Speed Week: Spartanburg

     My hope was to race all of Speed Week this year, but I didn't have the off days saved up to be able to take off from work, so I had to skip the midweek races. Tons of rain in our area that week caused a lot of flooding and I was more than happy to get away from here and see some sunshine.

Flooded Sulpher Creek near Adams, TN

I was taking a nature break on the Sulpher Creek bridge when I noticed someone left my name on the wall. Almost like the Tour...

A flooded yard in Adams. The water got way up into the house. The sad thing is, this is all just drainage from other yards. There's not a creek or stream nearby. And that thing out in the middle of the water is two guys in a canoe. Their dog is swimming behind them.

Some storm damage

     My birthday was a few days before Athens. One of my patients brought me a late birthday present this week. It was a peanut butter and chocolate cake. She said it had more than 24 Reese's cups either on it or in it. And the icing alone featured 5 lbs of powdered sugar. Talk about a sugar coma! Thankfully, I had several employees and patients to help me eat it!

     It was my first ever trip to Spartanburg, SC to catch the Spartanburg Regional Classic on Friday night of a triple-header weekend. Shannon was unable to go, but my sister, Dina, was able to tag along to provide a little support. The drive wasn't bad and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. I got in my usual long warm-up. The worst thing about these larger races is finding a chance to get on the course and make a lap. The week before in Athens and Roswell, I didn't get in a single lap of the course prior to the start. I can manage in a place where I've been before, but going to a new venue makes the first few laps a little hairy. I got in a half lap before I got tossed of the course due to a parade. I hadn't even been able to walk turns 3 and 4 beforehand, so I went in blind on the first lap.

Masters riders start across the cobbles in Spartanburg

Cat. 2/3 riders on the backstretch of the course

     I got to the start line early enough to get a midpack start. The group was not pushing 200 riders like at Athens and Roswell, but we had well over 100. And they're all fast. Somehow, I got the Cat. 2 invite and was able to do the Pro/1 race. I was expecting 27-28 mph avg speed. The course was very fast. It was a 1/2 mile rectangle with 4 right turns. There was a gentle descent between turns 1 and 2, followed by a slight rise off turn 2. There were also some cobbles across the finish line. From looking at the course maps for the entire weekend, I figured this was my best chance to finish the Pro race. It was the type of course I do well on.

Spartanburg Regional Classic course from my Garmin GPS

Pro Women on the start line

Robin Farina attacking the group like she has all week

Group comes off turn 4

Pro Women going into turn 2

One rider off the front. She wouldn't hold off the peloton.

Pro Women's podium

     The start was fast and I got held up behind a few guys that were slow to clip in. That cost me a lot of ground right away. The pace was tough early on. Dina said they clocked us at 34-35 mph through the finish line the first two laps. The pace felt good to me and I started moving up on lap 3. I got a little carried away with the moving up and really put the hurt on myself. I knew I needed to recover, but there was no chance of that happening with the battle that was going on ahead. The primes for cash and points were coming every 3 laps and guys were going hard after them. I faded back at the 15 min mark. My heart felt like it was going to explode! Already there were lots of riders blown off the back. By the 20 minute point I was hanging on the back of the group. We were strung out single-file, stretching for more than 1/4 of the way around the course.  It was very disheartening to hear them announcing the winner of the prime when I was still in turn 3.

Pro/1 Men on the start line

    Turn 4 was very tight and I got gapped once. It took me dive-bombing turns 1 and 2 to get back on. Somehow I recovered by the 30 minute point and started moving up in turn 3. I could sweep the outside of the turn and grab some spots without wasting much energy. Our average speed had been 29.4 mph early on, then dropped to 29.0 mph at this point. The halfway point prime after 35 laps jacked the pace back up. The hurt came back instantly as we rocketed to over 36 mph on the straights. Guys were popping left and right. I closed a few gaps, but eventually couldn't close the holes. The gap opened on the guy ahead of me and I was unable to make the bridge. At 35+ mph that gap gets big in a hurry! With my nose now in the wind, I simply didn't have the power to increase my speed enough to rejoin the group. I fell off after 42 minutes (36 laps) with a 29.2 mph average.

Pro Men's pack coming up the small hill

Down the backstretch in the evening light

     That was way faster than I expected. I never would've thought I could hang that long at that pace! It was a great race to watch the finish of, but it sucked to be on the sidelines. That's just motivation to keep hammering out the miles at home. I left the race really pumped. Going that fast under the lights surrounded by a huge, very supportive crowd, was AWESOME! I may have had a better finish position in the Cat. 2/3 race, but I left Spartanburg very happy with my decision to race Pro/1. We spent the night in Spartanburg. The next day it was on to Charlotte for the Dilworth Criterium.