Ken Woods Road Race Recap

Jordan leading the Cat 3's.
Photo credit: SkinnySki.com

Jimmer leading the 35+
Photo credit: SkinnySki.com

Results Posted

The weather usually plays a crucial role at Ken Woods, and this year was no exception. Heavy morning rain left and strong ESE winds, certainly not the worst conditions ever for the race. But, bad enough for many to opt out, making for small fields, and few places to hide.

I raced the Masters 35+ with MBRC teammates Bill Morice, Bruce MacGibbon, Jay Woller, and Skibby. Morice rolled off the front similar to Durand, but this time taking Mark Dykes (GSCA), Dan Schuller (GW), and Matt Muyers (Synergy) with him. They pulled away slowly, with GSCA and Flanders guarding the front of the group.

Brian Koeneman (W&S) pressed in the tailwind, but no one was willing to help. Eventually, Brett Whyte (RVCC) pitched in in the cross wind. The headwind on the climb kept things subdued there. By the time we reached the finish line, the break of 4 was well out of sight.

Koeneman went back on the offensive in the crosswind, with a couple attacks that guttered out the field, and blew it to pieces. Eventually, a group of 8 formed including Koeneman, Whyte, Binkowski (GSCA), MacGibbon, Woller, and myself (MBRC), Mlinar (GP), and Charlie Schad (Revolution).

Koeneman still did the lion's share of the work, but now had help. We dropped into a relatively smooth rotation, with most guys taking consistent pulls for the rest of the 2nd lap. We came upon Dykes, dropped from the break, at the end of the tailwind section on lap 2. Sadly, it wasn't his day.

With 3 MBRC teammate is the chase group, and 1 in the break, we could afford to keep at least one of us in reserve. Woller was our guy, and we kept him out of the rotation as much as possible. Being a stand-up guy, he still pulled through as necessary.

Towards the end of the 2nd lap, the break was 1min 45sec ahead. It was predictable that Koeneman would gutter us out again in the crosswind again on the last lap, and that he did. I got caught gapped on the initial attack, but caught back up after he sat up. I was not so fortunate on his second attack, gapped and dropped for good. Eventually, the MacGibbon was dropped too.

To my surprise, the chase group caught the break of 3 right at the base of the hill. Again, the wind neutralized the hill, and Koeneman was able to finish the day with a fine sprint to an impressive win. Binkowski 2nd, Muyers 3rd, Woller 4th, and Mlinar 5th. I rolled in 10th a couple minutes back.

Jordan raced Cat 3, and rode aggressive. He made the winning breakaway, and pulled his own with strongmen Jonathan Toftoy (Synergy), Taylor Olson (Synergy), and Garrett Ping (RVCC). Unfortunately, a couple guys in the final selection chose to sit on, and were able to capitalize on the others work. Toftoy attacked the group nearing the finish, and went on to win solo. The 2 sitter's-on went 2-3, and Jordan rolled in a disappointed 6th. However, another valuable learning experience for Jordan. He's got some ideas now on what to do differently next time.