November 22, 2009
Trickery earns Aparicia 102 Valley Bicycle Race title
HOPKINS, Mo. — Javier Aparicio of St. Joseph did a little bit of acting to outwit a stranger. It also worked on his friend, landing him the overall championship Saturday in the 102 Valley Bicycle Race.
Aparicio, who brought along Rusty Parkhurst and Steve Hall to help him with drafting, shed his initial nerves about riding in the rain that began falling just before the start of the race. He and his teammates — including 2007 champion David Neidinger — were in a small group that had dropped the rest of the pack by the time they had abandoned the rolling hills for a section of flats.
“I was kind of nervous, because one guy who races in USA Cycling-sanctioned races from the Boulevard Team was there,” Aparicio said. “He didn’t know me, so I started playing like I was tired. It worked.”
In truth, Aparicio had plenty left.
“I actually psyched out my other teammate (Neidinger),” Aparicio said. “He thought I was going to bonk. I took advantage of that. (Neidinger) was going to try to drop me to win the race. He started taking off, and then I put the gear to it.”
Neidinger and Aparicio, who recently signed with the Epic Cycling team of Kansas City, knew that down the stretch the drafting assistance and teamwork was over.
“It was every man for himself,” Aparicio said. “We talked about it before the race, and we both were aware that whatever happened, happened, and we were all right with it.”
Aparicio finished the 18-mile course in 45 minutes, 16 seconds, just 3 seconds ahead of Neidinger and 4 seconds ahead of Mark Schoonbeck of Kansas City. Rodney Bade of Maryville was fourth, and 2005 champion Tony Jagodzinski of St. Joseph took fifth.
It was just the fifth road race Aparicio has entered and his first win, including a mountain bike career in the early 1990s.
Unlike Aparicio, Ruth Regehr didn’t resort to any trickery in finishing as the top female in the race at 51:23. That time was good enough for 18th overall.
“I have no strategy,” said Regehr, who has won the women’s division for three straight years. “I just do this for fun and enjoy it and do my best. I just ride.”
Aparicio will be among top amateur cyclists in the region competing in St. Joseph on Sept. 6-7, when USA Cycling holds both a team time-trial and a road race as a prelude to the Tour of Missouri, a seven-day, world-class professional event that starts from near St. Joseph’s City Hall on Sept. 8.
JOB SEARCH
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Rick,
I got to say I was not impressed w/ the article subbmitted to the News Press concerning the Hopkins race. You gave the impression that there was some kind of trickery envolved in the outcome of the race.
To start Javier, myself, and others trained hard this past winter for this oportunity, and looked forward for this chance to race in a somewhat local event.
Road Racing is a chess match, starting from the day of the race. Warming up and talking w/ other racers comments are taken and received concerning the strategy of the race to come.
The race at Hopkins started w/ a very fast pace set by Javier and others. This is basically a statement of about what is to come. Their was an attack on the peloton in the first mile of the race, wich was realed in by Tony and was not a serious threat. The peloton stuck together for the remaining rollers, until the flats. This is when the pace went from 18-19 miles an hour to 23-25 mph. This spread the peloton out for a couple of miles, as seen by the finishing times. The so called trickery at the finish, is done in almost all road races. A guy may start a sprint at half of his sprinting ability to get other racers to commit and then really start his kick to the finish. Other times you may partner up w/ someone and they may start the sprint and you follow behind letting them pull you to the finish. If you have watched any of the Tour De France you will see all kinds of different strategies to win a sprint.
Javier strategy was to get the other racers to start their sprint to early, by giving them the apperance he could not keep up with them. He set his queen out in front of their pon and dared them to take it. They did. He simply used their draft to pull him to the finish. Javier had the stronger legs, and rightfully won the race.
To submit that he some how did something wrong was not fair on your part. This was a very fun and competitive race for all, and no one went away w/ any hard feelings. I showed your article to folks who do not now that much about bike racing. They received this article as something unfair had occured. This line of the article is the most disturbing "Unlike Aparicio, Ruth Regehr didn’t resort to any trickery in finishing as the top female in the race at 51:23. That time was good enough for 18th overall." This gave the impression Ruth should have won maybe. I do not believe you have a true understanding of bike racing.
Please do not submit any articles concerning the Tour of Missouri. Acusing some one like George Hincapie or Ivan Dominguez of trickery would be a shame on your part.
sc00ter
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