Opportunity Missed

     The week between Anniston and Athens was a crappy one. I didn't get to ride a lot. To be honest, I lost a lot of motivation with the dismal performances I had in Alabama. I know that the crit. performance was not entirely my fault, but it still crushed my motivation. I didn't eat well all week and my riding was scattered. It wasn't until Friday that I got pumped about the race. That's ridiculous for me. I'm usually chomping at the bit to get after it at Athens.

    The trip was fun as my Mom tagged along with us. We drove part of the way on Friday, stopping in north Georgia for the night, then finishing the drive on Saturday morning. The theme of the weekend was rain. The forecast looked bleak, with Saturday having a 70% chance of rain and Sunday a 90% chance.

    It rained off and on during the rest of the drive to Athens. It was a bit hectic getting parked, registered and ready after we missed a turn coming into Athens. I think we miss the same turn every year. I'll have to plan a little better next year. I actually felt good in warm-up. I did my riding on the local roads, which is unusual for me. The trainer gets my heart rate up better, but today I was feeling good on the road and was able to get the heart elevated with little difficulty.

    The course was wet for the early races, but had dried by the time my Cat. 1/2 race started. I chose to go with my Maxxis Re-Fuse training tires, which are heavier, but I trust them more in the rain. I have never ridden my Maxxis Cormet race tires in the wet. Testing them out for the first time in a race is never a good idea. Especially when the race happens to be the biggest race of the year. There were still too many black clouds floating by to chance it.

    The morning race course is just over a mile in length, going around the Oconee River Greenway park in downtown Athens. It's a tough course, nothing like the evening course used for the Amateur Finals and Pro races. This course begins with a descent, then takes two 90-degree right turns before a long, flat backstretch. Two more 90-degree right turns await before an uphill to the finish line. Things always bunch up on the backstretch, making it hard to pass and also hard to hold your position.

Race course from my GPS

     My goal was to finish in the top 35, which is how many qualified from our race for the Amateur Finals later that night. The Finals is made up of the top riders from each of the classes. They throw us all together and let us wallop on each other for 25 laps as a warm-up of sorts for the spectators before the Pros come out.

     The field was a bit tougher this year. There were more riders, more teams with 3+ riders and more speed. I started near the back and had difficulty even moving up at all the first few laps as the pace was brutally fast. It finally slowed down after 20 minutes and I began to move up. I pushed myself a little too hard to get through traffic and found myself in a world of hurt as the pace got cranked back up again. A break of 5 had gone clear and now the chase was on!

Cat. 1/2 field strung out on the first lap.

Attacks continued the first 15-20 minutes. They were relentless!

Me back in the group sporting the Maxxis orange and black.

Riders come off turn 2 under the railroad bridge

Me working hard on the backstretch

I'm taking the inside line through turn 2, just behind my old teammate Steve Carpenter

Peloton coming off turn 1

      I never seemed to recover from that the rest of the race. I dropped back in the group, finding myself at the back of a group that was down to about 60 riders. That's 40 less than what we started with. The pace definitely took its toll and attrition was high.

    With 4 to go, I made a big effort to move up, but couldn't hold my place. I could push hard, but my legs and heart could not sustain the effort and I would have to back off. I found myself just a few riders from the back of the group with one lap to go. The break was still up the road. We were gaining quickly, but they were able to just hold off the group. I tried very hard to move up through turns 1 and 2, but found myself blocked in down the backstretch. I thought my chances of qualifying were over, but I still gave it everything I had up the hill to the finish. To my surprise, a lot of riders were totally blown coming out of turn 4. The pace was so high the first part of the lap that the guys had nothing left to sprint with. I picked off many riders, crossing the line in 30th, just inside the mark to get me into the Finals.

The break of 5 starting to form halfway through the race

Chris Cundiff and I are riding together here, just on the right edge of this shot.

The break comes up the hill with just a few laps to go.

NOW and Novartis riders swarmed the front the final few laps

     Here's some video that my Mom shot during the Cat. 1/2 qualifying race.

Cat. 1/2 qualifying race video highlights

    I think the speed of the race and the size of the pack freaked my Mom out a little, but she still really enjoyed getting to see her first big crit. with me in it. Now it was off to the hotel for a shower, some food, a little stretching and a quick nap. It's amazing what a quick power nap can do for the body. I felt great after a 20-minute snooze. A quick check of the weather showed  a better forecast. The radar was clear for the next few hours. I was so excited to have another shot to race at night in Athens!

