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