MOAB Downtown Crit

Sunday, May 27^th, 2012

Murfreesboro, TN

Sunday I traveled up Murfreesboro, TN to race in the MOAB Downtown Crit.  MOAB is the local cycling shop in downtown Murfreesboro and I must say they put on a great race.  The hospitality and amenities were great and this is a fun course to say the least. 

My strava of the course can be found here.  The course was a 5 turn up and down course with a 150 degree hairpin at the far end of the course.  The first .5 miles of the course involved 4 turns and was all downhill with swooping wide turns.  After the hairpin, it was a .25 mile long uphill that provided a brutal serving of punishment to anyone brave enough to launch an attack there.  One last turn at the top of the climb and 250m to a downhill finish.

The weather was hot, I saw a bank sign thermometer reading 101 degrees so give or take a few, it was pretty hot.  I went through 2 bottles of water for a 40 minute race, that’s how humid and hot it was.  Luckily Cahaba Cycles provided us with their shop vehicle and tent to keep us cool and out of the sun so we did have some respite on the day but it only added to my otherwise pronounced cycling tan lines. 

The race started at 12:30 and after a good 45 minute warm-up I was ready to go.  The field was in the mid 30’s and the roads were fairly wide so I wasn’t that concerned with getting a good starting position.  With the course having a good uphill on the back side, I didn’t expect any breaks to stick so I went in with the mentality of sitting in top 10 and not chasing anything all day.  What a difference it made, when your not up front chasing or attacking, it is a lot easier to just ride along with the group.  It was really hard for me not to launch an attack but in retrospect I should have when I felt it.  The problem was, Harpeth Cycles had 3 guys sitting and BPC was chasing everything that moved, as well as the Tree House Cycling guys who were well represented.  I knew if I went, I would have to do it alone and I didn’t want to go that hard when I knew I was one of the stronger sprinters in the group so I just sat in and waited patiently. 

With 2 to go the pace kicked up and finally the field got a little stretched out.  I moved from back 20 up to top 8 through turns 2 and 3 and coming up the back stretch I sat second wheel on 5 guys spread out across the road, just waiting for the jump.  BPC went mid way up the hill, I swung wide in turn 5 to keep my speed and stayed top 10.  We were pacelining it and we hit the finish with 1 to go.  Turns 1,2, and 3 came fast and hard and we got a gap on the back part of the field.  On turn 4, the hairpin, I went to the inside as not to have anyone come under me and my rider to the outside almost lost his front wheel but recovered, this gave me just enough to come hard out  of the turn and take 7^th wheel in the paceline.  BPC was still hammering hard and we started to ascend the hill.  Now came the counter attacks, 4 guys came to the outside hard and I jumped on their wheel and weaved my way up the hill as hard as I could go.  I railed turn 5 into the uphill and came down hard to close off the inside line then stood to sprint to the finish.  I managed to get 2 spots and was gaining on 2 more when 3^rd and 4^th place hooked bars and both went down, sliding across the finish line.  Luckily I was able to pull up and went off the course as I went through the finish line, while the rider I was chasing I believed ran over one of the guys who fell. 

Overall I ended up 6^th place and had a good time racing with everyone and watching some of the faster races.  I ended up with the fastest average speed for a crit so far this year so I can only image what the 123 race was doing but it looked fast.  

 Thanks to Cahaba Cycles for their shop vehicle and tent!  What a great sponsor to work with.

Huntsville, AL- Rocket City Omnium

Saturday/ Sunday May 19/20, 2012

This past weekend ST3 Cycling showed up in force to race in Huntsville, AL at the Rocket City Omnium sponsored by Spring City Cycling Club.  We had 6 guys racing in the 4s, 2 in the 5s with this being Mike Soto’s first time racing road, and 1 in the women with Lynn racing in her first time trial.  The weather was hot and sunny all weekend with not much wind either day.  Here is a link to our facebook page with all the pictures from this weekend.  This was my first time racing on tubular tires and I've got to thank Joseph from Pro Cyce and Tri for doing a great job re-spoking and gluing up this set for me.

