flat rides aren’t suitable for me. However, I’ve come to the decision that I can be of assistance to some riders in the Muckers Team. So, as we set off, my intention was to make this a steady ride and positioned myself near the back. Both Ryanio and Jeff65 also opted for an easy pace. The three of us rode together for about a mile, and then Jeff65 suddenly decided to accelerate and race ahead. The next 16 miles are a blur in my memory, as I simply sat on Ryanio’s wheel, constantly wondering when we would finish. I want to express my gratitude to Ryanio for helping me get through this ride. Without him, I would have likely dozed off. 😴 The weather forecast shows a scorching 28°C for the entire next week, making it too hot 🔥 for indoor cycling. I’ll catch you all when it rains.
Hello guys! Thanks for this race! I guess I’m quite far behind you in watts (and ahead in weigth..), but who cares, pedalling is the point! I hope I can join other races, and maybe-maybe prepare myself in time, so I won’t start 500 meters after the peloton 🙂