Knights Ferry Road Race, February 4, 2012
Only 10 racers made the 2-hour drive to Knights Ferry, but the results were impressive with 6 Top 6 places.
- Jason Brasel leads a group of riders in the Elite 4 race at Knights Ferry Road Race. Photo courtesy of Jenn Vreiling.
The course was an out and back with four tight "turn-arounds", a bridge with RR tracks, numerous pinch flats, mild rolling hills and mild weather. The scenery was beautiful, rolling hills with lots of cows. There was a Cantelow sized hill about 5k from the finish that figured to be the deciding factor.
In the Elite 3 race, Jeff Schaller had the highest DBC Race Team placing at 2nd. The race started at 40 degrees and the first 7-8 miles were at 20 miles per hour as we all tried to warm up. Later, a few people were trying for breaks but nothing developed. Schaller stayed around 5th wheel up the hill, as the group kept a high pace but no one attacked. After the hill there is a bit of downhill, a small rise to the final U turn, some more downhill and flat to an uphill sprint finish. The last km was tight with the centerline rule in effect through the finish and a narrow road. Schaller tight roped on the line, moving up whenever there was an extra 6 inches moving to around 10th wheel coming into the last 600M. All of the sudden a nice alley opened up to his right and he popped out the side into the front of the pack with ~350M to go. He nailed it right as the hill started getting steep. Gasping for air, he saw the 200M sign go by and had enough of a gap to hold off all but 1 rider.
In his first race as a 55+ “senior” rider, Tom Kellner had one of the best finishes of the day. The pace during the first half of the race was fairly easy like a typical Saturday Wheel Works ride. During the second half, the pace picked up and Kellner kept expecting a break before one the short hills, but the opportunity never presented itself. Kellner kept the strongest riders in his sights and braced for the bunch sprint at the finish. With about a mile to go, Kellner was at the front with 2 other riders, looking at each other and waiting for the other to go for it. Unfortunately, Kellner missed timed his sprint and coasted in for 6th.
