Fayetteville Race Report

Saturday was a rolling 68 mile road race. I played around at the front during the 2^nd of 3 laps but mostly I sat in and rolled along with the pack of 99 other racers. A break of 4 riders escaped near the end. I rolled through the finish with the same time as the rest of the field. Nothing too electrifying.

At 7 o'clock that evening I had a 6.6 mile TT, yes that 7 pm, as in the start of prime time television. It was a challenging to get motivated for a TT on a road bike (Eddy Merckx style) when most racers had all the necessary TT equipment and then some. I rode steady pace, however I was in 5^th gear and never quite kicked up it to 6^th. I finished somewhere in the 50's.

Sunday morning (7:30am WTF, mate?) we rolled out for 96 miles (6 laps) of pain in a dense humid fog. My plan was to hang out in the pack till the last 2 laps. I was unsure how my legs would feel at the end as it was my longest road race ever and second RR of the season (Saturday was my first). We did the typical sprint and then brake, repeat every mile. With 70 or so miles to go a break of 8 got up the road, it was "the break." They weren't seen again until after the finish. With about half a lap till the finish I started playing around at the front. I was on the front of the group when GC leader John Korioth "College" (Lance's BFF/occasional training partner/business partner) came blowing by, I immediately jumped on his wheel. We hit a small roller and he only sped-up, I let gravity take hold and only slowed down. After the race, I had an epiphany; this was the closest I'll get to being dropped by Lance. Back to the fast and furious racing, Pat McCarty (OUCH/Maxxis, rode for Garmin-Slipstream last year) and Carlos Vargas (Hotel San Jose, former U23 Colombian National team member) came bridging across, luckily I was able to hold on for dear life and they pulled be up to Korioth. We traded pulls and caught a small break of 4 riders that had snuck away with 1 lap to go. After a few rotations with our new group of 8, an attack with 3K to go came from Saturday's RR winner, I jumped on along with Korioth, and another Texan. We traded pulls until the 200m to go sign where one of them launched the sprit. I was roosted and couldn't follow, I keep the gas on to avoid being could by the remaining chase group. I crossed the line in 12^th place and 26^th in the GC.

Our little break away.

Finally the finish line!