Time Trial- Monte Sano State Park

The course was an 1.8 mile uphill with an average gradient of 5% for the first 1.3 miles, then it flatten out with several rollers for the last half mile.  I was looking for some redemption from my last time trial at MSGP where I lost 45 seconds and took myself out of the overall so needless to say it was go time.  I got a quick warm up in then lined up to go.  No pre-ride left me with the mentality of just going full throttle for the first 4 minutes then holding until the finish.  I was shooting for a sub 6 minute time so I knew I could push for 2 minutes if I could just get through the first 4 minutes.  I was able to put up a time of 6:08 for 4^th place, although I lost almost 20 seconds to the leader, this was an omnium and based on points, not time so I was able to stay in contention in the points overall, which was more important than anything.  Here is a link to my strava.

 Me grinding it out going over the last roller before the finish of the 1.8 mile time trial

Crit- Downtown Huntsville (State Championship)

The course was a 6 turn .8 mile loop with 5 right turns and one swooping left at the bottom of a one block long downhill and a finish with a slight downhill.  The field was in the low 30’s with BPC and ST3 Cycling being the two most represented teams.  Here is my strava.

ST3 was able to keep several riders up front, keeping the pace high and chasing attacks back for the most part.  We let one rider go on the second prem thinking he was just chasing it down but he was able to keep the pace high and eventually able to hold off for the win. 

I was able to stay top 5-10 for the entire race and lead out several attacks but no one was willing to work and we were eventually caught every time.  Every one of the ST3 riders made attacks at one point or another during the race and kept the tempo high for the rest of the field.  On the last lap the field began to set up and Alan gave an attack going into turn one to get the speed back up for a brief moment but then it sat up again with the field spread across all lanes of traffic.  Turn 2 came slow with me sitting on the front anticipating a jump, then spread back out across all lanes.  About 200m before turn 3 an attack went and I jumped to get 7^th wheel, we hit turn 3 to the downhill and rolled turns 4 and 5 at 30+, I saw a gap open at 3^rd wheel so I shot hard to the inside on the straight away and got the spot just before the last turn.  I was able to pedal through the turn without losing any speed and came out hard.  By this time first and second had opened a gap of 10m and I was out of the saddle chasing as hard as I could go.  300m to the finish and it was all out and in the end I was able to hold off the chase and lock down 3^rd place. 

Although I got 3^rd overall, since the first place rider was from out of state I was awarded the silver for the State Championship.  This finish put me in 4^th place for the overall, 1 point behind Kyle (NSAT) and Kyle (Snapple) and 2 points behind Kevin (Steel City).  This put me in a little on edge for the circuit race Sunday knowing to get the overall win I needed to make up these points by beating these other riders.  

 Alan keeping the pace up on the front

 Taking the turn 6 on rails with my new tubulars

 Stalking Kyle (Snapple) who ended up taking home 1st place

 Taking my turn up front to do work

Sitting in nicely

 Alan setting the pace again

 Taking home 3rd place after a vicious chase

Circuit- Research Park

After carefully reviewing and re-reviewing the results and points from yesterday’s tt and crit, I felt comfortable with my position in the overall in 4^th.  I was able to get a good night rest and a good warm up ride in before the race so I was looking forward to getting the race going.  The legs felt great and I was ready to go get a win for the team.  Here is my strava.

We had a team meeting before the race and everyone was excited and ready to help do work and protect me on the day.  We had a great showing by Mick, Mike, and Mike, leading out attacks from the first lap and keeping the pace high.  This kept the attacks from other teams limited and the pace high.  Once we got through the first couple laps and everyone got settled in Alan came up front and began doing work.  Alan kept the pace high and took several long pulls while the rest of the field wanted to sit in without working.  Every time ST3 would come off the front the pace would slow to sub 20 and everyone would just sit in waiting for someone to attack.  John Soto was able to get away once and get a chase to go, Kyle (Snapple) attacked and got away solo once but Soto was able to bridge the group back to him, and several others made some attacks but Alan was always quick to jump on their wheel and bring the group up to them.  This kept me out of the wind for the most part and left me with only a couple attacks to chase down, thereby keeping my legs feeling great and saving them for the end. 

