Senoia Ga Cup



The weekend started with a TT, but because it started at 8am
and was 2 hours away, we decided to skip it. Sleeping in and enjoying the
morning sounded much more inviting. After lying around sipping coffee and
watching cycling videos, in an attempt to get motivated, we (Blair Turner
and I) headed to the 5pm race. The course was an 8-mile circuit, around the
small town of Senoia. The course would be easy, flat, and pretty straight
forward, but the 25mph crosswinds complicated things. Blair and I decided
to get aggressive from the start and try to get away early. Our plan worked
out perfectly, something that almost never happens in cycling races. The
field foolishly let both of us get away on the first lap together, along
with Big John Atkins. Big John has some fans in Senoia, as we were deafened
each lap from the their cheers. The 3 of us worked together flawlessly,
rotating through taking strong pulls. With one lap to go, a group of 4
snuck up on us and closed our 1:30 gap to 20 seconds. With 3k to go, the
group of 4 was 10 seconds behind us, I refused to be caught, and went to the
front. I knew in order for us to win, I had to sacrifice myself for Blair
(selfishness in cycling never pays off) and hope he had the sprint to finish
it off. I went to the front of our 3-man break and hit it from 2k out as
hard as I could go. With 1k, it was time to dig, I was chewing on my
Thomson Stem telling myself I could go just a little longer and a little
harder, with 200M I swung off and it was up to Blair. I saw his hands go
up, we won and I rolled in for 3rd. it was done perfectly. The group of 4
finished 7-8 seconds back. True teamwork at its finest.



The Road Race the next day was pretty uneventful, a break with Tim Stone
(Dad in a pro/1/2 breakaway? Yes!) Got away early and was caught 15k to go.
I was aggressive throughout the day, but the Peloton would not make the same
mistake twice, we were marked out of the race. This did not stop us from
being aggressive, attacking relentlessly. With 5k to go, Iron data (with 9
or so guys in the race) had a lead-out train trying to start up. I wasn't
going to have this, as they had followed our wheels all day, keeping the
field together. I attacked hard, forcing them to chase harder than they
wanted to, eliminating a few guys from the lead-out. With 4k still to go,
they were to weak to carry it to the finish. Blair then countered my move,
was chased back, and I went again. We continued countering and forcing
chase until the line, but were outsprinted by Aerocat (the only team willing
to "race" bikes that day). A good learning race, we could not have been
more aggressive.