Our hotel was just a few minutes from Saturday's High Rock Road Race course, so Shannon and I had planned to pre-ride the course for our morning spin. We were greeted with rain when we awoke, so the spin was performed on the trainer. Concord and Charlotte are NASCAR country. There's a lot of history in this area related to the sport. I have been to two races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway many years ago. I've always been into any sort of racing and Shannon has learned a lot about NASCAR since we have been together. Many of the NASCAR teams have their shops and headquarters around Concord, so we left a bit early so we could visit some of them. We wound up only making it to one, Hendrick Motorsports. It was a really cool experience. Their shops are huge! There are many displays of their racing gear and awards, along with a view into the shop where you can see the crews working on the cars. I love how everybody thinks of NASCAR people as just a bunch of rednecks. I didn't see a redneck anywhere in there. It was full of engineers working hard on some really high-tech equipment.
#48/#88 Garage (Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.)
Jimmy Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. cars on display inside the shop
The back of Dale Jr.'s helmet
Looking into the garage
#5/#24 Garage (Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon)
One of Jeff Gordon's classic paint schemes. This is when Dupont unveiled their color-changing Chromalusion paint.
We had time to run by the large Concord Mills Mall before it was time to head into downtown Concord for the race. The rain had stopped, but many dark clouds were creeping toward us. It looked as if a wet race was imminent. The Cat. 4/5 race was only slightly wet. We watched the race while eating some ice cream from the Cabarrus Creamery, which was the main sponsor of tonight's event. Then a big storm rolled in right as they started the Masters race. It poured for 30 minutes, then the storm passed and things began to dry up. We were parked in a parking garage, so the storm did not affect us. I was doing my warm-up and just watched the rain fall through the windows in the garage as I sat on the trainer. I warmed-up harder tonight, determined to be able to hold that high heart rate for longer. I also did some extra hamstring warm-up exercises and pushed them a little too far. I felt the left one twinge on my last exercise. After that, the left hammy felt tight and was definitely irritated in the race.
I thought the Mocksville course was small, but this course gave new meaning to small. It was only 0.4 miles in length with four 90-degree left turns. The front stretch was gradually uphill to turn 1. Turn 2 followed quickly, then the course descend down the fast backstretch. You started to come uphill again as you approach turn 3, then continuing with a very slight uphill through turn 4 and back to the finish line. The good thing was that this course was wider through the turns.
Concord Race Course Map
Cat. 4/5 bunch on the start line in Concord
Turn 1
Turn 3
Cat. 4/5s rolling down the backstretch
Dark clouds in the distance during the Cat. 4/5 race
The course was just slightly damp when we started our 60-minute event. Again, we had a big group for a Wednesday night race at 80 starters. Everybody knew it would be crucial to stay in a good position tonight on such a small course. The start was fast again, but I was near the front this time and able to hold my position the first four laps. Then the pace got ugly and we quickly went into a single-file line all the way around the loop. As I dropped to the back, I could here the lead car squealing tires around the corner behind me. We were nearly stretched all the way around the course in just six laps!
Pro/1/2 Men ready to start in Concord
Gaps formed in front of me and that was ultimately what got me off the back at the 10-minute mark. I only got in two laps before being pulled because the front of the race was right behind me. Again, I wasn't the first rider out, coming in 66th on the results. Tonight, I felt like I got dropped because of other people opening gaps. Last night it was all me. I had good legs again today and gave it my all, running max heart rate most of the race again today. I ended up with a 27.2 mph average speed even with a few laps off the back by myself. Like last night, the group was whittled down really fast. By the 25 minute mark there were just 22 riders left in the race. Bissell controlled the end of the race setting up the win for Frank Pipp. It was a good race to watch, even though I would have rather been out there with them. Shannon and I worked on filming with the GoPro for an upcoming night crit. video. Should be great if I ever get the time to put it all together. In the meantime, enjoy highlights from tonight's race.
Video: Cabarrus Creamery Criterium
Next up, another night crit. in Salisbury. Can't wait!
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