The team was able to work great together and keep the race in control for most of the day with attacks coming from all team members, Alan stepped up with 2 to go and pulled me until ¾ of a lap to go.  As he pulled off I was stuck on the front and launch a ghost attack to get someone else to pull through but no one wanted to work this close to the end.  I started to get the pace up while still looking around when I noticed Soto coming up on the outside to position himself to lead me out.  However an unfortunate wreck by Soto with less than 2 miles to go left me on my own.  I moved to the front of the pack going in to turn 1 to keep a safe position and kick the pace up to low 20’s but still waiting for the attack to come.  About half way up the hill BPC took off with a lead out of 4 guys, I was able to move in about 6^th wheel and we began hammering.  We crested the hill and the speeds crept into the low 30’s.  Hit turn 2 and the paceline was getting pretty strung out in single file.  There was about 1km until the last turn and BPC was hammering hard, no one was able to come out and counter so I prepared for the last turn and sprint.  I marked the BPC rider who was being lead out and looked for his wheel coming through the last turn.  The two lead out riders pulled off over the last 500m and left two more BPC riders for the sprint.  I came through the last turn and jumped Kyle (Snapple) and two other riders and was chasing Kevin (Steel City) but just couldn’t come around him.  I ended up 4^th on the day but was able to lock down 2^nd place in the overall omnium. 

I was extremely proud of all my teammates and their willingness to work for me all weekend to keep me fresh and protected.  Great weekend all around and look forward to getting back into training this week to keep this momentum going.  

 Sitting in while Alan pulls me around

 Sitting in on the front with 1 to go, Alan again pulling me around

 Pulling though after Soto took a long pull to bring back the BBC rider who got a 300m gap early

 Sprinting it out for a 4th place finish

Chainbuster’s 6hr Endurance Race Single Speed

May 5, 2012

Winder, GA- Fort Yargo State Park

So about a week ago John Newsom and I were debating on whether or not to go down and race the AMBS race in Mobile this weekend.  I have been aching to get back into MTB racing since I have been focusing so much on the road this year and this weekend was looking pretty good in the schedule, with my next road race not until May 19^th weekend.  John was wanting to get a good weekend in with a lot of miles and was thinking about doing the Chief Ladiga Trail so we ended up finding the Chainbuster’s 6hr Race going on in Winder, GA at Fort Yargo State Park and doing that. 

This was going to be John’s first endurance race and my first one since last fall so we were both a little on edge before the race not knowing what to expect.  The turnout was awesome and even though we showed up 2.5hr early, still had a hard time finding a parking spot and had to squeeze our pit in between several bigger tents under a tree but it all worked out.  Our pit setup was just basically some bottles, a toolbox, our food, an ice chest, and a couple chairs all lying on the ground.  Mike Soto came along to help out with everything and was great during every stop, getting us everything fast and doing exactly what we asked every lap. 

Race Summary:

The race started off with a parade lap, as all the Chainbuster’s races do, and with a field of I would guess 200 riders.  I saw there were over 400 registered but with most doing 2 man teams, 200 something at the start is probably a good estimate.  John and I started out well and being we were racing single speed, found ourselves mid way back of the field by the time we got to where we actually went into the woods due to the long 2 mile road parade lead out. 

The first lap was slow and I found myself running several of the climbs due to pile ups from the field but soon John and I broke free after passing 50-60 riders over the first lap and made it thought safely.  I kept telling John you are not going to win an endurance race in the first lap but you sure the hell can lose one if you don’t pay attention and that the goal was to get through it safely.  I could tell it was hard for him to go so slow, being he races so fast usually, but it paid off as we had no chance to pre-ride the course and allowed time for us to settle into the race and learn the trail. 

