Durand Road Race 2011 - BRRRRR!

Jordan in an early 4-man breakaway with Dylan Knutson, Jens Brabbit, and an IScorp rider
Photo courtesey of Anthony Kwan @ Minneapolis Musette

Waking up to 2-3 inches of wet snow on the ground, strong winds, and 30deg temps was sure to be a death blow to turnout at the 2011 season opener Durand Road Race. The only thing that would keep Jordan and I from racing was the race being cancelled, so we made the annual trek. I was impressed with how many showed up! Even better, the roads were completely dry.

Jordan lined up with the Cat 1/2/3's with MBRC/Flanders teammates Adam Gorski, Mike Woell, Nick Kimpton, and Mark Skarpohl. Their field was plenty strong, with a full complement of IS Corp, GrandStay, Synergy, and GP riders. Jordan and his team rode a great race, but IS Corp took complete control of the race, putting all 5 of their riders in the winning break. Timmer was the only one to survive their onslaught, taking 4th place. Jordan drew out a group of 6 chasers on the penultimate lap, but the break was long gone. He rode valiantly, and finished 10th. Well earned!

I raced Masters 40+, whose field was most affected by the weather. So much, they combined us with the 50+. There were maybe 15 starters, and the racing was pretty civilized for the first 2 of 4 laps. We still managed to drop about half the group, including arguably the strongest rider in the race, Mike Johnson, who had a mechanical.

I attacked a few times during the 3rd lap, but every time, Birchwood strongman Mike Stensrud brought me back. After the climbs, we were down to 7 riders. I attacked again, and brought Mark Mlinar, Kent McDaniel, and Greg Tischler with. This left Stensrud chasing with Frank Lowry, and my new teammate Dave Herbert in tow. We had a gap, but it wasn't growing.

In the tailwind leg, as they drew down on us, I gunned it again, taking only Mlinar with me. We worked well together over the rollers, and slowly grew our gap. We kept working all the way to the corner before the finish. Mark being a good sprinter, I needed to get my timing right to beat him. I jumped at about 200m and held on for the win. Mlinar was gracious after the finish, as always. Well done Mark!

A few moments later, teammate Dave Herbert was able to out sprint Frank Lowry to win the 50+. Congrats Dave!

Results

I definitely owe my race win to teammates Bill Morice and Dave Herbert, who did a great job of keeping me out of the wind. Thanks guys!