BMX Comp

Video: BMX Competition clips

    I changed my tires for the Finals. The Cormet's are not only lighter, but the rubber compound used is faster rolling and grips better in the turns. You need grip at Athens because you go ridiculously fast through the corners, especially turns 2, 3 and 4. You definitely have to trust your cornering abilities and hope the guy next to you can hold his line.

     We started in the late evening, with a setting sun dropping below the buildings. The course is a rectangle with four 90-degree right turns. The front stretch is pretty flat. The course slightly descends through turns 1 and 2, before going up a hill for the first half of the backstretch. The second half then goes down into a fast, wide turn 3. You can carry your speed well over to turn 4, which is a bit tighter on the exit of the corner. It's not a hard course, but it is a hard race as someone is always willing to push the pace. This is about the biggest race an amateur rider can win so riders usually get a little out of control at times.

Finals course in Downtown Athens

    There were 100 of the best amateurs on the start line. We were delayed a little at the start due to the pace car driver disappearing. They had a hard time finding him which surprises me because I would be very excited to drive the pace car for Athens Twilight. I started maybe 70 riders back which made for a hectic first half of the race. I was patient the first few laps, making moves when they were easy. It's very easy to let the crowd and hype of the race get you over-excited. You can blow up here before you even realize you are hurting.

The SRAM mechanics are ready for the Amateur Finals

And we're off!

Group goes between turns 1 and 2

Me working my way through the group

Going into turn 1

     By halfway, I was in a good position. I made a move up the right through the start/finish line to gain a few spots. It was the best move I could have made because just as I pulled out, there was a huge crash on the left side of the road. It took down many riders. I made it through clean, but still had to work hard to close down the gaps that had been left. I heard the announcer say there was a big cloud of dust kicked up from the crash. I figured that was an exaggeration, but he was not kidding. There was still a big cloud floating towards turn 1 when we came around the next lap. And they were still picking riders up out of the road and setting the side fencing back up.

     The next lap there was another crash, this time one rider. He caught a wheel and went down hard near the top of the climb. Again, I was on the right and he was on the left. And again, there was a big gap I had to close because of the crash. Closing this gap hurt me bad. I thought I was going to get dropped the next lap, but just as I hit my limit, the pace slowed down.

    The pace was slower for a few laps as everybody rejoined from the pits. We were left now with about 50 riders in the main group. One rider was off the front solo with a small gap. I sat near the back until we got inside 5 laps to go. I made up most of my spots by threading the needle on the outside of the backstretch, sliding myself between the riders and the fencing as we approached turn 3. That got me up inside the top 15 with 3 to go.

The peloton passes one of the dining areas on the backstretch

Topping the hill on the backstretch in front of the big screen which was later used to provide a live feed during the Pro races

     I was feeling great. The legs were good and I was ready to get after it on the last lap. Then I picked the wrong line coming to 2 laps to go. My side of the road slowed down and I had nowhere to go. I was blocked in and could only watch as numerous riders went by on the right side of the road. I found myself way back. The opening I had been using on the backstretch was not there this lap and I was unable to move up. Normally, I will dive-bomb the corners and gain some spots there, but I was not aggressive through the turns this night. I picked off a few riders as we passed the ringing bell, signaling one lap to go. I was still too far back and the pace was high now. We were all single-file up the hill as the sprint was already on to catch the one rider who was still dangling off the front. I was not able to do much the rest of the lap. I got gapped through turn 4 and spent my sprint just catching up. I finished 33rd. I was disappointed as I felt like positioning mistakes really cost me a chance at a good finish. I had great legs when it counted, but was not in position to use them. I really missed out on a great opportunity to do well at the biggest race of the year.

Mark Fisher out front solo

Group rolls into turn 3

On the short stretch between turns 3 and 4

Sprinting off turn 4 with a few laps to go

     Full race footage from the GoPro is posted below, along with some clips my Mom filmed as she watched. She was definitely more concerned with looking for me than looking through the camera at what she was filming, but that's ok. At least she was into the race! I enjoyed the fact that she found me near the back of the group for the first half of the race, then couldn't find me once I moved up. I like being tricky like that, especially when it involves moving forward. You can see me scurry around the two crashes somewhere around halfway into the race on the GoPro video.

Video: My handlebar cam from the Amateur Finals

Video: Amateur Finals

    I thought it was really cool that Mark Fisher was able to hold off the group to get the win. He's a young Cat. 3 with a lot of talent. He was solo for most of the race, never more than 10 seconds ahead. He pushed hard despite the small gap and it paid off big for him. That's a big, big win for a Cat. 3.

