Home again

After travelling almost 5000 miles with a trailer and a few hundred more miles of sidetrips with the truck I returned last Saturday. If I had known what kind of weather was on the horizon I would have just stayed at my parents house in Indiana.

The day after my return greeted me with this white stuff that I had all but forgotton about.

Time to think about moving south

More Georgia racing

10 miles from my sisters house was the "EPIC PERRY-ROUBAIX - Georgia Cup Series 7" in Perry Georgia.

I skipped the morning time trial in favor of the circuit and road race. It wasn't a stage race so time didn't matter. I got in a nice warmup ride to the course. My sister Chris, husband Shack, niece Katie, and a few of the local riders I had been riding with including Felix - a rider I new from my days in Germany. No pressure at all on me to do well :-). Race was 20 laps of a 1.35 mile loop. Pace was fairly civilized because of the TT many of the riders had done less than 3 hours earlier. I took a flier off the front to chase down a lone rider early on just to stretch my legs before sitting in and waiting. With no teammates there was no need to react to any of the attacks. There where others willing to do the work. I was focused on the final sprint to the finish and would save my legs for then. 2 riders ended up crossing the line before the field (1 guy, a track rider took off with 4 to go and soloed to a win) I was able to grab wheels near the front for a leadout coming around the final turn. Unfortunately the rider in front of me pulled off with 300 meters to go leaving me with a clear road into a headwind to the finish. I was nipped by 2 other riders at the line fiinishing 5th overall, 2nd 40+. This meant a podium spot for me.

Sunday Was the "Epic Perry-Roubaix" road race. It's styled like many of the early season races in the US after the Paris-Roubaix race in France which consists of cobblestone and dirt sections that are really nasty when it rains as in this YouTube video.

I started the day with another 10 mile warmup ride to the course feeling pretty good. The overnight thunderstorms had left some moisture still on the road and I was wondering how the dirt section would be. The course is 12.4 miles with 2 bothersome climbs back to back coming within the first 2 miles after the start. The “Roubaix” part is the 2 miles of slippy, softening mud/dirt road that comes at about 5 miles (this was my favorite part). Well the race started fast at over 30 mph approaching the first climb. My legs were not feeling spry but the pace slackened to a manageable pace on the climb. The pace picked back up after the climbs, and on the dirt I rode 3rd wheel. In fact every lap through the dirt I rode at the front, partly to lessen the amount of mud on my face but mostly because I kept having visions of mid 80’s Paris – Roubaix with the music of John Tesh running through my mind powering me on.
8 riders attacked at the start of the second lap and the way my legs were feeling, I was not going to join them on their assault of the hills. The race pretty much got shut down then with 2 strong teams represented in the break. So for the next 4 laps to the finish (except for a half lap where a couple of jacka$$es jumped in the passing break from the cat 3 field and we ended up going full tilt in pursuit to slap them around for their wrongdoing) it was a fast training ride. My legs started cramping with a lap and ¾ left and my whole lower body was burning with pain from various muscle aches. I even entertained thoughts of dropping out but decided to give it one last go on the climbs and if I cramp then it’s over. Somehow I made it through the climbs and was able to shift all focus to the final 1km run into the finish to win the field sprint.

With a long 1km straight away to the finish I again made it up near the front and chose a wheel that looked best. Speed was winding up again and I was sure I had the right position this time. But with 300 meters that rider died and once again I was in no mans land. “Oh crap, not again”, I thought as I opened it up. I couldn’t even keep it going hard out of the saddle and sat down and continued to pour on everything I had fully expecting to be passed.

I wasn’t.

It felt good, even though I wasn’t first I had still beaten out the rest.

I was 9th overall and was the 6th 40+ Master rider.

and unlike Colorado racing, I took home $75

Rain and sickness

It was just a matter of time before I succumbed to a cold, stuffy head, cough, runny nose feeling. It's been going on since late Tuesday. After a 2.5 hour ride yesterday I'm glad that is is raining today. Hopefully I can regain some semblance of form for next weekend. This cold is killing me.

Pedal Harder

Got through the opening weekend of Georgia racing without a scatch.
Loaded up the dogs, my sister Chris, and my niece Katie for the drive south to Albany where we stayed at the Parks at Chehaw. A quiet park with a wild animal zoo that was designed by Jim Fowler (TVs Wild Animal Kingdom). Too bad there was no time for the zoo.

Albany Georgia 1-2 March
First race was a prologue TT of 3.6km containing 8 corners through a downtown circuit. I wish I could have pre-ridden the course because I almost hit the 3rd turn barriers because I was going too fast. This of course probably caused me to brake a little more than I needed to on some of the subsequent corners before I regained confidence. Not fast enough as I finished 14th some 30 seconds back.

Second race was a 45minute +3laps criterium 3 hours later. It was a figure 8 course with uphills into the wind. Team One/Memorial Health with 6 riders put on heavy pressure with attacks and counterattacks trying to get their riders free of the peloton. The breakaways were always shutdown after a lap and after a while the attacks ceased with just the normal accelerations on the hill to try and shed riders. With 3 laps to go I was sitting in up near the front, just where I wanted to be for the final lap. In Colorado the pace would be blistering and it would be near impossible to move up. Hearing the bell signifying 1 lap remaining I was feeling good. Then a kink was thrown in the cog. The riders slowed up after the first corner allowing everyone to move up on both sides of me. To say I was pissed was an understatement. I spent the next 2 corners riding all out, even cutting across the sidewalk at one point. I was unable to jump on the back of the Team One leadout train as we turned the 6th corner and ended up 15th.
Sunday was a 97Km road race. It was fast at times but nothing I couldn't handle. With less than 12 miles to go it looked like a serious threat up the road a ways with 2 riders, 1 from Team One/Memorial Health. The gap was growing. Banking on his teammates to shut down any chase I launched solo from the pack in pursuit of the 2 riders. I was feeling good and settled into a good rhythm closing the gap pretty well before we approached the first of 2 hills which put me in trouble. I had already caught one rider and he was struggling to keep my wheel so he was of no help. We were eventually swept up by the field and shortly thereafter so was the lone rider. About 5 miles I had held off the pack. I felt pretty good about that. The thing I found most frustrating was the riders that would sit in the front of the field with no teammate in the breakaway and not lend chase. “Move the F over!” I think I pissed off a few riders in the final miles because of the names I was calling some of the riders. Oh well, I call it like I see it. What part of pedal harder don’t you understand? I mean, why are you sitting up letting 6 riders roll off the front when you have nothing in there? The gap was never closed down and the field officially finished 12 seconds back. If there had been no gap I would have finished 9th overall. Instead the revised results show me at 11th after applying the time bonuses they forgot to initially put in.

Oh, and get this there were only 2 portajohns at the road race start for 300 riders, they are the ones used by the soccer fields. Toilet paper ran out in the first 15 minutes. I never saw the portaJs at the crit, lucky for them there were plenty around the start of the marathon that ran the same day.

To Quote my teammate Brad, these guys practice "Southern Charm" riding. Alerting others as to the approacing potholes, "braking" or "slowing", letting other riders back move back into the sheltered strung out lineup instead of forcing them to the back of the pack.

I can deal without all the "nice guy" etiquette, this is stuff you rarely here in Colorado.

Check out the retro Look colors on this turtle