Hey everyone,
This is a race report of Ronde von Manda, which was held the day after Manor. The race was mainly characterized by the intense winds which would shatter the peloton. At the end of Manor, I had asked the rider with whom I had ridden at both the Driveway Crit and Manor if he would be racing Manda the day after. He said that he probably wouldn’t ride the next day as the current day was hard enough, and the following day would be even harder. He gave me a fist bump for encouragement and then went his own way. It wasn’t until I arrived at the Manda course that I realized what he was talking about…
One of the main differences between Manor and Manda is that the Manor race went through a fairly wooded area and the wind wasn’t too bad to ride through. However, with Manor, the race was held on an open field with no protection from the wind. I realized how strong it was the moment I stepped out of my car at the course. When I tried to open the door to get my gear, it closed immediately and I had to prop it open with a weight. Likewise, my teammate Daniel told me that when he tried to get out of the car, the door slammed shut on him and he had to go out the other way. Thus, today would present a new challenge: the wind was forcasted to gust between 25 and 35mph so it would be intense.
When I arrived at the starting line I noticed that the field was significantly reduced from that of the day before. About 50 riders started Manor, whereas today there were only about 25, and perhaps only 5 riders, including me, had raced at Manor the day before. As we waited for the start, Mark Heady, one of the riders with whom I worked at Manor, rolled up to his teammates after he had finished the 4/5 race. He looked utterly exhausted and recognized me from the day before and wished me luck. Before we started, the race official said that the winds were so strong that they would surely split us apart into echelons, and went on to explain the usual rules with bicycle racing.
When we started, we could immediately feel the pressure put on by the crosswinds. Most of the riders in my pack were inexperienced Cat 5 riders, so we didn’t know how to properly form an echelon. Thus, we pretty much strung out in a single file line and I found myself completely exposed to the crosswind. One of the guys who wanted to gain pack position came up next to me so I found some shelter against the wind. However, he had so much difficulty in controlling his bike he was weaving back and forth like a drunkard, which made me extremely nervous while riding next to him. I had learned earlier that he was responsible for one of the crashes the day before, which didn’t add to my confidence.
I dropped back behind him to find a better rider to ride with, but the pace was so relentless at the front that I couldn’t hold the wheel, and I dropped back in the crosswind after the fifth mile. I can’t really say much about the rest of the race except that I rode it entirely alone. I saw another rider in front of me but at some point of the race he disappeared and I never caught up. The wind was definitely the most intense wind I’ve ever ridden against but I know I’ll face something similar in the future so I’ll have to learn to cope with it the next time. I was quite exhausted from the race before so I suppose that I simply haven’t developed the level of endurance to race multiple days in a row, as well as ride for long periods of time against the wind. I had learned later on that the race officials in the follow car would give the pack tips on how to form echelons, but since I wasn’t there at the time I guessed I missed out on a crucial lesson.
Since I had paid my race entry fee, I felt like I might as well have made the best of it and decided to turn the race into a 38 mile workout, rather than quit. so I trudged my way until the end of the course, where I was caught by a pack of professional riders, of which contained former Texas Cycling member Peter Carey, who now rides for the Bahati Foundation, a professional team.
So, it turns out I finished last out of the finishers. The good news is that a handful of riders abandoned the course, so I suppose I get a leg up on them, morally. However, there aren’t really any good things I can say about this race, other than the fact that I mainly rode it to work on my endurance and gain experience from racing. As for the things I did badly, I couldn’t find a good position in the crosswind, and I just didn’t have enough energy to keep up with the pack. When I finished I saw Ken receiving medical attention from a crash. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he received a lot of nasty road rash and was bleeding quite a bit, and his bib shorts looked as if they were torn beyond repair. He told me he had got stuck in a crack in the road and couldn’t get out, and then fell over. He had a very good top-10 result at Manor and I’m sure had he not fallen over that he would have gotten a very good result at Manda as well. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a very good day for Texas Cycling as Hogan, Day, Dalton, Varela, and Dodson all abandoned the race. Kearns stuck it out and got 12th in the Mens’ 3/4, while Carey had a very good result and finished 4th in the Pro Competition. Hammerfest race report coming up next…
Carey stayed in the break for 4th place. Photo courtesy of Velossimo Racing.