Found some photos of Texas Road Rash 2007

eebee's picture
Submitted by eebee on Sun Mar 25 2007 9:00pm
0

It looks like a blast and I wish I could have been there. I found some photos and think I see Artem in some of them, but wasn't sure as I didn't know if he was going to this event...

http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2578809320054477580GGhCtF

I saw pics of Brian and Andrea, too.

And I love this one of deep, meaningful tunes in front of the porta-potties:

http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2781242700054477580pGSiKV

It looks like the course had speedy-competitive types as well as rec skaters.

Anybody have a report? I'm all agog. What's the course like?

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Comments

skart's picture

I wish :-)

Submitted by skart on Tue Mar 27 2007 9:29pm.

Thanks for the complement, eebee... However, it only looked easy :-)

 A few pictures that I liked:

The finish sprint (I didn't have to sprint since I didn't have a pack but I really wanted to test my legs): http://image59.webshots.com/759/4/56/19/2930456190054477580RpaHAs_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

In the lactic acid hell after the finish sprint: http://image57.webshots.com/457/2/83/16/2611283160054477580ZWtihf_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

And yes, this is how easy it was: http://image53.webshots.com/553/1/26/94/2696126940054477580FSyncJ_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

 

skart's picture

A quick TRR 2007 report

Submitted by skart on Mon Mar 26 2007 5:31pm.
Good eyes, eebee! I did do the event and it was a blast! I just got home due to some unforeseen adventure that Delta airlines threw my way by cancelling my return flight but I hope that I am coherent enough to have a fairly comprehensive report :-) I got to Austin, TX on Saturday afternoon and took my rental over to Round Rock where the race was supposed to happen next day and where the registration was. The registration was set up next to Chipotle and seemed like a very smooth operation. I have picked my packet up in no time and was delighted to see Brian and Andrea. We chatted a little bit about the race course (since Brian has done it several times and for me it was first) and winter training. Brian mentioned that between his work and other commitments he was not getting adequate training and was going to skate in the Fitness category. I was registered for Advanced. After a little while Brian and Andrea had to leave to celebrate Brian's birthday and I hung around for a little longer. Finally, I have left the registration site, checked into the hotel that was only a few miles from the course and set off to explore Austin. The evening was not very eventful since all I was interested in was getting some pasta and sleep J However, I did stroll on the 6th street (mostly by mistake, but now I know that it does not have any affordable Italian restaurantsJ ) and settled for a spaghetti and meatballs dinner at Carraba’s. I did, though, drive to the Old Settler’s Park that night to make sure that I knew where to go in the morning…I got to the Old Settler’s Park at 6:45AM on Sunday and it was just getting to live. I ate my breakfast Powerbars and had a big cup of coffee before starting the warm-up. The site was quickly filling up with skaters and I was definitely getting excited about the upcoming race. The race was from a stagnant start with no waves. Pro’s were standing first, followed by Advanced skaters and then Fitness. At first, I was a little concerned about the start since it was into a short but fast downhill and I was concerned that with 180 people anxiously running down this hill, we could see some carnage. This was not the case though, as everybody seemed to make it through the start in one piece. Now, let me describe the course a little bit so there is a better understanding of what was going on during the skate. As I mentioned, there was a short, fast downhill off the start followed by a long (about ¾ of a mile) gradual hill. The hill was not too bad, and it was easy to maintain a good speed there, but it was not flat. The hill was followed by a gradual ¼ of a mile downhill into a false flat. The false flat led into a downhill that was about ¾ of a mile and then into a gradual uphill for another half a mile. Basically, there were two very nice recovery areas and the rest of the course was all about grinding up gradual (by NO means any big) hills. The full marathon was 6 laps and was 28.4 miles long (vs. 26.2 standard marathon).Back to the race now. As I said, I have started right behind Pro’s and it was really smooth. When we’ve got to the first uphill I was staying with Pro’s and it seemed fairly easy. There was not a lot of jockeying going on and everything seemed fairly slow. However, as my head was going through thinking how easy it was, my heart was not really happy as I was clocking myself around 95% of my maximum. I stayed with the Pro pack (which probably included most of the advanced skaters at the time) for about ¾ of the first lap and decided to drop off since I was not going to last very long redlining like that. I finished the first lap alone and my idea was to stay calm and see if another pack catches me or if I catch up to anybody. I have noticed another skater up the road when I was a quarter into my second lap and started slowly reeling him in. I caught up to him shortly after he caught another skater that fell off the front. Thus, we had 3 skaters in a pack. It didn’t last long as we were chased down by another pack of 4-5 skaters who settled behind us. I have stayed with this pack of 7-8 skaters almost through the end of the race. Interestingly, everybody in the pack was quite and just did their share of work without too much cheer or chit-chat. On the first few laps there were some sprints for photo-ops at the finish line J but on the last two laps we have just settled into a rhythm that seemed to be sustainable for everybody and kept going. On the last lap, in the beginning of the first grinding uphill, two guys from the pack have decided to go on a flyer while others were getting water and Gatorade from an aid station. I have realized what have happened when the farthest guy was probably 200-250 yards up the hill. That’s when I’ve made the biggest mistake of the race. I have sprinted up the hill to chase them.  I have easily caught and passed the closest flyer but couldn’t quite get to the one that was ahead. By the time I realized that I was dead I was 30 yards behind that guy and the rest of my pack was sitting very comfortably in my draft. I had to pull out and hope that I recover enough on the upcoming downhill… which I did not. I stayed with the pack for another couple of miles but I had to let them go as I was not able to keep up with them. I have finished the final lap alone at 1:35. Later, I found that I placed 3rd in the Advanced Men 30-39 category. Brian took 2nd place in his category.

After the race I hung around the start/finish area, had a plenty of bananas and left around 1 PM to catch my flight. I did stop by Rudy’s BBQ for lunch and it was GREAT! J Of course, to balance things out, Delta has cancelled my flight so I had to spend another night in Austin and was able getting home only today in the afternoon. However, with the cheese grater (the trophy) in my skating backpack and a few valuable lessons from the race I was very happy how the 2007 season started… Let more racing come...

EDIT: It looks like I was 10th among all Advanced skaters. Yay! Top 10 placement in the first race of the season :-) (besides division placement)

skatey-mark's picture

Good job Artem!

Submitted by skatey-mark on Tue Mar 27 2007 4:23pm.

Congratulations on your great finish!  Sounds like you're off to a great start this year, and I'm sure you'll be nipping at my heels in no time!  Learning when to chase and when not to is difficult, and just comes with experience.  I guess ideally you would have noticed the two guys attacking earlier and not had such a large gap to close.  Then the three of you could have probably held off the chase pack...

Sounds like a great event...  I hope to do it one of these years.  Just gotta get a job where I can take about 10 weeks of vacation a year so that I have time to do all the important (skating) stuff!  :-)

 - SM -

eebee's picture

when you find it, let me know

Submitted by eebee on Tue Mar 27 2007 7:37pm.

"Just gotta get a job where I can take about 10 weeks of vacation a year so that I have time to do all the important (skating) stuff!  :-)"

Hey SkateyMark when you figure that one out let me know! Don't forget it has to pay way more than enough for flights, restaurants, hotels, event fees, new speed boots once a year if necessary, personal chef, oh and a car + gas to get to and from training! I think the Germans have that sorted out...no wait, it's only 6 weeks vacation they get per year :-)

 Thanks for the write-up, Artem. You sure had the camera fooled: as I was scrolling through those photos you pretty much look like you're cruising along leisurely in most of them!

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