Marching in

The date: Sunday, March 2, 2008
The time: 9:00 am, Coffee People (oops, I mean Starbucks) at SW 6th & Jackson.

The crew: Tony, Greg, Dave, Fergus and Sage (of Sorella Forte).

The route: Rock Creek loop, return via NW Thompson & 53rd.

The nitty gritty: A nice slow pace from PSU up Terwilliger had me efforting harder than I should have. We ran mostly single file, with a few rotations before Dosch. The climb up Dosch was tempting for Dave, who showed some early season form in establishing an early gap. JB illustrated tactics to Dave that me (his domestique) was dragging ass with his tongue hanging out 50 meters behind him, and that gapping a teammate early on wasn't typically a great strategy for a sprint/win contender.

We re-grouped at the top of Dosch for JB to fuel the mini-van (please remember to bring a couple of bucks each Sunday to kick in for gas for the coach/support van). We formed a very nice paceline after a few miles on Skyline and rode it to the tune of a 18 mph average out to Cornelius Pass. The drop down bumpy pot-holey Rock Creek was uneventful this week.

After the bumps though, things changed: After strategically isolating the main sprint threat Tony, Greg set a heart and lung destroying tempo lead-out for sprinter Dave. Greg jumped left, Dave was on his wheel. Tony was on Dave's wheel . Tony gave his all, Greg pulled off with 150 M to go, and Dave held on to win the sprint!

Strategy/misinformation came to light when Sage rolled up to me on the climb and said "I didn't get the memo about the sprint". Sage is strong, benevolent, and a FOF (Friend Of Fergus) and I hope we see her on a lot more Cyclisme rides. Sage and Fergus would definitely have factored into the sprint, but I guess did not know about the location.

Tony killed the climb, and killed me every time I threw a little attack jump up a hill. Get this man to a race, pronto!

Fergus seemed to be suffering a bit at times, then would re-surge and go off the front, etc. Sage rocks, 'nuff said. Dave and Tony are both looking itching for some road race action. I'm looking to domestique one or both of these guys to some podiums.

Greg