The first lap I skipped my pit and just pedaled through as I had still over ½ a bottle of water left and plenty of food still on me.  The second lap came fast and we were making up spaces fast as many of the other riders were starting to slow down now that we were over an hour into the race.  My pre-race goal was to get 5 laps in at 55 miles on the day but mid way through the second lap, John started asking if I thought he could get 6, or maybe 7 laps in.  I just smiled and said get through the first 3 hours, then start thinking about attacking.  Almost at the end of the second lap I dropped my chain on a smooth section about 4 miles from my pit, I told John to keep going and I would catch back up.  Luckily I was able to just spin my chain back on without taking my wheel off and within a minute was back on the trail.  I continued on and started trying to pull John back. 

Finally by the end of the 3^rd lap I was back in sight of John and eventually joined back on with him.  At this point we were about 30 miles into the race and I was feeling good even though I had hit it hard the last hour to catch back on.  By the time I reached John he was sitting in first and I was in second, but we still had 3 hours left to go.  We rode the rest of the 3rd lap together and most of the 4th lap then with about 2 hours left in the race, I told John if he wanted to still get a 7^th lap in he had to go now, we were turning about 55 minute laps and at this point but he needed two 45 minute laps to finish under 6 hours so he attacked.  Both of us also were under the impression there was still one single speeder in front of us so at the time it wasn’t a bad idea for him to go. 

I rode the last lap and half by myself and that’s when I began lapping a lot of riders, even other single speeders to my amazement, and even though they said they were a lap down, I didn’t trust anyone and would still attack until I didn’t see them behind me anyone. 

Overall I ended up in 2^nd with 6 laps at 66 miles in 5hr and 27 minutes and some change.  I was happy on the day with my result and glad that John was able to finish strong and grab 1^st in his first 6hr race.  Results can be found here.

Course:

The course was at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA and was an 11 mile loop with lap times in the mid 50’s for most people.  Here is a link to my Strava with elevation and gps data.

Nutrition:

My ride nutrition for the race was fairly simple.  I used Gu brand single shots with caffeine, taking one about every 45 mins.  For solid food I had several bananas, some Power Bars with protein, and some of John’s Rice Krispy treats.  For drinks I consumed water for the first 3 hours, then later I began drinking diluted Powerade, some whey protein mixed with Gatorade Zero, some Hammer Perpeteum, and a couple sips of Coke in the pit on laps 4 and 5.  But for the most part I raced on water as I don’t like a lot of sugary drinks when I ride normally.

Bike Setup:

As usual I raced on my Bianchi WUSS with 32x16 gearing at 52 gear inches.  The elevation for this course was around 1100 ft/ lap but none of the climbs were too steep nor were they very long so I was able to mash this gear without any problems.  Next time I will probably go with a 32x17 just to get a little higher cadence and save my back and knees a little more.  I ran my Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25’s front and rear with about 25psi in each with stan’s sealant.

Race Photos:  Photos courtesy of Mike Soto

Podium

 Pre-Race discussions

Getting ready to go warm up

 Coming through the lap checkpoint

 John and My elaborate pit area

 6 Hr Solo SS Podium

 Post race protein drink and soak in the lake, this is all I thought about the last hour of the race.

 2nd Place Swag plus a dry fit shirt I can't find

Foothills Road Race- Piedmont, AL

April 22, 2012

Well after a good night sleep and being one attack short on yesterday’s crit, I was eager to get out and race the road race today.  The weather was chilly, not getting much above low 60’s and winds upward of 10-15mph with gust in the 20’s.  John, David, and myself raced in the 4/5’s today with Alan, Mick, and Lynne doing the Cheaha Challenge at 102 miles. 