    We hung around for the Pro races. They are always fun to watch. No other race brings the kind of speed you see from the Pros at Athens. The Fat Tire Crit. was also brought back this year to the delight of the fans. The crowd was big, but everybody was nervous after the recent bombing of the Boston Marathon. It was a bit chilly standing out watching the riders fly by, but the rain held off so it was a great evening. Erica Allar took the women's win, which ended in a bunch sprint. The Men's race was very exciting. Three riders broke away int he second half of the event. Two of them were sprinters on the top two teams present. Carlos Alzate (United Healthcare) and Frank Travieso (Team Smart Stop-Mountain Khakis) got so worried about each other that they let Kevin Mullervy (Champion System) get a gap. Then they didn't chase him. Mullervy went solo the last 10 laps to get the win, even weaving his way through the remnants of a crash that took down most of the peloton with a few laps to go. It was a big win for Mullervy and his Champion System team. It was the first big race that United Healthcare has not won this year. Read about both Pro races here on CyclingNews. Videos we shot are also posted below.

Theresa Cliff-Ryan on the front in her stars-and-stripes National Champ skinsuit

Women head for turn 3 in the waning light

Video: Pro Women

Video: Pro Men

     The weather did not cooperate so well for the second day of racing. Sunday saw the riders travel to Roswell, GA, just on the north side of Atlanta, for the Historic Roswell Criterium. This is always a fun race as the city and surrounding neighborhoods really support the event. The people usually come out in droves. That is...when it's not raining buckets like it was this year. It was dry when we went to church in Sandy Springs. The rain starting pouring on us when we got to within about 5 miles of Roswell. So close to having a dry day!

    I swapped my tires back and got ready for the race. The races had all been starting late, but I wasn't counting on a late start. I fiddled around too much and only got in a short warm-up. I felt like crap. The legs were numb, I was cold and I couldn't get my heart rate up. We were parked at a bank and I sat on the trainer under the drive-up window awning. Bad thing was that we were quite a ways from the race and I couldn't see the course to tell if they were on time or not. So I jumped off the trainer early and headed to the start. It's a narrow sidewalk that takes you to the staging area. It's always full of people walking and watching so it takes a long time for you to get down to staging. When I got there, I found out that they were still 40 minutes behind schedule. I didn't really have the time to go back to the car and get on the trainer again (that's how long it took to get down that sidewalk). I decided to try for a road warm-up again like yesterday. Haha yeah right. There was tons of traffic and no open stretch of road longer than 30 seconds long. The police had blocks on all the major roads. You didn't even have the room to do an all-out sprint. It made for a difficult time getting my heart rate up.

     Just a few minutes before the start I found a little hill on a dead end road. I sprinted it twice and was still unable to get my heart rate up. My legs were just not cooperating today.

New Roswell course map from my GPS

Cat. 4s on course

    I fought for a good starting spot, but still found myself way back in the group as we took off in a downpour. I was cautious at best through the corners. They had added a little segment to the course this year, extending the already crazy-long front stretch, then adding a new turn 1, which was about 120 degrees to the left and covered with slippery road paint. I didn't notice it being too slick through the corner, but coming off the turn was downright treacherous. The guy ahead of me completely spun his back tire on one of the painted turn arrows the first lap. He did a complete pedal stroke while it spun. The paint squealed too making us all take notice.

Cat. 2/3 field ready to start

Underway in the rain

     The first lap was slow, then things got crazy. I dropped back in the turns as I was just not comfortable at that speed. Then gaps started to happen coming out of the tricky, off-camber turn 4. My legs were crap and my chest was hurting. My heart rate was already 40 beats higher than I got it up to in warm-up. I found myself off the back all the way down the front stretch the second lap. I rejoined the group just before turn 1. I was blown already and they came out of the turn fast, gapping me again. I had nothing left to close the gap with and my race was over already. A few riders came by later in the lap, but I couldn't even get onto their wheel. My legs were the exact opposite of last night.

The field strung out on lap 2

Still single-file on lap 3

Me trying to hold a wheel as several of us got popped off the back in the downpour

     I was pulled by the officials at the end of lap 4. That pissed me off because I paid $45 to do this race and they pulled me after just 4 laps. Nobody had been pulled in any of the previous races, but they pulled me "in the sake of safety." I think the officials just get tired of keeping up with people, which is lazy. We pay you to keep up with people when we hand over that entry fee so do your job! I know I was out of contention, but I was less than half a lap behind. In no way was I interfering with safety.

