Race 2 Replace Report.
 

Was freaking cool. I got 41st out of 60 in my heat, which i though wa pretty good. @ fellows off the majr taylr little 500 team were in my heat, they were damned fast. The fastest heat was teh 25-36 group. Their average speed was 29.6 mph and they finished in 51.2 minutes. Crazy. I stood up for a sprint at the end f my heat and my computer said 44.2 MPH, the guys doing the timing confirmed that my comp was correct. I was cool to stand up to sprint finish(might as well look good losing) and to hear the crowd screaming for you and like 3 other guys. There was sme REALLY fast time tralists and a few loal pro riders there. all in all it was a great experience. Im headed out to do the cat 4 crit in elk something park in the morning, should be a blast.

I got 9th out of 150 in my heat (35-49). My teamate got 3rd. We averaged 27.2mph for 25 miles. Our group didn't work together nearly as good as the 25-34 age group. A Colavita pro set sail with 3 to go and stayed away for the win in my heat.

I believe that the winning time for the 25-34 was 52'40" which was around 28.5mph. Their first 5 laps were just over 29mph avg. The winner is this heat (also he was the overall winner) was from Ashville, NC.

Sorry, but I can't buy that you spinted at 44mph. Robby McEwen tops out around 44mph in his sprint. I sprinted with the leaders in my heat and only hit 36mph.

It was fun. I was within arms reach of Lance.

[QUOTE=PolishPostal]

Sorry, but I can't buy that you spinted at 44mph. Robby McEwen tops out around 44mph in his sprint. I sprinted with the leaders in my heat and only hit 36mph.

QUOTE]


I wasnt selling it :D The timing fellows at the end confirmed it.


As far as the times, I think there was alot of confusion. Cause when we were heading out the guy doing staging old us 51.20, maybe he was trying to motivate us or something, he was kind of an *******.


I watched your heat, that colavita guy killed it with 3 to go. he looked like he was goin slower than the lead group and i thought you guys might have run him down. would have been freakin sweet.

How did they confirm your sprint speed? I didn't see any radar guns. I still don't think it was accurate, sorry.

Yes the Colavita dude was freakin strong. He pretty much got a gap of about 100m and just held it. Then in the last lap attacks started coming for second.

The lapped riders were awful in our heat. They were told to go to the outside when the leaders approached. We had to dodge them all over the place. There were several close calls.

It's not impossible for him to sprint that fast especially if he was in a pack where he could get draft. And it totally depends upon what a pro tops out at. The terrain, wind, good leadout are all factors. Sometimes pros can get into the high 40s to low 50s depending upon the climate and terrain. So no, it's not impossible. I personally have sprinted that fast before and I'm only 16. But then again I'm pretty strong for a 16 year old.

Videos please!!! Did Lance race too?

Low 50's? Are you saying pros sprint at 85km/h? I'm not buying either, though maybe match sprinters on indoor tracks manage those speeds, who knows, and maybe downhill with a tailwind...

It was a great day yesterday wasn't it? A couple of my friends and I went. Took the camper over Friday night and stayed at the Legion campground next to the racetrack. Not the greatest part of town, but okay. Watched the racing all day, I got a kick out of the first race with the older guys. Most of them were in it just to ride the track with their fans cheering from the stands as they came by. Hey, anyone with $150 could do it! I knew that it would become an issue later though. THe younger divisions had some excellent riders and they had to negotiate the ones that were out for a leisurely stroll. Never saw any crashes but saw some taco'd wheels and road rash.

The "Lap Led by Lance" was disappointing if you were really intent on seeing Lance. There was an incredibly long line for staging and we were told "yes, Lance will be coming by and you will see him". Saw a motorcycle cop come from the opposite end he was coming from so figured it wouldn't be long now. It made sense that he'd have an escort to the start line. Well, he came by riding in a car (fast). One older woman said "there he went". Everyone else said, "who?" Lance had eluded all of us.

By the time we got on the track, he was long gone. We were only supposed to do one lap around the speedway but noticed some getting off and others staying on. The four of us chose to stay on. We did another lap and saw someone that hit the inside wall. How'd the heck that happen? They didn't let anyone do a third lap but as we were getting off the track, Lance came by riding in the opposite direction. I had already used up all my memory on my camera, figuring he wasn't going to be close enough for me to get a picture of him. By the time my friend realized what was going on, she got a picture of his butt going away from us. Oh well.