We got a good warm-up in and lined up to go.  The first several miles were smooth with a nice roll out then we hit the first climb at almost 2 miles and uphill the whole way, hitting 10%+ grade at spots.  This first test took the field from 57 down to 30 something really fast, shedding a lot of the field within the first 15 minutes of the race.  Once we got a gap we began to hit it and finally organized to work a rotating paceline around 12 miles in.  At 30+ riders this was long and inefficient at times, but it allowed for a safer race and gave me some time to recover the legs from the hard start. 

A group of 2 got away from the group and got a 2 minute gap on us and ended up holding on to the gap all day, which in the wind we had was very impressive to say the least.  We climbed through the rolling hills up toward Cheaha State Park with minimal attacks and relatively smooth riding for a race.  Once we hit the turn around~ 30 miles, the first attacks started coming and didn’t really let up, shedding more riders, at one point I was on the verge of puking and almost got shed, only to attack enough to make it back on the pack and stay.  Our speeds stayed in the mid 20’s most of the day with an overall average speed of over 22mph and 3.5k of climbing for 57 miles. 

As we made our way through the rollers, riders slowly kept dropping off and by the last big climb back over 8 miles out from the finish we were getting close to 20 or so left in our pack.  My pre-race goal was to be in the main group at the top of this last climb because it was a fast long decent onto a flat 3 miles, into a head wind it turned out, and put myself in a position to contest the sprint finish.  Well after all day staying on the pack and riding strong, 200m from the top of the last climb I began to fade, before I knew it there was a gap and about 12 guys were beginning to crest the summit.  I stood and gave chase but as they crested they opened up 200m on me, I had a gap on the rest of the few who were shed up the climb so I was stuck in no-man’s land, with close to a mile decent I leaned over the bars and got aero and tried to chase them down but with 10+ pacelining it down the hill I just watched the gap go from 50m to 400m.  Even though I was hitting speeds close to 40+mph, 1 just can’t catch 12.  By the time I hit the bottom of the hill, they were a good 1minute ahead of me and I began seeing a chase of 3 coming up behind me.  I sat up to wait for them then jumped on to try and bridge.  2 of the riders were useless and didn’t pull at all so we dropped them and moved on to start catching riders getting dropped from the front group of 12.  The head wind at this point only allowed us to go about 15mph and was just demoralizing after 55 miles in the saddle.  We picked off one rider who sat on for several minutes then attack the last 200 to take 13^th, I let up and gave 14^th to the rider who I was working with the last 3 miles because he was taking longer pulls and was the stronger rider and it was just the gentlemanly thing to do. 

Overall I ended up 15^th on the day and 1:30 off the front pack.  I can’t really complain about my finish because I accomplished my pre-race goal of staying with the pack until the last climb but once again I just didn’t have the legs to make it the last little bit. 

I’m looking forward to resting the next couple weeks and doing some mtb races.  The next road race is the state crit championships in Huntsville in 3 weeks and I look forward to going after another state champion’s medal.  

Here  is my strava from the race.

Sunny King Crit- Anniston, AL

April 21, 2012

Saturday I raced in my 3^rd crit at the Sunny King Crit in Anniston, AL.  This race is one of the best in the state and was a preseason must do on my list of races for this year so needless to say I was a little excited about racing.  This race attracts domestic Pro teams for the night race and is a first class venue being it is part of the NCC.  Not to mention they were televising all the races via velonews website.  Race time for the Cat 4’s was 2:05 and the weather was slightly windy and high 60’s. 

ST3 Cycling had a good turn out with Alan showing up early to get us a spot between turn 1 and 2.  Mike and Alan both raced in the Master’s race, James lined up for the 5’s, and myself, Alan, Reuben, and John all lined up for the 4’s with this being John’s first race after getting his upgrade last week.  Now for the good stuff.

I rolled up to the starting line and got a really bad position, all the way at the back of a 60+ deep field.  Luckily the course was wide and fast so I was able to attack from the line and get to the front 15 by turn 2 on the first lap.  From the start it was all out, my average speed for the race was right at 25 mph, almost 2 mph faster than my other two crits this year so far.  This was a fast course, 4 left turns one block wide and 3 blocks long with the back side a slight downhill and the finishing side a slight uphill. 

