Tour de Moore and Sanford Crit

Just a quick recap of a great weekend of racing a the Tour de Moore and Sanford Crits. Steve Sperry, Rick Creed and myself entered the 40+ races both days and came away with some pretty good results. Saturday was the Tour de Moore and the field was stacked. Almost as soon as well rolled out, little buddha rolled off the front and stayed away for about 30 minutes with a solo flyer. Once he was brought back and the 2nd lap began, the fireworks started and I found myself in a stout group of 9 off the front, Rick had barely missed latching on the break, so I was our lone representative. After a series of non-stop attacks or the next 20 miles the group split up into 3, three man groups. I found myself in the 2nd group with two strong sprinters, so I knew I wanted to keep from getting caught from the chasers, so I went to the front and drove our group to the line and my two breakaway companions came around living me to cross in 6th place. Not ideal, but given the caliber of riders in the break, I was satisified with my performance. Sperry got 3rd in the field sprint for 13th and a small payday.

Sunday's Crit in Sanford saw all 3 CTM masters get in a break of 7 early on in the race. We controlled the race really well, and I was pretty confident we were going to win the race. We caught the field with 1 lap to go, which we were trying to avoid. I went to the front and drilled it to get us throught the field so lapped riders wouldn't be a factor in the sprint. Coming into the 2nd to last turn, setting up for the sprint, we were in perfect position with Sperry coming off my wheel,then Charlie "the judge" Brown(Carolina Masters) then Rick Creed on his wheel. I watched the sprint unfold up the final hill. With just about 40m to go the judge came around Sperry for the win. Ughhh! So close! Sperry ended up 2nd, Rick 3rd and me 7th. While we didn't get the win, we all end up in the money any worked together really well as a team. Another fun weekend of racing.

Episode 6 of the podcast

Episode 6 is finished:

This episode contains an interview with Dan MacNamera of Metro Reprographics (the "M" in "CTM") about why a company would sponsor a bicycle team. On the Tales from the not-so-pro peleton, I have a report from Rock Hill and the Upstate Road Races. Sorting out my knee problem, I recorded a visit with physical therapist, Tim Crunk to assess the problem and also with the Carmichael Training System office for a bike fit assessment on the ReTule system of dynamic fit analysis.

enjoy!

Battle Royale at Rock Hill Rain Fest

Ok, put your game face on. Its pouring rain and you are about to start a fast P/1/2 crit with some of the fastest guys around. Nervous? you bet ya, turn 5 is a fast downhill right hander that crosses several painted stripes on the road, better watch that one! Racing crits in the rain is just about as far from fun and sane as one can get, but once on the start line, you have to push out the fear and welcome confidence in knowing that lots of people were too chicken(smart?) to even show up.

Ever wonder what I think about in a race? Here was my stream of conscientiousness:

Bang, you're off, time for battle! Stay in the front, stay in the front. Don't let that guy cut you off. Feel your way through that turn, how fast can you go across that stripe? Whoa, 2 wheel drift, better watch that one. Follow that move, close that gap. Yikes, lost traction of the rear wheel, but hooked up again, scary! I can't see, too much spray from riders in front of me. Quit bumping me, that guy is sketchy. Stay in the front, stay in the front, the battle is on.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Oh man that guy is down, I'm over the median. My foot is stuck in his wheel. Flop on the ground. Get up, get up, get to the pit. Breath, breath, try to catch my breath before they push me back into the race after my free lap. Darn, I'm on the back, work my up. Work my way up to the front again. Thanks for the push Sean!

Follow that attack, it looks good. We've got a gap. Hang on, hang on. Gap is big, hang on, hang on. I'm dieing on the hill, can I carry a little more momentum into it? Oops, too fast, there goes the front wheel. Slip and slide on my back, over the median on my ass. Breath, breath, am I ok? nothing broken, back on the bike, to the pits. Free lap (thanks lenient officials) and back in the break. Hang on, hang on.

