Subject: Raced agains Hincapie, Valverde, and others !!! Just want to make some bikers jealous:
Saturday we had the annual Amstel Curacao Race (http://www.amstelcuracaorace.com/?lang=en ).
a 75km race on our small tropical island. Entry is free for anyone with a race bike, and some outstanding pros of this year as usual where invited: George Hincapie, Alesandro Valverde, Frank Schleck, Eric Dekker, Michael Barry, ....
For the pros it was of course a free week vacation for a 2h and somewhat race on the bike.
For me the chalenge was to stay with the pack as long as possible. Of course the pros are not realy racing hard, but the tempo was faster than the normal local races, and after 55km I had to let go ... But until then I did manage to draft Hincapie for 15km while he was taking it easy and relaxed at the back of the pack. When he decided to go up front he was up the pack in a few seconds. Didn't even seem like he had to make an effort ... Ended up finishing 43rd of about 140.
It's an annual event so if next year you again don't qualify for Kona, you can come over to our tropical island and try and beat the cycling pros ! And save 450$ entry fee |