Spring Hill Road Race

Kris Lunning, Ian Tuttle, David Van Orsdel, and Craig Upton.

Sweet day in the saddle for team ACR. The course was a beautiful 22-mile loop through rolling pastures in Petaluma, and we covered it 4 times plus an uphill finish stretch for about 90 miles total. Craig Upton made his season debut, donning the black and white and joining Kris Lunning, Ian Tuttle, and David Van Orsdel in the Pro/1/2 category.

After a bit of a delay at registration (apparently the sign-in tent was erected on top of a newly planted pumpkin patch and some line reorganization was required in order to spare the poor seedlings!) the racing began under foggy and cool skies. Within a few miles attacks were fired to get a breakaway established. Van Orsdel got himself in one of them but it wasn't the one to stick and when a group of 6 finally rolled off the front and out of sight team ACR bided its time and prepped for a bridge move.

A few miles into lap two, the ever-wily Upton initiated a salvo up a small climb and launched Tuttle & Lunning (ACR), Rob Anderson & Billy Innes (Specialized) and Chris Phipps (Morgan-Stanley) over the top. The five settled in to a good rotation and picked up another rider who had flatted out of the lead group. After about thirty miles the six chasers caught up with the lead group and made it ten strong. The breakaway gained upwards of 4 minutes on the field and remained out of sight for the rest of the race.

Going into the final lap a flurry of hard attacks splintered the breakaway group with five remaining up front. Tuttle worked with two other riders chasing the front five, eventually dropping them to finish alone in 6th.

Tuttle cranks up the finish hill for 6th.

David Van Orsdel led the pack up the finishing climb and took 11th. Upton and Lunning retired to the team car to ice their legs in preparation for next weekend.

Van Orsdel turns the screws 200 meters to go.

Heads up racing and a fun course made this a memorable race. Next up: Ross' Epic Hill Climb!