One rider from Absolute Racing went off the front several laps in and then one rider chased, they were able to hold off the chase for the rest of the race and kept the pace hard.  This lead to a frustrating race for me as Absolute did a good job controlling the front of the chase, not letting anything go too far and chasing every attack down.  I knew I didn’t have the legs to bridge to the leaders so I settled down in the top 5 and maintained a good pace and staying out of trouble.  Luckily there were no wrecks in our race but the fast speed and tight corners caused for a good amount of wheel and elbow rubbing.  I began my attacks with 18 minutes left, going off the front for ¾ of a lap and trying to get something going but no one was biting.  Went again with 8 minutes left and went hard this time.  I hammered down the back stretch and hard into turn 3, carried my speed through turn 4 and then let the group pull though at the finish line, this time the tempo stayed up for several laps but anticipating a sprint finish everyone settled down with 4 to go.  I knew I was feeling strong but knew I didn’t have the top end to contest a 200m uphill sprint so I attacked with 3 to go.  This time I wasn’t bluffing.  As I rolled through the finish line and heard “3 to go” I got out of the pace line and moved to the outside and stood to go.  Hit turn 1 wide and carried as much speed as possible and had the lead into turn 2, I got a gap and didn’t let up down the back stretch and railed turn 3 and 4 and then got caught leading up to the finish line, “2 to go.” Well I was feeling it bad in the legs and only had one or two matches left to burn so I let others pull through, and one attack later then the field set up, conservatively resting for the final ½ lap.  We get around and hear “1 to go 1 to go 1 to go” now the pho attacks come with everyone wanting to be upfront but not in the wind, I managed to hold my line in the pack top 5 down the stretch and into turn 3, lost a spot at turn 4 and then lost 5 more spots up the final straight away to the finish.  I finished strong but the legs just didn’t go when I asked them to one more time. 

Overall I finished 12^th and was happy on my race day.  The team showed great support and all raced smart and safe.  

Here is my strava from the race and some pictures of the race.

 Photos courtesy of Carol Roark York

  Photos courtesy of Carol Roark York

  Photos courtesy of Billy Ritch

Sunny South Crit- Mobile, AL

Saturday April 7th

So being that I’m trying to watch Paris Roubaix while writing this race summary, I’m going to try and be as brief as possible and still give a good report of the weekends racing. 

Friday I traveled down to Fairhope, AL to spend the weekend with Katie and Joseph from Pro Cycle and Tri and race in the Sunny South Raceway Crit.  This was my first time down to their shop since they opened last spring and it was much overdue.  Pro Cycle and Tri is located at 510 Fairhope Ave, Fairhope, AL 36532 and is owned and run by Joseph and Katie Bolton.  You can find their website here. 

Saturday we traveled 45 minutes north to Mobile where I raced. The race length was set for 45 minutes.  The field was around 20 deep and the course was a quarter mile raceway that exited the racetrack onto the parking lot to make a swooping teardrop turn and then back into the racetrack.  Race laps were around 1 minute in length and wind was negligible.  The raceway was a quarter mile track and had banked turns.  It reminded me of what a velodrome would look like without the lines.  

I lined up and off we went.  I was able to get a great start, clipping in immediately as soon as I made contact with the pedal and the gearing I had chosen was right on for the first turn.  I mashed hard and pushed taking first through the first turn.  I went hard and noticed I had a gap and one rider had come with me, so I said to him, “Let’s go.”  We both pushed and attacked hard for about 8 laps~ 8 minutes, and had almost a half lap open up on the chase group but weren’t able to hold them off.  Once I got caught the pack reformed and sat up for a lap or two, several riders had already been pulled and most were still hurting from the first 10 minutes, including me.  Then one rider started to open a gap and another followed.  I was on the front and didn’t have the legs to chase so I let them go thinking we would pull them back.  The two riders, one from Desire and Dustin from Fairhope Cycling, got 50 yards then began to hammer, and that’s went another rider from Desire went to bridge to them.  Once they had 3 they opened up the gap and began trying to lap the field.  At this point I had started to chase but no one wanted to pull through and it became a game of cat and mouse.  Then as I pulled off my teammate Reuban attacks and no one goes with him.  Reuban chased the break solo for the rest of the day and finished off with a 4^th place.  I sat up on the front and chased down any attacks that tried to pull Reuban back only to find out after the race that the 3 guys I was chasing down the whole time were the 3 leaders who had already lapped the field, usually when you lap the field you don’t do work but these guys were possessed and riding hard! 

