Poolesville Road Race -- Dirt Boy Rides Again

Saturday May 12th was the Poolesville Road Race, put on by NCVC (National Capital Velo Club).  It's a great race.  It's the Queen of the Mid Atlantic Classics, the Poolesville course features a feared, notorious, and for some of us eagerly awaited 1 mile stretch of gravel road on top of 9 miles of deceptively tough classic Maryland hills.  The course lends itself to breakaways and wins by strong men and women.  I've done it many times, this would be Jake's first time (and as with any road race that involves gravel, he was psyched).  There is no Junior race so he would line up with 75 Cat 4 men (including me; the 45+ race was at 8:30am and the Cat 4 at 12:30 so it wouldn't work for me to do the morning).  It would be 53 miles, 5 laps of the 10 mile loop.


As soon as we ended the neutral roll out, two guys from Whole Wheel Velo attacked.  I was 4th wheel and had little choice (well I guess I did) but to try and follow.  But I stupidly didn't close the gap quickly so spent 1 minute at max effort trying to close to them.  When I looked back, Jake was coming across the gap with Coppi Chris Grengs.  And "boom" we have a 9 person break away within 2 miles of the start.  Unfortunately, that was all I could handle and dropped out of the break.  I sat up completely to recover and positioned myself on the front of the pack to try and control the chase.  

I'd seen a break work from the gun at Poolesville once before so while 49 miles is a long way to go, it has happened.  I worked with Coppi Rob Eom to make sure that only 2 or 3 guys were able to do all the chasing.  At one point, Jake's teammate Andy Fleming came up front but I told him Jake was in the break and not to chase.  We hit the gravel at the front, again trying to keep any massive chase from mounting.  Unfortunately, that 20 minutes was all my legs would handle and I faded away after the gravel.  I would ride on for several laps with another guy for training until the officials pulled us out and placed us based on our position at that time.


In the meantime, I was getting updates from people on the side of the road about Jake's break away.  It had held for the first lap but was caught at the beginning of the second lap.  Here, Jake's group enters the gravel the first lap:

by Doug Graham http://wildlightphotos.photoshelter.com/

someone always overcooks that turn. photo Doug Graham

Here Jake Leads his group around the last corner of the lap (these photos by Andreas Gutzeit)

From pictures and accounts I gather that after that Jake was well positioned near the front the whole race.  

photo by Jay Wescott http://jaywestcott.net/

photo by Andreas Gutzeit

Jake in gravel mid-race by Doug Graham

More perspective on the gravel road dust:

Andy & Jake - photo Pam Mauch

Jake & Mike Rousso - photo Pam Mauch

After I got pulled, I went back to the feed zone to hang with Coach Sue and Pierre and the HPC support system.  Shane and Andy Mount were in the Cat 3 break with Coppi James Hibbs.  But Going through the feed zone with one lap to go, I didn't see Jake in the Cat 4 group, so I rode backwards on the course to see if he had been dropped, crashed, had a flat.  I didn't find him (must just not have seen him) so I headed for the finish line to catch the finish.


The Cat 4 lead moto came around the bend and it was a fairly big group sprint that looked chaotic.  Using my SoigneurDad scanning powers I was able to see Jake at the last minute, tucked into the second row of people (you can see him in Jay's photo 3rd from the right with his new white helmet), so I immediately thought he might be in the top 10.   

Cat 4 sprint - photo Jay Wescott

 Results were quick and indeed, he was 9th.  An awesome result (again better than my best).  His teammate Andy Fleming was 15th and Coppi Chris Grengs was 6th.  Really, proud again.  To jump into the first lap break away then recover and finish in the top 10 was impressive (for Chris as well).  Reminder, he's 14.

dirty boy - photo by Doug Graham

Jake was dirtier than he was after Battenkill. 

Photos by Jay Wescott, Doug Graham, and Andreas Gutzeit. thanks guys.  Bruce Buckley has some up here (Jake in early break http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/22961037_G522qh#!i=1845821672&k=pP8QdXV )

Unfortunately, my baseball soigneur skills were weak and we didn't get back from Poolesville until the 4th inning of Liam's game, and they were losing for the first time all year.  It was tough loss, but we had a good practice on Sunday night so they'll bounce back.