7/16/88, Giro of Buffalo Crit: 2nd place... This was the race where I discovered that it's possible to sprint seated, because that's how I was beat. With the gear restriction I was totally spun out and Jeff Pierce stole the race from me, seated and spinning his ass off...
9/18/88, Tour de Corning: 6th place... This was a stacked field! and the course was a four mile climb followed by a four mile descent... A late season kick in the ass, going up that climb..
Other results not noted on there: 4th at the UB Classic crit (beaten by Todd Scheske for 3rd), 2nd at the Thatcher's Park RR, (during a snow storm- my first ever USCF race), 5th at the Whitney Point Road Race, 12th at the Wilkes Barre Crit, 30th at the Endless Mountain road race (featuring George Hincapie! who took 2nd), 11th at the Lilac Festival Crit.
As you can see, these results were nothing to write home about. That's okay because in 1989 I had some very consistent results and on July 8th I was upgraded to cat 3. To wit, the back of my blue 1989 license had these results noted:
5/13/89, Albany Tulip Festival Crit: 4th place... I became ill after this one, I worked so hard for that result. If memory serves, George H. won this one..
5/27/89, Perry's Akron Chase RR: 3rd place.. I have no recollection of this event, other than the 1 km climb I muscled over on every lap.
5/28/89, UB Classic: 3rd place.. beaten for 2nd by Ryan Muncy of Syracuse.. lone breakaway by an out-of towner
7/9/89, Johnstown RR: 4th place.. This race was MINE and getting blocked in the sprint had me practically coasting into 4th
Other noteworthy results of that year: 7th in the Wantagh Classic Crit (another event featuring Hincapie), 10th at the Bank of Newport Classic crit (my team mate, Derek Larson won it, I also took a prime), 3rd at the Lilac Festival Crit (lots of hosers came down from Kanada for this one), 23rd at the Can-Am Challenge Crit, 69th at the Enchanted Mountain Stage Race, Crash and DNF at the Chris Thater Crit, 1st at the Tour of Schenectady Crit, Lapped and DNF at Junior Cyclocross Nationals... There's another race in Turkey which I won: a large elite/junior combined field (2nd overall and 1st junior) The winner was also named Murat, and the only reason he beat me is because he wasn't using a junior freewheel (15-19) as I was.. This was a points race with a sprint every 5 laps. He later raced in Europe, in events which included the youthful Bjarne Riis and Olaf Ludwig... I have a podium picture I'll share one day.. I got 10th in the road race on the previous day..
And that's all it took to be upgraded to cat TWOOO. I wrote Ralph McReadie a letter during the winter and I got my upgrade on my pink 1990 "SENIOR MEN" license on 2/28/06... What happened between then and now, I can't explain without being really long-winded, so I'll save it for another time.
Adjusted for USCF "inflation", I'm really a cat 3 I suppose... but becoming a 2 wasn't something which exactly fell into my lap. I'm keeping it. Hope you enjoyed this frolic in yester-year. Thanks for reading... Fuck-it, here's a link to some reminiscing and photos I posted back in 2005 to record the memories. I'm on the left. B&W picture in there of my father racing too..
Thanks for reading. -Murat
2 comments:
Hey, JP won a stage in the tour, right? I was at Johnstown in 1989, what category were you then? Ditto for Schenectady.
I may have Jeff's last name incorrect. He's fom Buffalo area, not the one on 7-Eleven. Blond haired kid, good guy whose wife also race(d?). Johnstown NY I was in the junior race (previous day was the Gloversville Crit, which I DNF). The Schenectady Crit was in a park, and again I was a junior. It was cold. Aside from winning it, that's all I remember.
Post a Comment