Tonight’s race took us to Innsbruck, where about 325 starters duked it out for four laps around the Innsbruckring, a 5.5 mile lap around the downtown area featuring a short sharp climb up the “Legsnapper” in the middle of each lap. There was a bit of confusion about the nomenclature for this climb, with Michael going with “Legbreaker” and Melissa advocating for “Kneebreaker,” but I’m writing the race report, so I get the final say, and “Legsnapper” it is.
Regardless of the terminology, the climb took its toll on the group on every lap. There was a large group at the front to begin, with all the NCC riders close to the front, but the first ascent broke things up significantly. I made it over the top with the leaders, but a group of about a dozen slipped away on the descent, and I could not hold on. I settled into a chase group of another dozen or so with Dusty, while Zinj was in the next group back, and Michael and Melissa were close together a little bit further back.
My chase group picked up a few stragglers off the front, while shedding a rider or two on the climb each lap, and remained at around a dozen. Dusty fell off on lap three, but managed to put out an impressive effort to hang steady about twelve seconds back for the rest of the way, despite riding solo.
Results for Week 3:
- Jonathan O’Keeffe (B) – 12 of 162 – 97.9 points
- Dusty King (B) – 22 of 162 – 91.4 points
- Zinj Guo (B) – 37 of 162 – 81.7 points
- Michael Bello (C) – 59 of 162 – 80.2 points
- Melissa Warwick (B) – 65 of 162 – 69.9 points
Overall series standings after Week 3:
- Dusty King (3 races) – 290.0 points
- Zinj Guo (3 races) – 276.4 points
- Michael Bello (3 races) – 251.2 points
- Melissa Warwick (3 races) – 241.9 points
- Jonathan O’Keeffe (3 races) – 233.8 points
- Henry van den Broek (2 races) – 191.8 points
- Charlie Bailey (2 races) – 179.8 points
- Henry Weis (1 race) – 123.0 points
- Kevin Weinman (1 race) – 104.2 points
- Joe Lellman (1 race) – 88.2 points
Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:
– Mon afternoon – Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)
– Tue 8:00 PM – Social Ride (invite required)
– Thu 5:30 PM – Time Trial / Hill Climb (solo effort, TT bike required) (invite required)
– Sat 9:00 AM – Social Ride (invite required)
Follow “Michael Bello – NCC” on Zwift for invites to the invite-only rides.
Check the NCC calendar for full details on all events. To learn more about the NCC and Zwift rides, please visit our Zwift page.