Fun was had by my whole group. Went back to the camper, changed clothes and came back for the Collective Soul concert. Sat under the trees for another hour, BSing with some crazy drunk dudes and then headed for home. Indy alternative rock stations are so much better than Cincinnati and we sang our lungs out to Disturbed, Hinder, Nickelback, Creed, Green Day. Collapsed in a heap when we all got home.


OH OH OH - almost forgot. We had such a great time laughing at the guys wearing time trial helmets and Zipp wheels that were "most of the time" getting lapped!

I'm 53 years old and a decent sprinter but, obviously way past my prime. Earlier this year on a training ride I hit 39.5 mph with a leadout, against a headwind on a flat, without even getting out of the saddle.

My point is, I can't believe Robby only tops out at 44 mph. Not if this old man can hit 40.

Bob

I did a google search and came up with this link where McEwen describes 75kph/46.6mph as "pretty good." This would lead me to believe that he is capable of something more. How Dead Roman compares to this I could not say.

I got some video of the lead sprint in my race and my dad taped me every time i went by. i need t get a firewire cable and then ill put it on my computer and do some editing. I was riding with one other guy, I killed myself in the first half of the race pulling ther guys back to one of the larger groups, it was a blast though. There WAS alor of guys in full on TT gear getting lapped. I passed one of them myself and though th t was pretty embarrasing, since I was ne of the slower guys. All in all, I kept up with guys who were really recing and didnt get dropped. Im really happy with how i did, had a great time.

You don't finish 41 out of 60 in a flat one hour race that averages 27-28 mph an hour, get dropped, finish with 3 guys OTB, and sprint at 44.2 pmh. If you had the horses to sprint like that,no way you get dropped, and with only 3 guys sprinting with you its not like you're getting the huge pack draft and lead out.story just doesn't add up.

Just in case I'm wrong, if you really cansprintat 44.2, I'll pay your expenses to race on my time at any crit you want, as long as I get half your winnings. That sort of speed and you'll win every local crit every weekend.

The winner was AJ Smith
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10694.0.html

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

FYI - Results will be posted on the Race 2 Replace website by Wednesday (8/16/06).

Not that you need any more evidence that America doesn't care about cycling, but...

Did you see how small the crowd was? And they thought nobody cared about the Indy 500. Granted, this wasn't a top level pro race, but it did involve the only cyclist that most Americans care about, Lance Armstrong.

I get why the public doesn't care, but I don't really understand why most cyclists didn't seem to care. What's up with only 400 people signing up for the race? Maybe people were afraid that thousands of riders would show up and it would turn into a big crash fest. And why didn't any teams show up? Maybe they think it's a better bet to go the traditional route if they want pro teams to notice them.

Then again, it seems like more of a publicity stunt than anything else? Why would Discovery set up such a short race that isn't even ridden under UCI rules if they're really looking for a team member? When guys are showing up on TT bikes and they just let them race in the pack you have to wonder what's going on.

Perhaps because it was a really stupid format?

Or the fee to enter?

That and the format and the fact that it was in Indianapolis.

Yeah, Indiana isn't exactly known for cycling, and I can say that because that's where I'm originally from. I bet if it was in California a lot more people would have shown up.

The VeloNews article mentioned that the entry fee was high, but I don't know about that. I mean, if you really thought you were good and really thought this could be your big break, then $150 would be nothing.

But how many people realisitically are good enough that this could be an actual opportunity for them? Pehaps 100? The rest are Walter Middys. And if you are good enough, there are other avenues to get noticed. Why spend $150 entry fee, and travel expenses to Indianapolis to compete in a format where you could be the strongest rider, win your heet, and lose to someone you couldn't race against, only because the other heet had a different group dynamic? Not to mention subjecting yourself to the risk of riding in a pack with guys on tri bikes that may have never done a mass start road race?

Ok, now I'm seriously calling BS. I'm assuming from the posted results that you're the 41st finisher from Teague Texas in the under 24 heat (which by the way only had 47 finishers) your time, though off the chart, had to be slower than 1:15:33 for 25 miles. You clearly were dropped by the competitive group and there is no way in hell you sprinted at 44.2mph (perhaps the computer wa set to kilometers). If you're going to embellish your stories, perhaps you should try not doing it in a publically verifiable manner.

The group of friends that I went with consisted of myself, my best friend, my best friend's 13 year old daughter and the son of the LBS where we all bought our Treks. My best friend commented on the same thing and was told by a local cyclists (just repeating gossip here don't know if it's true), that the last time Lance was in town, he upset the Indy cycling community. Perhaps that is why the poor attendance. It was a little disheartening to see such a small crowd. Our LBS dude said that Indy has two of the top 100 Trek stores in the Nation and I've never seen so many Treks in one place. The races and crit's I've been to, never have more than a handful.