    I was pretty devastated to be changing at the car after just 10 minutes of racing. What a crappy day. The rain was still falling so I took my disappointed butt home after Shannon and my Mom grabbed some lunch at the tasty Fickle Pickle restaurant. I was upset at bike racing right now and didn't want to stand out in the rain all day to watch more of it. At least we got home early.

     Here's the video of my four fabulous laps in the rain shot on the GoPro mounted on my handlebar.

Video: Cat. 2/3 Bar Cam

     I didn't watch the Pro races so I can't really describe them. If you are interested in what went down, read the swim report here, courtesy of CyclingNews.

    So, I had a mixed weekend overall. I did ok in the Athens qualifier, then had great legs in the Finals. Roswell was bad, but you are going to have those kind of days. Looks like I need some practice with rain riding. Still, I left yet another target weekend with no results to smile about. I want to move up to Cat. 1 and I want to get on a team. Anniston and Athens did nothing to help get me closer to these goals. Sometimes, racing is very, very frustrating.

     When I got home, Shannon had a few presents for me to open. Saturday was my birthday. That's right, I got to race Athens on my birthday! She ordered me a box of Wicked Whoopies. They are delicious! We won't talk about their nutrition content...

All kinds!

     She also etched a mug with my favorite symbol on it. With our last name being Greer, we are always on the lookout for things with G on them. This G is used to represent the Grimms in the Grimm Brothers' tales, where the Grimms were people who hunted things like werewolves. They were the badest people around in those tales. That's where Grimm Reaper comes from. It's a perfect representation of the aggression of racing! It doesn't get much better than Grimm Reapers and skulls to represent you on the course, in my opinion of course. If I ever start my own race team you can bet this will be on my jersey somewhere.

Nightmare

     I don't even know where to start. The weekend of April 20-21 is one that I am glad is over and behind me. It was supposed to be the first highlight of the season, but it will definitely go down as a lowlight for a variety of reasons. Allow me to explain.

     My week went perfect on the bike. I was as ready for Anniston as I could be. I've been picking up the Strava KOMs in the area the past week or so, accumulating 13 now. I lit up the local group ride on Tuesday and then loosened up on Friday with a few sprints. I felt awesome and was eerily relaxed Saturday morning. I did some work on the bike, then cleaned up the yard before we hit the road for Anniston, AL.

New box of Maxxis goodies came in a few days before the race

     We left earlier than needed on a chilly, but beautiful day, planning to get to the race at least two hours before my scheduled start. Like I said earlier, I was very calm and relaxed. I was almost confident. It felt like today was the day to end the streak of mediocre results. I felt like today was the day to show out and make something happen. It just felt like it was going to happen today. Little did I know what was really about to happen.

     The drive went well for the first half, then turned to a nightmare. It began with a gas spill at our first stop. It didn't slow us down, but was scary. The car behind us was not paying attention and sprayed gas all over the parking lot. Then, we got stuck behind a big accident on I-24. We were 7 miles from the next exit and were not moving for 20 minutes. I was getting worried and decided to take the Taurus off-roading through the median to get us moving again. We back-tracked to the nearest exit and then took backroads down into Alabama.

     We didn't bring our GPS. I hate using it. I love learning roads and navigating with a map. That works good until you get to an area that has few road signs marking the highways and your map is not labeled on roads that small. We got lost, going a little out of the way before we realized where we were. Once back on course, we got stuck in traffic from the High on the Hog Barbecue Festival in tiny Winchester, TN. We cleared the traffic, then found our only direct route into Alabama temporarily closed. Great, another detour.

    We took a tour of north Alabama backroads, some of which were really cool. They were narrow and twisty through the green foothills. Cool as the curves were, they were killing our speed and slowing us down! It seemed everything was trying to keep us from getting to Anniston. We got caught by every small town redlight and every car we encountered nearly hit us. People were backing out in front of us, doing U-turns right in front of us and running stop signs. I was started to think our car was invisible. No kidding, I think we dodged at least 10 accidents after crossing into Alabama. I was getting a tad panicked as I did drive-time math. It was looking like we would just barely make the race.

     We finally made some good time the last few miles, getting to Anniston with just enough time to pick up my race number and get suited up. I hopped on the trainer for 20 minutes and then headed to the start of the Cat. 2 race. I knew I wasn't fully warmed-up. The air was a bit cool and that made the lungs hurt when I tried to force my heart rate up. I tried to cram my full 60-minute warm-up into just 20 minutes. My body did not like that at all.

