Sunday, April 27, 2008

Big Week Coming Up

I had a good weekend. Rode up to Southern Pines, NC this weekend for the Tour De Moore Road Race. We had good representation with Nathan, Scott, and I in the race. Looking at 70 miles in the first hot day of the year, we were loaded up with water.
The race went pretty good. We were in a constant battle with the Hincapie team and their negative racing tactics. They would get a guy up the road in a break and sit 4-5 wide across the road at 12 mph and not let anyone else past to start chasing. This is racing in it's most cowardly and most unsportsmanlike form. No one else in the race wanted to race either as the other teams succumbed to these tactics. Weak. Wouldn't want the race to come down to who is the strongest and tactically astute. That's not honorable racing. Eventually, Nathan and I worked our way to the front and started to bring the break back. It wasn't easy as the 2 guys were out of sight up the road somewhere. We spent over a lap on the front to get it done. Thankfully Scott made his way up right as we caught the break. I knew a counter-attack would happen when we caught the break. Nathan and I were wasted from chasing for so long so Scott would have to go with any attacks. Thankfully he attacked as well and 7 guys were up the road. I did what I could to slow up the field and soon had nothing to worry about. Hincapie had 2 guys in the break and soon their whole team was spread across the road slowing things to a crawl. Game over. At least we could take advantage of the lame tactics.
Long story short, one guy got dropped from the break, the remaining 6 split 3-3 but stayed away. Scott was in the 2nd half, struck a deal with the other 2 to not sprint and split the prize money. This worked out well as the other 2 were better sprinters ( he started riding away on the hills and they got scared he would attack so they wanted to bargain.)
I finished well in the field sprint so we had 2 in the money. That paid for our gas and we all went home with more dough than we came with. Worked out well. Especially since I had my doubts about finishing after chasing so hard. I was cramping pretty bad in the sprint but had something left.

Next up:
USA Crits in Walterboro on Wed night. Lots of money and Pro's to beat on me. Pain Central for this week. Gonna do the Cat 2 race before the Pro race to win some cash before I get beat on.

Then...
Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 Hr. in Fayetteville, TN on Sat. 2nd race of the USAC Ultraendurance Championship Series. I am currently tied for 4th. The goal is to ride well and move up into the top 3.
I'll let you know how it turns out! DH

1 comment:

Arleigh Jenkins said...

waiting patiently to hear your news...