Six GCCers Join Forces to Crush Cross Race
Gainesville Teams Join Forces to Crush Comp in Tally
This year’s version of the Spaghetti 100k Cross Race in Tallahassee saw Gainesville dominate the 50-rider field. All 6 Gainesville riders made the top ten. GCC Members Todd Leedy, Kerry Duggan (BikeWorks/CycleLogic), Rob Robbins (same team), Michael Robinson (same team), and Clint Gibbs (Bike Works Off-Road Team Captain) joined old-school townie trailcrusher Justin DeLeo (affiliated with 352/Bikes&More) to execute a perfect series of attacks and counter-attacks over 62 miles of mostly red clay hardpack. The names on the jerseys were not as important as the shared camaraderie of riding Gainesville epic cross as a single six-man army. The riders agreed to ride for Gainesville, one and all, from the start. Considering the number of state champions and the total years of riding experience in the group, it is no surprise they won. As the relatively younger Justin DeLeo put it, “I was riding with legends.”
At the end of the day, Kerry Duggan was awarded the winner’s jersey (mind you this is an open field of all ages and our buddy Kerry is celebrating his 39th birthday . . . for the fifteenth time!), with Rob taking 2nd place and Mike in 5th. Duggan is widely known as a short-climb specialist, thriving on the ups and downs that other riders dread. “We wanted to put Rob or Mike in the jersey, so I took a leadout break at ten miles to go and forced our opponents to chase,” said Duggan. In classic road racing style, the rest of the team took the front and kept tempo, “just fast enough to keep everyone in check, and just slow enough to let Kerry ride in for the win,” said Todd (Todd is GCX founder and Group Ride Captain). According to Todd and Kerry, this was pretty much the way they raced all day. Both riders agreed that every Gainesville racer contributed to the tactics, either by chasing breaks, taking early gambler’s breaks and forcing enemy chases, or by taking the front at tempo to keep the breaks to a minimum. In this writer’s mind, that makes for a perfect race.
Todd’s average speed was 19.3, pretty fast for a cross race. “The course was fast compared to the limerock and sand in Gainesville, but it would have been faster with super dry conditions.” As it was a rain had soaked the ground a little from a few days before. Todd noted that most of the ride was actually in Georgia.
Cyclo-cross in Florida is a little different than elsewhere, as the “epic” or super-long courses seem to be more popular. I would attribute this to the fact that most of our cross riders are in their “wise” years (over 35)--the longer races favor treachery and skill honed over time. The discipline has been made popular locally by the joint efforts of many cross enthusiasts like the racers mentioned above. Cross bikes are designed to ride on unpaved surfaces (like limerock and red clay), but they are basically road bikes by another name.