Dartmouth Cycling Wiki | Races / Kevin Wolfsons February Racing Adventures Tour Of The Bahamas

o that's what happens when 4 slipstream guys go to the front of the field and ride at 35-36 mph, 60 miles into a 105 mile race, in a cross wind...

now I'll go back

It was overcast on the ride to the race this morning, but the sun came through soon and it warmed up to the normal 80ish degrees. Course was mostly flat with some tiny hills, and windy. 100 meters into the race, there was a break of four. Attacks continued almost non-stop for the first half of the first lap (17 mile laps). It calmed down some, then people attacked and it strung out, teams chased hard for a while, counters went, and so on for as long as I was with the field. Jake managed to put himself in almost every move, which was amazing. I tried to be at the front a few times to follow moves, but was never in the right place at the right time/was too slow to do anything, so I sat in. I tried to down as much food and water as I could (including water from the neutral support motorcycle driving next to the field, which was cool), but was never comfortable.

Three and a half laps in, one of the slipstream guys broke his rear wheel, so he dropped back with a teammate to change wheels. About a mile later, we hit the long cross wind section near the airport, I was near the back of the field, trying to recover from the last hard stretch, and the two slipstream guys come fyling past the field and go straight to the front. The pace immediately jumps up a LOT, and I look up and all 4 slipstream guys are there. I realized later that it was a sprint lap, hence their work. Anyway, I start struggling, have to close a gap, let a gap open up, close it, let another gap go, close it, get gapped again, and then I was gone. The field was shattering, and people were getting popped with me real quick. Some VMG guys, a couple of AEG-toshiba guys who had been doing work at the front, a bunch of others. It was nuts. Through the start finish the next time, the field was split into groups of 5,6 20, 10, or something like that.

I dropped out (40 miles alone wasn't going to happen) and heard someone talking about the stretch by the airport. He said at the time we were averaging 26.5 (deceptively low because of some dramatic luls in the pace), but when we got dropped, we were going 35-36. I couldn't do it...

So that's what happens when 4 slipstream guys go to the front of the field and ride at 35-36 mph, 60 miles into a 105 mile race, in a cross wind.

Jake was amazing again. He was active all race, and then was with the final lead group of 20 or so with 2 miles left before cramping and rolling in a couple of minutes down with 4 pros. He's incredible. Pat flatted just before I got dropped, andrew was sore from his crash and got dropped after 2 laps.

In the end, I rode around 90 miles today (68 of racing), jake rode 125. Yikes.

Anyway, now I'm home, be back on campus tomorrow morning for some learning. I took some pictures, most of which will probably not come out, but hopefully some do. Tan-lines are coming along, but I was good with sunblock, so nothing shocking. I'm tired. the 12-13 hours of ride time in the last three days is bigger then my biggest week in several months. huh.

See you all soon, k-face

ps I looked at the circuit race results today. we did 42 miles in 1:26:30. sweet.

Day 1

Yo,

preface: Sorry if it seems like I'm name dropping. that's not the point, I'm just thrilled to be racing in this field...

So... first the weather. somewhere areound 80 degrees. partly cloudy today and yesterday, which translates to mostly sunny, which means gorgeous. this afternoon we got some drops of rain during the circuit race, but not enough to get the rode wet. Yesterday we rode for 3ish hours. Hit some city centers, which were lame, and accidentaly turned down a road with an extended and dangerous tunnel when we tried to ride on paradise island, but most of the ride was great. got lost a few times and locals were very helpful. Crazy fucking drivers, but pretty polite to cyclists. spent a couple of hours on the beach. Its like a postcard. except there are people trying to sell you stuff every 30 minutes and middle-aged men getting drunk an an outdoor bar at 2pm. Sweet.

Today was the 3 mile prologue in the morning and 42 mile circuit race in the afternoon. Its ten or so miles to the start from the hotel, which gave us around 85 miles for the day. sweet. The prologue was ok. dead flat out and back 3 miles. will frishkorn won in 6:01. Andrew finished in 6:55, good for 50-something. jake was 8 seconds behind him, me another 10 behind jake, and pat 20 behind me. spinelli caught me at the finish. none of us were last, so that was good.

aside- 4 slipstream (formerly tiaa-cref) guys are here, including will and danny pate. we rode home after the time- trial with two of them. the entire national team (18 strong, which is silly) is here. full rite-aid and kelley benefits teams. aerospace engineering/aeg-toshiba. some smaller teams from nearby. some junior national team guys. some hottubes (toby stanton is goofy). Its great.

Circuit race. The course was awesome. pretty flat, 6 miles, so so so fast. We raced pretty well. All of us followed some moves, nothing stuck. I followed a few in the first half, but was never up the road for more than 30 seconds. It was sweet to roll through with danny pate n such in a break, even if it was immediately brought back. I followed 1 or 2 moves in the last 3 laps. And half way through the last lap, a break of 4 was up the road and the field slowed with two slipstream guys on the front, and jake was near the front, so I attacked. alone for maybe 10 seconds, then 8 or so guys came flying past me, which was good because they brought the field up to the break. Andrew crashed on the last lap, but he's ok. Jake is amazing. He was on the winner's wheel with maybe 500 meters left, and ended up in the top ten he thinks. Which is awesome. Pat and I rolled in with the field.

Tomorrow is 105 miles, starting at 8:30, which means we should be ok to make our flight. Should be fun. Its cool here.

that's the big stuff I think. Hope everyone's good.

Peace, Kevin

Day T-1

Hello all,

Internet is a pay by the hour thing (and phones don't work), and there is a pattern of people trying to rip us off so far, so I'm gonna make this pretty quick. We got here safe and sound, bikes and bags and all. There have been some interesting snags/stories along the way, and we're keeping a tally to be sure we don't forget em. For example, a thing of degreaser andrew had in his bag opened and spilled on all his clothes, some guy who looked like a hotel employee offering us weed while we were walking near a beach on the property of the nicer hotel (the one next to our less nice one), some middle aged guy in the lobby watching porn open for anyone walking by to see, and running into spinelli, dominque perras, and some other guy on their pro team. sweet, tomorrow we actually get to ride.

anyway, alls well here so far. The weather is beautiful. Hope everyone's good.

Kevin