I managed to just suck wheels and draft the rest of the race, not letting anyone go off and chase my teammate so I ended up taking home 5^th place on the day.  Overall I really enjoyed the race course and the thrill of racing in a speedway with banked turns, definitely a different experience than racing around city blocks.  

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Me working to hold the initial break.  Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

 Photo courtesy of Meg Williamson

Tour of Tuscaloosa-Road Race (State Championship)

Sunday March 25, 2012

This morning I rolled up to race the Tour of Tuscaloosa road race, which was just made last week the state championship race for Alabama, in less than great form, cough cough.  It’s tough to complain with my results so I won’t but you could say I was feeling a little fatigued.  The course was a 4 lap 10 mile loop with very little climbing except for the last 2k to the finish.

However the weather was awesome with mid 70’s and sunny skies and plenty of racers.  I think the field today was near 70 and with the motorcycle cops being extremely strict on center line, a hard race to make spots in.  I rolled from the start sitting mid pack and quickly found myself 15 or so rows back of 4 wide riders.  The first two laps I found myself just trying to make up spots and get to the front of the group.  Riders were packed 3,4 and several times 5 wide and it was just a nightmare trying to squeeze a line, needless to say there was a lot of pushing and rubbing those first two laps. 

Once I was able to make my way to the front 20, where I joined up with Alan, he was able to pull me up to the front 8 where we stayed most of the 3^rd lap.  A break of 3 had gone early in the race and had a minute plus on the field and no one would work to pull them back.  So in the end they were able to hold off because of this.  I got on the front, even thought Alan told me not too, and began pushing the pace for several miles trying to close down the gap but when I realized no one would work or pull through it became moot and I said screw that and dropped back to around 10^th wheel.  I sat nicely the rest of the 3^rd lap and when we passed for the final bell lap the field finally kicked up the pace.  Well for half a lap and we were able to spread out to a single pace line and push the pace until we approached the last 5 miles where I think we honestly averaged less than 15 mph.  It was crap but no one would work and the teams with numbers up front just sat up waiting for attacks.  I got to the front and began pushing but not doing much work.  I just wanted a good position for the final 1k, which was all uphill.  I rounded the last turn at the bottom of the hill with about 2.5k to go sitting 3^rd wheel and slowly we spread out and made 4 wide on the front as not to let an attack through.  I was able to catch my wind and prepare for the attack, but it came too soon.  Dude on my right got up and kicked at 500m and I chased, bad idea for me.  I held his wheel for about 250m then began to get dropped slowly.  As I watched him ride away I just looked down at my front hub and strained to put as much power down as possible.  He got about 10m on me and I stood to attack knowing I was only 200m out but just didn’t have it.  At 150m to go I got passed by several riders and inside 100m I lost a couple more spots.  I ended up 13^th on the day and 3^rd place for Alabama so I got the Bronze medal for the state championship but lost out by one spot for the money.  Like I said it’s tough to complain when I got a medal on the day but eh. 

Next weekend I will be at Dothan Cityfest for their crit on Sunday, no road race but I’ve heard good things about the crit and look forward to racing there.  

Here is my Garmin from the race.

 Me on my trainer

 Max and Me getting ready to warm up

 Mick getting his warmup in on the rollers

 Alan getting in a quick stretch before the race