What did Lance do that was so bad?

That's funny about all the Treks. Back when I lived in Indiana I would see Treks all the time. Here in Toledo I'm always seeing Cannondales. It's hard to believe, but around here I could buy a Trek (not that I would ever do that ;) ) and be different.

It was a great day, perfect weather, lots of nice people; you could eat, watch the heats, talk with vendors, or go to a car show. We did the lap, and watched a couple heats. I wish I would have done the race, not that I could have won, but it would have been a fun to experience. There was some wind, so that might have made an impact.

We saw Lance when he went through the "lappers" after the ride was over. Lots of people were trying to get close, we just let him ride by. He also presented the awards, but didn't speak. He could have made a bigger deal about the day, thanking the racers and lappers for helping his foundation. There was talk of an annual event, and there are a few points to work on, but in general just a great day. We talked with several people from out of state, and rode a little of the Formula 1 track as well. Trek also had Madones to ride and the track food, while pricey, tasted alright.

As for Lance upseting the Indy cyclist, there was some deal back in May with the Indy 500. I think the bikers wanted to do something for/with Lance, and it didn't work out or only included a few people - I don't think anyone is holding a gruge.

The Speedway is an awesome venue, maybe not the best for biking, but very cool to be there with a couple thousand rather then a couple hundred thousand.

John

LOL. Pwn3d.

--Steve

I got dropped by a group of semi pro riders. No suprise there, that dosent mean the group i was with wasnt racing. They only had rankings to 47 because thats how many finished, alot of people didnt finish their laps because it was kind of embarrassing. I was in a group of heavier riders(untill the last lap) and we all had agreed to take it easy the last lap or so and sprint it out in th end. It ended up nly being like 3 guys. Saying i cant sprint over 44.2 KM/H iis a bit rediculus. last word is, were you there? I was just posting a report from the race, if you got a problem with it, lets sprint, you know where im at obviously.

The guy that got 4th in your heat is on his 5th race EVER.

FWIW, his dad won the 50+ though, so there is some natural ability.

Dude...

First off, the Indy 500 draws about 300,000 people. Not bad for "nobody cares..."

Second, there was this race in Chicago that had a $150,000 purse. All the good riders went there. With all due respect, those that know racing knew that this would be exactly as it was.

It was a publicity stunt. Geez...

Last, the guy that won will only be doing the individual time trial in South Carolina. He will not be in the US Pro race. As one needs to be licensed to race at that level. The stink of this was that the Disco people did not think of this beforehand...about a month ago, this became an issue.

$150 bucks to ride 25 miles....again, why the really good riders were in Chicago. Elk Grove was the race that Landis was to have ridden before his mess...the $150 bucks was a fundraiser and they made it expensive enough that you, at least, had to think about it before writing a check.

I know a couple of people who were thinking of going...this was before the ITT issue came up...and I asked them if they had ever ridden in a 6 hour race before, and I get "the look"...this race is about six hours long.
Thank goodness the licensing thing came up...

This was on a par with the "open tryouts" that major league baseball teams have. You pay a lot of money to "try out" when these guys spend millions scouting for talent. Rarely does anyone have the talent to make it...

Disco knows every rider in the world that is potentially good enough.

ohmigawd....

big break???

what a hoot...

the real racers were in Elk Grove Village. Beat the guy in the photo, that's your big break.

...now some more facts....the reason it was at the Speedway was that this was also a fundraiser for the Indiana University Hospital Cancer Center. This happens to be the hospital were one Mr. Armstrong went for cancer treatment, and is the facility, world-wide, for treatment in testicular cancer. Dr. Einhorn invented the current successful treatments for this disease. So, Lance does fundraisers for his foundation and the hospital, and it's his second trip here, his first to drive the pacecar for the 500 (and do a large black tie dinner/fundraiser at $10,000 a table that was sold out), that race "nobody cares about"...:rolleyes:

You didn't really think that the winner of this thing was going to, like, get a contract or anything, did you? Good grief...did you see the ads they ran for this "race"?

I could get into the amount of racing that goes on in Indiana, the juniors from Indiana over in Europe right now, the number of Olympians that have been from here, the multi-time collegiate cycling champions, Marian College, but it's not worth it. Oh, and the guy that won the 18-24 age group was from, you guessed it, Marian College.

...my sides hurt...

So is it 44.2 KM/H or 44.2 mph? If it's km/h you're slipping back into the believable zone for an amateur racer who got dropped. Otherwise I'm with Merlin--- If you can sprint 44mph you should quit your day job.