Tour of Granite Country Masters 35+ 1/2/3 Recap

Excellent stage race this weekend. Lightly attended, as can usually be expected mid-July.

Here are the highlights from the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 field:
only 11 starters
7.1 mi TT - 65deg and rain
28 mi Circuit Race - Sunny and moderate wind
76 mi Road Race - Sunny and moderate wind

Time Trial:
Pouring rain
45 min start delay due to lack of starting list
Headwind out, Tailwind back. Lightly rolling terrain.
1. Bagley - 15:31
2. Jimmer - 15:35
3. Christenson - 15:50

Circuit Race:
Sun came out
5 laps on a 5.5mi circuit, time bonus sprints each lap
Bell and Muyers broke away last lap
3 yellow line penalties (Muyers, Bagley, Coyle)
1. Bell
2. Muyers
3. Jimmer

GC after Circuit Race:
1. Jimmer
2. Koeneman @13sec
3. Evanson @46sec

Road Race:
Sunny and HOT!
3 laps of a 26 mi course with some challenging hills.
Time bonuses at top of first climb and finish.
Snider attacks solo on first lap. Coyle joins soon after. No chase.
Evanson and Jimmer go for time bonuses at top of first climb, and try to bridge up.

End of 1st lap:
Coyle and Snide Leading
Evanson and Jimmer @ 1:30
Field @ 2:00

Evanson and Jimmer fail to bridge up, and are caught on backside of the course. Attacks ensue.
Grandstay uses their numbers well, and eventually Bell gets away and bridges to the lead 2.
The field essentially stops racing, and the lead 3 easily pull away for the top 3 spots on GC.
1. Coyle
2. Bell
3. Snider

Final GC:
1. Coyle
2. Bell @ 28sec
3. Snider @ 50sec

A huge congrats to Coyle and the GrandStay team for great team execution, and deserving results. Congrats to Bell on winning the circuit race.

The weekend went as well as I could expect given I was solo in a small field dominated by GrandStay and Silver Cycling. I had a good TT, getting aced by Bagley. The circuit race went well for me, scoring enough bonus seconds to take the lead.

I was certainly hoping for good luck, leading the GC prior to the road race, but I knew the odds were against me. I chose to mark Koeneman, and do my best to cover whatever else I could. It was an easy choice to let Snide go early, but when Coyle went, I knew I was in trouble. If I chase, there will be a counter attack, and then I'd really be in trouble. I chose to wait for the hill, and try to bridge up.

I attacked in the feedzone, and only Evanson was with me. We continued over the top in pursuit, but the field was giving chase close behind. The 2 of us worked together well, and made progress on the lead 2 initially, but their lead stabilized around 1:25. Evanson started to tire, and I wasn't feeling great either. We both knew it was curtains if the field caught us, but it was inevitable.

The field caught us in the rollers on the backside, and immediately the attacks started. Christenson and Koeneman were the primary animators, with Bagley, Muyers, and Bell taking shots too. At this point, I was forced to cover everything, and it really, really hurt. Bell eventually got away, and I tried to attack from behind to bridge up to him, only to be covered and counter attacked by Koeneman and Christenson. It was everything I had to cover that move.

As we finished the 2nd lap, I could see that Bell had bridged to the leading 2. My bottles were empty, I was out of food, and exhausted. I resigned to keep my eye on Koeneman, and race for 4th place. I had nothing left to go on the attack, and the couple times I did put in efforts, I was attacked and suffered to get on. Even sitting in, I struggled to cover Koeneman's attacks.

I was desperate for a bottle the final time up the climb, but Jordan had left the feed zone after the 1/2's came through. For a second, I thought my race was over. Then Koeneman graciously offers me a full spare bottle and saved me. What a sportsman.

Koeneman and Christenson attacked some more on the backside on the way to the finish, but each time, I dug deep and kept in contact. Coming into the finish, Christenson was on the front and I had Koeneman boxed in a bit on my left. I opened the sprint at about 200m, and was able to hold Koeneman off for 4th. The final 8 second time bonus was little consolation for a tough 3.5 hours in the saddle, knowing I had dropped from 1st to 4th on GC. Oh well. I did my best, and have no regrets.

Christenson continues to earn more and more of my respect. And what can I say about Koeneman? What a great competitor, just having returned from severe injury, and more so, what a great person. Congrats to everyone on a hard fought stage race, even if there were only 11 of us.