Parker Omnium Report

Parker Omnium Report by Dirk Friel
Last week was my last race of the year and what a doooozy! The Parker Mainstreet Omnium was one hard event. Things kicked off with a difficult 7-mile time trial where I slogged my way to about 50th place. The first half of the course was gradually climbing into a head wind and I found myself standing on the 53 x 23. I can just envision the likes of Chris Wherry gliding by me in a 56 x 19 seated.

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Parker Criterium - Starting Line VC riders prepare for battle (copyright Pelotonphoto.com)

Stage 2 was a 100m RR and the wind was even stronger than during the TT. The wind was wipping at about 40mph and all 120 guys were single file within 2 miles of the start line. I set my 3rd highest CP5 of the year within the first ten minutes at 407 watts! Brutal.

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Parker Criterium - VC alum Andy Bajadali (Jelly Belly) had a great 6th place ride at the USPRO RR

Bit by bit groups rolled up the road and at least I had two teammates up ahead that finished top 12. Jon Baker and Christian McCarthy had great rides. I lead out the field sprint for about 24th place and Vitamin Cottage got 1, 2 and 4th in the field sprint.

After the road race we had two guys sitting top 10 with Chuck Coyle and Jon Baker.

The crit was action packed but well controlled by TIAA-CREF. The fun came with two $500 primes and one $1,000 prime. Hats off to Chuck who celebrated his birthday by winning one of he $500 laps. My 50-year old teammate Alan Mcormack was 2nd to Will Frishkorn in the $1000 lap. Way to go Alan! Finished the crit in 13th place and my teammate Joey Pinkerton was 11th.

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Parker Criterium - Chuck Coyle took home a $500 prime (copyright Pelotonphoto.com)

At the end of the weekend m Vitamin Cottage team had a good showing and battled it out for a few top 10's. I was a great way to end the 2006 season. Look for the Parker Omnium to get even better. This was a great race and very well organized. It was also the only Colorado NRC race. A big thanks needs to go out to the promoter.

Check out http://dirkscycling.blogspot.com/ for the full report and many other interesting article's as seen through the eyes of Vitamin Cottage's Dirk Friel.

The Vitamin Cottage Women also had a great showing in the Parker Omnium with Beth Fisk finishing on the podium for third place and Sharon Allpress 11th overall on the weekend. Other notable results for the women's team are as follows:

Parker Omnium Time Trial