Race 2 Replace
We were in Indianapolis over the wknd for the Race 2 Replace. What a great event and fun time. The track was donated for the day and all the people there were volunteers for the LAF foundation. Not only were they friendly and courteous, the weather was great. It was 59' when we got up at 5:30am to be able to get to the track just after 6am for registration. A lot of people had registered the 2 days prior so we got right in and had no problems.
Mary Stewart took photos for us and we are very excited about getting them posted for everyone to be able to see. There were 4 different age groups that raced starting with 50+ age group at 7am. They finished around 8:30am and that is when Simon Kessler and Ross Glass started in their wave. The track seems small when there are 93 bicyclists instead of 40 race cars. It feels even smaller when you are riding around the track at 30 miles an hour instead of 230mph. But, with that said, can you believe these guys were averaging 29.7 mph for their first 6 laps. Thats 15 miles at almost 30mph. They were going faster than we, or for that matter they expected. Simon and Ross did what they needed to do; they stayed in the front group and did as little work as needed to be able to maintain a good position for the final sprint. A couple of laps to go and there were a few attacks, but they get reeled back in.
The final lap was here and Simon and Ross were starting to make their move only about 6 from the front on the back straight away. There was a group of riders behind Ross that were trying to gain position and somebody touched wheels, 3 or 4 of them went down and one of their bikes dove under Ross, all he could do was hold on, at 30mph he hit the asphalt hard and slid for what seemed to be the entire back stretch. He was able to get back on his feet, see that nobody was seriously hurt, his front wheel looked like a folded over burrito. He took his shoes off and started walking the last 1.25 miles to the finish line. He said afterwards that he didn't come up here to not finish.
Simon heard the commotion behind him, but at over 30mph he didn't have much of a chance to see or know what happened, all he knew was that Ross was no longer there. Unfortunately at this point he knew our chances were small to win the day. Simon planned on leading Ross to victory by giving him a great pull into the last couple hundred yards of the sprint. This is due to a problem with Simon's bike that was not discovered until several laps into the race. We did not realize that during the shipping process his rear derailleur cable had been pinched and would not allow him to shift into his 11, or 12 gear. Simon sprinted with all he had in the final seconds and with a 53, 13 was still able to get 4th place just 3 seconds from winning the event.
Ross walked to the finish line and yes he was disappointed and a little bruised up, but still thankful and happy to be a part of this great event.
Geoff Lanier was in the last wave of the event and we still had a chance to win this thing. They started their race fast and had the largest field of the day. Over 176 riders took off down the front stretch and there was a crash on the first turn as everyone was trying to find their legs. Nobody seriously hurt just more road rash. Geoff stayed up front in the lead group and was never more than 6 or 8 spots from the lead. He pulled a little and jockeyed for the best position to get the draft and save his energy. They were doing very impressive times around the 28 mph speed, but were slower than Simon & Ross's group, so we knew we would not win the event, but Geoff still had a chance of winning his wave and getting a Dell Livestrong Laptop and a signed Discovery jersey. With 2.5 laps to go one of the leaders took a huge gap and it looked like nobody was going to catch him. Ross and I talked about weather or not they could get him, and as strong as he looked I felt like it would be impossible, but Ross was just out there, he had just battled the wind and the turns so maybe he was right, they would get him and Geoff could win.
The last lap they come out of turn 4 and we see someone out front by about 300 yards, maybe more, is it Geoff, no, sorry he did great and finished 7th out of 176 or more riders, but this guy was to strong to be caught on this day. He sat up with about 400 yards to go and began celebrating as the group of about 15 chasers was coming at, up to 38 mph after him, but still not enough.
AJ Smith won the event with a time under 53 minutes. That is 25 miles in under 53 minutes. That is fast, real fast. I want to say congratulations to everyone that raced, rode the lap with Lance, and the volunteers who made this event happen. Discovery Channel says they want to make this an annual event. I hope they do, and I hope that you will join us there next year and come have some fun on a bicycle on the biggest and best race track in our country.
Thank you,
David Luppino
Owner
Mary Stewart took photos for us and we are very excited about getting them posted for everyone to be able to see. There were 4 different age groups that raced starting with 50+ age group at 7am. They finished around 8:30am and that is when Simon Kessler and Ross Glass started in their wave. The track seems small when there are 93 bicyclists instead of 40 race cars. It feels even smaller when you are riding around the track at 30 miles an hour instead of 230mph. But, with that said, can you believe these guys were averaging 29.7 mph for their first 6 laps. Thats 15 miles at almost 30mph. They were going faster than we, or for that matter they expected. Simon and Ross did what they needed to do; they stayed in the front group and did as little work as needed to be able to maintain a good position for the final sprint. A couple of laps to go and there were a few attacks, but they get reeled back in.
The final lap was here and Simon and Ross were starting to make their move only about 6 from the front on the back straight away. There was a group of riders behind Ross that were trying to gain position and somebody touched wheels, 3 or 4 of them went down and one of their bikes dove under Ross, all he could do was hold on, at 30mph he hit the asphalt hard and slid for what seemed to be the entire back stretch. He was able to get back on his feet, see that nobody was seriously hurt, his front wheel looked like a folded over burrito. He took his shoes off and started walking the last 1.25 miles to the finish line. He said afterwards that he didn't come up here to not finish.
Simon heard the commotion behind him, but at over 30mph he didn't have much of a chance to see or know what happened, all he knew was that Ross was no longer there. Unfortunately at this point he knew our chances were small to win the day. Simon planned on leading Ross to victory by giving him a great pull into the last couple hundred yards of the sprint. This is due to a problem with Simon's bike that was not discovered until several laps into the race. We did not realize that during the shipping process his rear derailleur cable had been pinched and would not allow him to shift into his 11, or 12 gear. Simon sprinted with all he had in the final seconds and with a 53, 13 was still able to get 4th place just 3 seconds from winning the event.
Ross walked to the finish line and yes he was disappointed and a little bruised up, but still thankful and happy to be a part of this great event.
Geoff Lanier was in the last wave of the event and we still had a chance to win this thing. They started their race fast and had the largest field of the day. Over 176 riders took off down the front stretch and there was a crash on the first turn as everyone was trying to find their legs. Nobody seriously hurt just more road rash. Geoff stayed up front in the lead group and was never more than 6 or 8 spots from the lead. He pulled a little and jockeyed for the best position to get the draft and save his energy. They were doing very impressive times around the 28 mph speed, but were slower than Simon & Ross's group, so we knew we would not win the event, but Geoff still had a chance of winning his wave and getting a Dell Livestrong Laptop and a signed Discovery jersey. With 2.5 laps to go one of the leaders took a huge gap and it looked like nobody was going to catch him. Ross and I talked about weather or not they could get him, and as strong as he looked I felt like it would be impossible, but Ross was just out there, he had just battled the wind and the turns so maybe he was right, they would get him and Geoff could win.
The last lap they come out of turn 4 and we see someone out front by about 300 yards, maybe more, is it Geoff, no, sorry he did great and finished 7th out of 176 or more riders, but this guy was to strong to be caught on this day. He sat up with about 400 yards to go and began celebrating as the group of about 15 chasers was coming at, up to 38 mph after him, but still not enough.
AJ Smith won the event with a time under 53 minutes. That is 25 miles in under 53 minutes. That is fast, real fast. I want to say congratulations to everyone that raced, rode the lap with Lance, and the volunteers who made this event happen. Discovery Channel says they want to make this an annual event. I hope they do, and I hope that you will join us there next year and come have some fun on a bicycle on the biggest and best race track in our country.
Thank you,
David Luppino
Owner
posted by CBE Staff at 8:03 AM
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