news from the peloton
Larry Kemp TT, Denny Creek, July 31, 2004
The money boys caffeine up while the eventual winner contemplates the corndogs
. . . from left to right, Joe
Zauner (3rd Masters 40+), Mike Burdo (1st Masters 50+),
and Russell Stevenson (1st Cat. 1/2) plus Wags behind Russell, 5th Cat. 3
The Denny Creek Uphill Time Trial, now officially the Larry Kemp Memorial TT, was run on July 31st for the second year from the Denny Creek exit up to the beginning of the Alpental road, with a field of about 90 vying for honors on a perfect summer day.
Defending champ and course record holder Russell Stevenson showed us around the course, dispensing tips that might have come in handy if I'd arrived in better form, and pointing out that the race was essentially two races - one over the mostly flat and rolling terrain before the wood bridge, and the steeper section that followed. Russell's plan was to pound the flat in a big gear, being careful to save some gas for the slight downhill going into the bridge, then sit and spin like crazy up the steeper part and switchbacks.
Russy proceeded to follow his blueprint to the letter, laying down a blistering run to the top in a little over 15½ minutes despite almost hitting a descending car on a blind corner just after the bridge. The course marshals later explained that they hadn't expected him to "ride so fast" and thought they had time to let the cars through . . . uh, yeah.
Though around 20 seconds in arrears of his 2003 course record (probably due mostly to headwinds on the bottom section), Russell said he felt stronger in the 2004 edition, and had a positive impression of the prototype Zipp 202 superlight wheels as well.
BRI Cycling journalist Joe Zauner came home in the money with 3rd in Masters 40+, and Steve Wagner placed 5th in Cat. 3, while the power-to-weight winner (presumably Russell as well) went undetermined as the guy with the stats on his computer had left in a hurry to catch a flight somewhere.
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