Sunny King Course Map

Cat. 2 race is underway

rounding turn 2

Chris Cundiff in the middle of the group here sporting his red, white and blue U.S. Military Team kit

     I got to the line just in time to line up on the back row of 70+ riders and turn on my handlebar cam. I didn't even get to take a lap of the course. I tried to be patient the first few laps and not blow myself up. The pace was fast and I hurt, but I was smart the first few laps. I had a ton of adrenaline and wanted to just sprint to the front, but I stayed calm. A few laps in I was forced low in turn 3, causing me to clip a rough patch of pavement. The next time I entered turn 1, my rear tire was totally flat. It hadn't felt soft coming up the hill, but was totally flat when I tried to lean into the corner. I barely kept the bike upright and I went through the turn sideways with the tire coming off the rim. Somehow, I managed to miss all the riders to my outside, only slowing up one of them. It was a sphincter-clinching moment for sure!

Video: flat tire going into turn 1

    I went to the SRAM Neutral Support Pit for a wheel and was inserted back in the race off the back. It was a very fast lap and the pack was single-file from front to back. The official let me go as the last rider passed by. They were doing 27 mph as they came by me so by the time I got up to speed I was gapped off the group. I chased hard through turn 2 and grabbed the last wheel as we rolled down the back stretch. My heart rate was pegged now, touching 187. Again, I was not ready for this and instantly got the pain in my chest. I was also having trouble with the wheel I got in the pit. It wasn't shifting very well at all. And the tire pressure was lower than I like. It felt like it was going soft and I kept having flashbacks to the near crash earlier. The wheel itself was stiff and fast, as the neutral wheel is a Zipp 404. I adjusted on my shifter cable every chance I got, but never got all the jumping worked out. It would always jump a gear at the worst times, like coming out of a corner or closing down a gap.

Riders tried to break away almost every lap

Will Fyfe in the group

     I stayed at the back a few laps, but couldn't recover. The pace was not ridiculous fast, but it was fast enough to keep me from getting enough recovery. The flat incident has made me much more cautious as well. I was not willing to push it through the corners like needed to get away from the back. Riders started to pop at 20 minutes and I had to begin closing gaps. I was hurting the most off turn 4. It was a tough sprint out of that turn and up the hill on the front stretch. It quickly took its toll on me. I realized I was blown up and the goal began to just hang as long as I could, praying the pace would slow down soon.

Finally a lap where the group slowed down a little

Me in the group with the Zipp wheel on the rear after my flat

     At 26 minutes, I popped off the back going up the front stretch. I was so mad! My legs felt awesome, but the lack of warm-up was too much for my heart and lungs. I had trained so hard for this race and things outside my control took it away before I even had a chance to try for it. I think I punched my handlebar three or four times in frustration as I watched the pack ride away. I was coughing up a lung by the time they pulled me out of the race at 31 minutes. I came here expecting to contend for the win and was instead being pulled halfway through the race. What a disastrous nightmare.

Group of 3 up the road led by a NashvilleCyclist.com rider

Me near the back trying to close gaps through turn 3

Cat. 2 field totally strung out up the front stretch climb

Video: Bar cam footage of my entire race at Anniston

     After the race, Shannon and I went by the SRAM Pit to exchange wheels. While standing there, a dog comes strolling by and bites Shannon on the leg. He didn't growl or anything, just gave her a quick bite. She had on jeans so she was ok, but it did make red marks on her knee. The guy walking the dog was looking the other way and I don't think he even knew it happened because Shannon didn't say anything right at the time. Turns out the dog was a bomb-sniffing dog, one of three the city was using as part of heightened security for the event. I couldn't even believe how our day was going!

     After changing, we walked a few blocks down to Dad's Bar-B-Que for some of the best barbecue around. I wondered if we would get food poisoning or something after the way things were going, but by this point, I really didn't care. It was a good dinner. We ate big plates of good southern food and picked up a stash to take back with us to a coworker who is originally from Anniston. Then it was back to the race to watch the Pro events. It was a chilly evening, but the races were great. I'm still amazed that the United Health Care team dominates so much. It's crazy how strong they are. They've won every major crit. this year.

Pro Women ready for their start

Pro Women show some speed off turn 2

I did a little filming during the Pro races and you can watch it below. The local Anniston newspaper has an article about the race posted here. CyclingNews reports can be read at the following links:  Pro Women     Pro Men

Video: Pro Women and Men clips

     Our hotel was sweet! We stayed in nearby Oxford. The place had been remodeled recently. It's just a few miles from Talladega and the owners had fully embraced it, placing a huge picture of a NASCAR event at Talladega up on the wall over the bed. I love any kind of racing so I thought it was really cool to have a themed room.

