Cherry Pie Race Report

Cherry pie, huge fields, lots of friendly faces, a little wind, and smattering of climbing. Going in I expected the fields were going to be big but what I hadn’t expected was the strong collegiate turnout. Yeah, at least in the cat IV field it was almost a pre-season collegiate race, with almost everyone making a strong showing, Idaho, Whitman, UO, and Montana. I have to say it was quite sad to have a race so close to home and still be outnumbered by riders from MONTANA let alone the 20+ riders from Whitman.

On to the racing, going into the race Erik and I had a plan, ride near the front, hide from the wind for the first lap, and then on lap two around the time we reached the hills light things up as best we could. With just two of us covering breaks wasn’t really going to be much of an option and anyway with the wind the success rate here looked rather questionable at best. With a shout of “Go”, the group rolled out. For the first lap the group more or less just chilled. At some point our pace dipped down pathetically nearing 17mph, a few attacks were launched but nothing stuck. The only real point of interest was during the brief section of climbing on the first lap a rider dressed all in black, launched an attack over the yellow line up the climb. While I’m not sure an official saw it the pack wasn’t exactly too impressed.

Being a two lap circuit race, the second lap was undoubtedly going to be a little more interesting. Entering the second lap, an attack was launched first by the rider dressed all in back and then a few moments later by a UO rider. Since we were heading back into the wind, the pack again waved them both off. After a few miles, still heading into the wind, the UO rider was sucked back up. The wheel car eventually bridged up to support the lone rider out on a breakaway. With about a ¾ a mile separating us, Erik and I organized the front of the cat IV field into a pace line to pull back the pesky breakaway, after a few minutes at a higher tempo everyone was back together again. At the base of the hills the field surged as a few of the teams with truly big flatland riders launched themselves. Then heading up the first climb there was a crash. Go figure, crashing at 13 mph riding up hill. Cresting the climb the field split and regrouped numerous times as riders attacked on the decent and into the final climb. Cresting and descending the final climb the lead group had shrunk down to maybe 20 or so riders. At this point all that remained was a tail wind sprint, with no team making an effort to up the pace the field was locked into position. Then at with about two miles to go things got jumpy, and about a mile out a rider near the back went down hard. Being in front, Erik went on to a top 10 finish, way to go Erik! Being right behind the pavement bound rider I cruised in right behind the lead group.

In further news, it looks like the 2006 Cat IV Cherry Pie Road race most likely will truly go down as a training race, as the entire field was disqualified.. See below, IMO the crash caused the centerline violation..

Hi all,

Due to camera problems, results from Cherry Pie will not be posted until late Monday at the earliest. Assistance will be needed to place the entire field.

Also, the category 4 field was DQ'd for violating the 200 meter mark.
Results for the category 4 field will not be posted at all.

I'm sure details will follow from Candi Murray or another official.
Please don't email me about this because I have no additional details
- I'm just the messenger.

Thanks,
Cheryl