Dan, Todd and I drove up to Valley City last Saturday to ride the State Masters Road Race. Dan was riding the 35+ race, I was doing the 45+ and Todd the 55+. I'm not real sure about the field sizes in Dan's and Todd's races but we had 20 riders in the 45+...several MVC guys, a Stark Velo guy, a Bike Authority guy and other riders from Northern Ohio clubs. Pete and Blair from Echelon were the only other C-bus area riders in the 45+ race. It would be nice to find a Central Ohio location for this race. I think it would draw the guys down from north and the guys up from the south for a real Ohio Championship throw down.

We were doing 4 laps of a mostly flat 12 course. There were a few small rollers in the last couple of miles of the loop but the only real obstacle the could affect the race was a short steep pitch that led to the last 500 flat meters to the finish. After a couple of pretty uneventful laps, I followed a move by Rudy from Bike Authority over the top of the last steep rise just before we started lap 3. The 12 or so riders left in the field eventually caught us. A MVC rider countered and was gone for the rest of the race. Pete made a move off the front about 6 miles from the finish. The Bike Authority rider jumped across to Pete and finished second with Pete in third. I pushed hard up the last rise and pulled away with an MVC rider. MVC came around me right at the line to take fourth and left me with fifth.

Todd and Dan Relax before the start...



















A few of the riders in the 45+ race...