Well, well, well. After much anticipation, with perfect conditions (wet and flooded roads, slight drizzle, snow covered landscape, and fog), Shartkozawa unfolded once again. With a crack crew of 4 (lol), the racers unanimously decided to ride together until well after the hills. With some pauses for one particularly overweight racer (your truly, Aki Sato) to catch up after some hills, the racers, led by John Meyerly, plodded through the course. Steve Chan, a new racer, hung on in a particularly trying introduction to the world of road racing. And Ray Ruyack mainly rode with Meyerly while discussing the merits of the CompuTrainers that they both have.

Maintaining a steady, low wattage, spiked only by the main East Ave climb (800 watts or so), the quartet rode through surprisingly warm conditions. Fog, narrow roads, and cars without lights on made for some interesting braking exercises, but there were no incidents. As the group turned onto Route 33, Chan was informed that in a couple miles, there'd be a right turn at a stop sign, then the finish just beyond that. Still led by a willing Meyerly, the group started down 33.

Sensing that the downhill was the only way to parlay his extra weight, Sato attacked hard in a 53x11. Meyerly, after a brief pause, realized that this was the move, and gave chase. Ruyack, willing to let the powerful Meyerly chase, latched on. Chan, handicapped by his sneakers slipping from his toe clips, chased gamely. Sato, drafted closely by a car, sat up after just over a mile. Meyerly flew past him, urged on by Ruyack, eliminating Sato from the equation.

Meyerly led up the brief climb after the right turn. Ruyack pulled up next to him at 400 meters to go (all downhill), and they started to drag race. Ruyack, his legs a hair fresher, managed to pull clear of Meyerly to cross the line first. They both turned around and watched as Sato and Chan softpedaled across the line together.

Kudos to the trio that showed up and to the camraderie that let them ride together until the last couple miles. Even with the miserable conditions, the ride was great. Now for the Bethel Spring Series...

Click here to return to the Shartkozawa page.