The second race of Morning Grind’s second series was held on Watopia’s “Figure 8” route.
A Cat Report by Matt Buckle
Loved that, thanks to everyone involved in putting on this series. Surprised / delighted to bag a win. Seems from Lionel and Leandro’s streams that I benefited from an invisible cloak to sneak past some of the hitters(?!), I oddly disappear and reappear at different points in each of their vids, but I’ll take it all day long.
Great course, punchy climbs, and a flat sprint suit me perfectly and I had good legs and used them sparingly, staying with the selections and timing the afterburners. Was a slightly weird finish I thought, lots of hesitation, seemed like Matt Gardiner might make it at one point, but I timed my kick really well for once, got a great draft and upshifted just at the right time to sneak over the line.
Loved the sea of pink donut-chasing DIRT dads. Alas, parental leave will soon be over for me (after 4.5 months off with my littlest one) so will soon be fighting to stave off detraining and trying to balance work, family and the start of the outdoor season. But DIRT and the MGF have been a huge part of this most special period of my life and, for that, I am truly thankful. What a great community. Donuts4life.
Series 2 A standings:
- Sambike INC1, Team Innovation: 1st place 152 pts
- Lionel Vujasin, Zwift All-Stars: 2nd place 112 pts
- Leandro Messineo, Team DRAFT: 3rd place, 104
B Cat Report by Ken Nowell
Race 2 Season 2 took us back to Watopia for the Figure 8 course. The route was 18.6 miles of punishment with the B group finishing in about 39 minutes. To put that in perspective, the top riders today were tickling with the upper end of the B range for watts/kilo averaging 4.0.
As expected, the majority of riders held together until somewhere up the first ascent of the KOM when a distinct group of strong riders with some favorites broke off the front. The front group included Ostberg from R2R, Buckland from TT1 and Stern from Team DIRT. As the second ascent of the KOM was quite a distance from the finish, today came down to a large bunch sprint with the usual suspects hitting the last km full gas. Buckland was in the mix in spite of his complaints of D.O.M.S. on social media earlier in the week. It was an artful ruse but wasn’t convincing enough for him to keep from being marked.
Four riders smashed the front with a small break in the last few hundred meters including TT1’s Buckland, DIRT’s Chris White and Stern, and R2R’s Ostberg. Ostberg took the win with a quickly closing White in second and Buckland in 3rd.
Series 2 B standings:
- Chris Ostberg, R2R: 1st place 152 pts
- Paul Buckland, Team Type 1: 2nd place 128 pts
- C. Wolv, TeamODZ: 3rd place, 104
Check out Shawn McAfee’s excellent race recap video:
C Cat Report by Ed Zook
The C Category crushed the course today, with the podium finishers at 43:48.
What a race! If anyone popped into the DIRT Cat C Discord Channel, there was no talking… just silent preparation for our two attempts at the KOM (reverse, followed by forward) and a lot of heavy breathing overpowering the whirring noises of bikes on trainers.
The normal quick start was followed by wheel hugging and pushes by Nathanial “the Freight Train” Boersma, Billy “the Bruiser” Beasley, Marshall Tanner, Bastian Zwack, J.P. Dawance, Jon Slator, Martin Heintzelman, Sebastian and many others helping us hold a blistering pace to the base of our Reverse KOM ascent. The climbers made themselves known from the start of the climb, but the group responded well and reeled them back in.
By the top, the C’s were split, with a healthy lead pack to push the rollers and flats. Then came the forward KOM. With power spiking into the upper reaches of everyone’s ability, the group split again, leaving about seven to hold on and fight for the podium. They stuck together through the rollers and onto the finish sprint with a crushing performance by Bastian Zwack taking the win, followed closely by J.P. Dawance and Martin Heintzelman (DIRT).
Series 2 C standings:
- Bastian Zwack, 1st, 120 points
- Bill Beasley, 2nd, 120 points
- Sebastian, 3rd, 116 points
View race results on ZwiftPower.com >
About the Morning Grind
The Morning Grind is a collaborative 12-week race series between Team DRAFT and Team DIRT where overall standings are tracked and prizes will be giving to category winners at the end of the series based on cumulative standings.
DRAFT is a virtual bike racing team that competes with the global community on Zwift promoting sportsmanship, unity, and integrity. DIRT (Dads Inside Riding Trainers) is a group of dads making time for ourselves for fitness, fun, and friendship on the Zwift platform by hosting daily rides and weekly races.
