Otterville Road Race

The Hermann 4 made it to Otterville for this 48 mile road race over rolling hills West of Hermann.

Danny, Jose and Shaun raced the 4/5 race with Jose taking home 2nd place, Danny 15th and Shaun a few spots back from that. The 2nd place from Jose was his 2nd of the weekend as he raced the Sedalia Crit the night before. That will give him what he needs for a Cat 3 upgrade for next year. Well done Jose!

I raced the 3/4 race with 22 others. The first 24 mile lap was uneventful as we all stayed together. A few breakaway attempts, but nothing would stick.

Things started to happen with 10 miles to go. Couple guys slowly slipped off the front, then another... this was it I thought, the breakaway that might stick, so I joined too. Sure enough they let us go! After a bit of "organization" time we began to work together pulling away from the pack. The gap became large enough that the follow vehicle made it's way around the pack to support the break away. You know it's good when that happens :)

After a few miles two guys fell off leaving three of us to make this stick. A bit more time down the road another fell off, now just a guy in a Quick Step jersey and I is all that was left.

With 3 miles to go the Quick Step jersey guy fell off, I now had chance for a solo victory.

With just under 3 miles to go and pack slowly gaining all I could think of was to make the final turn up hill before the finish with somewhat of a lead and I had a good chance to make this happen. Just before the turn a guy who had bridged up to me grabbed my wheel as we motored toward the finish line.

Making the final turn up the hill with .30 miles to go... he jumps, I jump to match.... then...... my calfs cramped up hard sending me into shut down mode. SOB!

All I could do was watch the pack race buy as I nursed myself up the hill to the finish line.

I can't feel to bad about things, had a fun race and felt great. Would have been even better if I could have finished it off. I have a few ideas of what is causing the cramps and plan to make a few changes.

Otterville Garmin Data

Moving on to next weekends Gateway Cup - racing all 4 days this year!