2005, July 31st Giant Cup-Road Race and Hill Climb

After leaving at an early hour of the morning on the second day the riders arrived in plenty of time to have a good look at the course. It was quite flat but they only blocked off one lane of traffic so it was a little narrow. They didn't bother to tow the cars from the side of the course which made the finish especially dangerous. More on that later.

Chris, Tyler and Fraser all started at the same time in this 44 km. race. For the first bit people were quite nervous and there were a few crashes. There was even one crash in the middle of a straight road, about 3 minutes after the start. It was an omen of things to come.

Pic. 1 Chris warming up on busted up rollers.

Eventually the race picked up some speed and Tyler tried to make a move with about 2.5 km to go. He got sucked back so we all waited for the bunch sprint. Unfortunately a rider unclipped and ping-ponged across the road a few times. Tyler managed to avoid this but Chris and Fraser were a little less lucky. Chris made it around by riding into traffic but this cost him a couple of seconds and probably first place. The rider managed to run into Fraser several times and knocked him out of contention. That, as they say, is racing.



Tyler finished on top of the podium for the second time of the day with a win in the 2.5 km hill climb. Fraser threatend to kick Chris off the team if he was beaten by the riders with triple rings and mountain bikes. Apparently the threat worked and he finished a surprising seventh. Had he not been struck with mechanical difficulties he would likely have podiumed. Fraser avenged his loss in the morning's road race by winning his category.


Pic. 2: Fraser and Chris after a successful hill climb. Note that Chris' lime green helmet matches his bike. What a fashion disaster.

















Pic. 3: Tyler on top of the podium.















Pic. 4: Fraser in the middle. Apparently he is too tired to actually raise his hand in victory.















Pic. 5: Chris is second in his first race in Taiwan. He is even lazier than Fraser. He only raised one hand.