     Sunday morning came early. My start for the Cat. 2/3 race at the Foothills Classic Road Race over in Piedmont was at 8:15. It was still cold when we go to the race. Thankfully, this drive was uneventful. I was having some shifting issues after swapping wheels today. My Cosmic sustained a little damage in the crit. when the tire rolled off, so I raced my Reynolds Attack Carbon wheels in the road race. I spent my warm-up time working out the shifting kinks, so again I was not prepared for the start like I had wanted to be.

Course map for the Foothills Road Race

     Race distance was 45 miles, to be run on one big loop. The area is very hilly. Most of the climbs are small rollers, but you are always going up or down. It takes its toll on your legs over the course of the race. I started in the back, but worked my way to the front early. I wanted to be at the front when we hit the first climb which was one of the bigger ones on the course. I wanted to have the room to fall back if I wasn't warmed-up yet. The pace was fine and I stayed up front over the climb. I even went with a large break about 10 miles into the race. We were pulled back quickly. I was not ready for that effort at all and realized how crappy I was feeling today. My legs were not there at all and it seemed like I couldn't breathe when my heart rate was elevated even the smallest bit. I was just off in the early part of the race. I made some good moves to stay up front and get with that break, but I was also making a ton of small mistakes. I kept missing my bottle cage after taking a drink. I clipped the wheel in front of me twice. I just wasn't functioning well the first half of the race.

Me lined up on the back row of the Cat. 2/3 race with my pasty white legs

Race underway in Piedmont

Cat. 2/3 field leaving the start area. Notice the cop next to the car with his back turned to the race. Guy in front of me nearly hit him, missing by only inches.

Riding the white line to move up in the pack

Making a turn

    I dropped to the back and tried to stay as protected as possible to recover from the short break. The big decision-maker was going to be the final climb. It is over a mile long and gets steeper near the top. And it comes with just 5 miles to go. So I planned to hang back until just before the climb. The pace was fast, then slow. Then fast, then slow. We stayed bunched up tight for the most part, which made moving up nearly impossible with 60 riders in the group.

The group strung out on a fast descent

Making shifting adjustments on the fly. Seemed to be the theme of the weekend.

Crossing a bridge in the peloton

     My plan did not work as I was not able to move up before the climb. I was probably 10 riders from the back as we hit the lower slopes of the final climb. Gaps started appearing immediately as guys couldn't hold the pace. I was unable to close the gaps and was dropped off the back of the lead group. I kept them just 5 seconds ahead and was able to rejoin when the grade slacked off halfway up the hill. I was suffering bad on tired legs, but I was back on. I just had to last a few more minutes!

Sharp turn before the main climb

Getting gapped on the first part of the climb

Clawed my way back to the group by halfway up the hill

    The gradient kicked up again near the top and it turned out to be a bit too much for me. I came off the back again, but was again able to dangle just a few meters behind the group as we crested the top. I gave it everything I had over the top, but my legs just couldn't close the gap. The group gained so much speed on the descent that I had no chance to rejoin. I could only watch them ride away.

     The group slowed a little after they got 25-30 seconds ahead of me. Several other riders had caught me, but nobody wanted to work together. We had a slim chance of catching on, but without cooperation amongst every single one of us it was not going to happen. We finally got it together with 2 miles left, but by that time it was too late. The sprint for the win materialized ahead of us and we were left to fight for the lesser places. I used what little bit of strength I had left leading out our group. I was hoping to do the lead out and take the sprint, but I got my doors blown off when the others opened up their sprints. I guess they had more left than I expected. I finished 46th, far from my goal of a top 10.

Getting dropped for good this time

Doing a leadout only gets you smoked in the sprint

     Here'a video clip of the finish of our Cat. 2/3 race, followed by highlights of my race from the camera mounted on my stem.

Cat. 2/3 Finish

Video highlights of my race from my GoPro

     The local newspaper published a news story on the road race too. Read it here.

    I am pleased to tell you that the car ride home was smooth and uneventful. We got home early with enough time to unpack and relax before another full week of work and tending to the house and growing yard. I brought Snoop over to our house to help me with yard work. She patrolled the wood piles and drooled all over my car. In the past she has become sick during car rides. She's over that now, but still develops a huge drooling issue about 5 minutes into any car ride. Poor dog. She's still awesome though.