Industry Cup - Race Report

The Industry Cup was supposed to be a fun race for bragging rights...ehh, not so much.  It was elbow to elbow racing from the gun with little room for error.  At the lineup, a buzz passed through the racers as word spread about that guy in the red kit - Mario Cipollini. After we all peed our lycra in excitement, the race was off.  The early laps were carnage all over.  It wasn't so much about power or skill, but being lucky enough to avoid coming to grief.  I was able to avoid most trouble except for one wreck that put me into the steel barrier, but I was able to lean into it with my shoulder and jumped back into the race.  Other BikeHuggers MarkV and Mike Rogers didn't get such a good shake and had to fight bad wheels and dodging crashes.  I saw that Mark got 9th for the Media contest, but Mike wasn't listed (damn transponder technology). 

Once I made it safely through the first laps, I bridged a couple gaps back up to the leaders with one goal in mind - go find CIPO!  I knew that everyone with a camera would be shooting him, so what better way to get some love for the Hugga than to get in the press.  It worked.

From Velonews: (that's BikeHugger.com green on the right)

From there on out, it was just riding smart, staying in the top 10, and avoiding trouble.We were on the rivet a number of times as guys like Steve Bauer, Mark McCormack, and Massimiliano Lelli drove the pace.  I'm not sure how many of the guys in our race had raced that the pro or international level...but it was certainly more than a handful.  With 10 to go I dropped to the back of our lead group of about 25 guys to find Seattle area fast-guy Kenny Williams.  I wasn't too happy since I know the guy can go, and I didn't really have the legs to go with him.  Well, he went with 6 laps left and it wasn't even a stunning attack.  I was on his wheel, but convinced myself that I'd be better to save it and take my chances with outsprinting Cipo (hah!).  Amazing what your mind does at times like these.  Well, of course Kenny rolled off the front, caught the solo break, dropped him, and won by 30 seconds. 

But back to the bell lap.  I had just nicely moved up to mid-pack, when an explosion occurred in turn one.  Guys all over, bikes in the air, me on my brakes (bad!!!).  After I got my act together and started to go hard again I was in the tail of the group.  I rolled in for 17th overall (2nd for Media).  I didn't even get to sprint with Cipo since he went down in the crash.  Regardless, it was a total blast.  A great even by the organizer, a great team of BikeHuggers, and I have to say a big thanks to DL Byron for putting it all together.  What a night that none of us will soon forget.

Be sure to check out more pic's in the Hugga Hookup Flick Photostream

Comments

[JBC]

Unbelievable post. Makes me feel like I was there! Way to go Andrew.