Who won the Cherry Pie?

Speedy did! Bill Bushnell on his Easy Racer set the pace for most of the race. His bike was sporting
a neat coroplast tail box along with a body sock. Looked fast in the flat section into the wind.
Caught him on the climb. Biggest recumbent field ever at 17 bikes. All upright bike classes were
full. Beautiful day. Thanks to Bruce deBell for keeping this one on the calendar. Speedy Delaire

Gabriel DeVault said:

Anyone know?

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Steve Delaire

Gabriel DeVault said:

Anyone know?

Steve Delaire on his coroplast/lycra faired Pursuit.

Oh, I can come up with a host of excuses.

Steve and I were close most of the race, though I was ahead most of the time, perhaps a tactical
error on my part. At the end of lap 3 the official at the finish line held up 3 fingers and yelled
out "3 to go!." I thought that seemed a bit early, but maybe they decided to cut the race short to
get back on schedule--the program was running late, so I pressed on a bit harder on the next 3 laps
and gave it my best sprint on the uphill finish at the end of the 6th lap. When I got to the finish
line the official held up 4 fingers indicating "4 to go". I won't repeat here what went through my
mind just then. I was spent and could only keep pace for the next 4 laps, all the while tasting
blood in the back of my throat and feeling like I was about to vomit. On the last few laps I was
reduced to soft-pedaling on the downhill section to recover.

The Cherry Pie criterium is approximately a 1-mile circuit with 60 feet of climbing on each lap,
making it fairly hilly as far as crits go. Pavement conditions were improved on the fast right-hand
corner at the bottom of the hill, but there were still a few rough spots of pavement on the course.

My faired extra-long frame Gold Rush weighs about 43-45 lbs as raced.

sonic.netGoldRushSide CPcrit.jpgOpen ↗

Steve's faired Pursuit weighs about 30 lbs.

<picture not available>

Looking at it on the bright side, I still got a pie, Steve's winning margin was a bit narrower than
last year, and my average speed for the race was significantly higher than last year under nearly
identical race conditions of moderate temperatures (low-60's F) and a light breeze:
25.3 mph this year vs. 23.83 mph last year, although my average heartrate was lower: 163 vs. 169
bpm. I rode my Gold Rush with the stock body sock last year. Instead of playing catch-up the
entire race as I did last year, I felt it was a closer contest this year. So, in spite of the
extra weight and the hill, the fairing seems to make the bike faster overall on a moderately
hilly course when the downhill can be taken without braking. The spoiler was that Steve was a
little faster this year, too!

--
Bill Bushnell

Congrats Speedy Steve! That Pursuit is one mean bike. Were there any low racers in attendance? How
did the recumebent times compare with the DF guys?

"Gabriel DeVault" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone know?

Quoted message said:

Were there any low racers in attendance? How did the recumebent times

compare with the DF guys?

Quoted message said:

This was posted on the Sacramento bent Riders message board:

unfaired class zach kaplain #1 jester gary #2 homebuilt steel brad #3 homebuilt titanium bill #4
jester steve #5 hepcat.

It was my firs time at a crit, bent or not. I came with my faired Stratus but not knowing
anything about such an event I just wanted to watch, and learn. next year there may be one more
old man on a bent.