Most excellent indeed.
Mark Fennell wrote:
>
>
[email protected] (Andrew Martin) wrote in message
> news:<
[email protected]>...
> > Well - now that the tour is over it's time to change focus to the week of the fatties.
>
> 9 August 2003
>
> Louisville, KY (AP) – In what many observers called the most competitive Masters race in recent
> memory, Henry Chang of San Diego, CA won today's 2003 National Road Race Championship in the 40-44
> division. After 80 grueling kilometers, the race came down to a break of three, with Chang
> outsprinting companions Chris Walker and Chris Hahn, both of Santa Barbara CA. Completing a
> California sweep of the top-5 places were former professional racer Thurlow Rogers and Richard
> Meeker of the USPS Masters team.
>
> The action began immediately with time-trial specialists Andrew Coggan and Eric Sternlict
> attacking on the first lap of the ten-lap race. Within 10 km they had established a 50 second gap
> as none of the pre-race favorites were willing to chase. Former 7-11 professional Michael Carter
> stated "I raced the Tour de France. I'll be damned if I was going to pull a bunch of nobodies up
> to the break."
>
> For the next two laps, individual riders made sporadic efforts to bridge but none could get more
> than half way across to the smooth riding duo of Coggan and Sternlict. That is, until Chris Walker
> hit the front and pulled at 50 kmh for five minutes. Only four riders could hold Walker's
> wheel--Hahn, Rogers, Meeker, and Chang--and a 30 second gap was quickly established over the
> shattering field.
>
> The group of five quickly caught and dropped the tiring early break. By the fifth lap they had
> nearly four minutes on the field and it was clear the winner would be one of the five.
>
> Then with 20 km to go, Chang abruptly stopped pulling. Numerous attempts to cajole him back into
> the rotation failed. As Hahn said afterward, "I yelled at him to pull through but he just looked
> back at me kind of sideways and said, 'Dumbass, I'm a sprinter. Shut up and pull'. I guess he said
> it so authoritatively that we just continued to pull him along even though I realize now it made
> no sense!"
>
> As they rode through the start-finish area to begin the bell lap, it became evident that Chang's
> negativity had permeated the rest of the break. Meeker had stopped pulling and Rogers had
> repeatedly taken him off the back during the prior lap. Walker, ever the sharp tactician, saw an
> opportunity to shed two of his main rivals. He attacked mercilessly on a small rise as Rogers and
> Meeker dangled five seconds behind. Walker's pace was so high that his ever-present, hanging
> string-of-snot whipped around and slapped Chang in the face. It was now a race of three.
>
> As the trio entered the final kilometer, Walker ramped up the pace hoping to crack the two
> sprinters, or, at least, to remove some of their snap. It didn't work. Hahn jumped at 300 meters
> and quickly passed Walker. Hahn recounted the sprint later, "I wound it up quickly to 65 kph. I
> looked under my arm at about 150 meters and saw Walker hanging tough on my wheel but I couldn't
> see Chang at all. I thought he must have blown big time. I knew Walker couldn't come back around
> as fast as I was going so I thought I had the vee. Then, out of nowhere seemingly, Chang was
> beside me. He was actually grinning at me all the way to the line." Video replay confirmed it,
> Chang had won by a tire width.
>
> Immediately after the finish, all 18 fans in attendance mobbed the ebullient winner. Chang gushed
> to nobody in particular, "I feel vindicated by this great victory. I've been preaching to the
> masses about the virtues of low body mass for bike racing, especially for anyone wanting to race
> at this high level. Once I got my BMI below that of Chris Walker, I knew I would be competitive.
> Plus, I used to race as a cat 2 in Southern California crits, so I knew I could sprint with any of
> these guys. I'm very pleased. Dumbasses, all of them."
>
> Results:
> 1. Henry Chang, RBR 1:50:19
> 2. Chris Hahn, Labor Power s.t.
> 3. Chris Walker, VeloRPM :01
> 4. Richard Meeker, USPS 1:23
> 5. Thurlow Rogers, JAX s.t.