We're lapping the field! Wow there's not many people left. I see teammates, maybe I can get a rest. Oh no, attacks are flying and I'm on the back. Ouch, ouch, stay on, stay on. Thanks for the push Sean! I can't move up, too tired. Stay on, almost done.

Last turn, I'm going to make it. It's over, I'm ok, I finished 8th. Good work. Breath, breath, time to patch the road rash. The battle is over, smile, I survived.

Thanks Blair for patching me up!

Road Race:
Big props in the Road Race to Team Inferno for taking control and bringing back a break that had had over 4 mins on us! Nice to see a team actually organize for once. I made the winning break here as well, finished 6th on the day. A good weekend for me and Team CTM in the P/1/2.
Of course, we cleaned up in the masters' categories as well. I'll let someone else tell that story.

Team CTM Wins the 35+ and 45+ Omnium in Rock Hill!

Team CTM had a great weekend of masters racing in Rock Hill, SC.

Friday night Rodney, "Buddha" Sperry, and Rick met up for the White Rose Sprints. In the 35+ heat, the buddha led out Rod for 1st with Rick hot on his heels for 2nd. The buddha rolled across for 5th.

While Rod was cleaned up and dressed back in his warm, dry clothes, the skies opened up as the buddha and Rick lined up for the 45+ heat. Rick took the win and the buddha got 3rd.

The heavy, steady rain continued straight through to Saturday. Despite the less than ideal conditions we decided we would race the technical crit course in down town Rock Hill. We all rode down with Hank "the enemy" McCoullagh in his big pimpin' velo-dad-van. As the rain continued, we warmed up under the shelter of a tent in the parking lot. Various folks would stop by the tent and tell us how slick the course was and how many crashes had occured throughout the day. We had all raced the course in the past and it was no secret with the high speed right-hand 5th turn and all of the white paint the course would be dangerous.

As we lined up to race the field looked pretty strong and of decent size considering the to crappy weather. A few laps into the race John Patterson and Patrick Brittan snuck off the front. I was up near the front of the group and saw, out of the corner of my eye Dave LeDuc getting ready to jump across to the leaders. I was getting ready to jump on his wheel, when I saw he had Rod in tow, perfect. In short Rod got a free ride across the the lead break. Behind there were at least 3 crashes, none of the CTM guys went down. The buddha bridged across to the break, but just didn't quit have the legs and came back to the main group. Eventually LeDuc and Patterson got away on their own, Rodney and Brittan came back to the main group. At that point, I hit the gas with 2 laps to go and got off the front and strung out the group a little. I got caught and Rodney came into the next to last technical turn in 3rd position, he had to scrub some speed due to another rider, but still managed 2nd in the field sprint and I stayed upright for in 8th in the 35+. Rod now had firm grip on the Omnium and we where looking forward to the road race on Sunday. The buddha and Rick swore redemption for Sunday.

The roads were still wet for the 90 mile road race, but the skies were dry and the field was large and stacked with fast guys. The first 45 mile lap was pretty uneventful with me getting to test my legs a few times by following some pretty strong attacks. I must admit, I was not feeling so hot and actually pretty bummed about it. Toward the end of the 1st lap a group of 3 containing a Carolina Masters rider and Glen "Papa" Thrift was allowed to roll of the front. My legs actually started to feel better as the race went on. The main field caught the break with about 10 miles to go. At this point it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a sprint finish and with 3 good sprinters on my team, I knew we had a great shot at doing well. All 4 of the CTM guys were up front in the closing miles getting ready for the finish. The Carolina Masters guys were clearly gearing up for the sprint as well. Coming into the last kilometer I had Rick and Rod on my wheel and the action was getting hot. At this point I decided it was best for me to get out of the way and let the sprint unfold so I just barely moved over to the right to give Rick and Rod a clear shot at the finish. Rodney had a great sprint for 2nd overall and 1st in the 35+ and Rick was 2nd in the 45+. I kept my momentum throughout the finish for 5th in the 35+. Rick won the 45+ omnium and Rodney put down the hammer for a decisive victory in the 35+ omnium. The team rode really well together and posted some great results.