This saturday and sunday, I drove 2 1/2 hours north to Columbus, GA for the AFLAC Grand Prix, part of the Georgia Cup Series. Me and 6 other guys I ride with from Tallahassee went up to participate.
Saturday- Downtown crit. The Cat 3/Masters 35+ was one combined field/race. Started at 715pm but was still 90 degrees. 0.7 mile course with 4 corners, 75 minute race. I didn’t feel very good and just hung on the whole race. Placed mid pack. Disappointing.
Sunday- Road Race at Pine Mountain. Again, Cat 3/Masters 35+ was one combined field. 17 mile loop with some big climbs, one of which was a mile long. Screaming 2 mile descent too, where I hit 49 mph on one lap. We did 4 laps for a total of 68 miles. Race started at 10 am and it was already 85 degrees- 94 by the end of the race.
We started with a field of 40 guys.
About 8 miles into the race, while climbing, a DEER jumped out of the bushes, nailed a rider mid pack and took him out! Hit him so hard that his front wheel got knocked off!! Never have seen anything like that before. He was ok. Noone else got tangled up.
Pretty mellow the first lap, whole field stayed together until a Pro1 racer from Tallahassee I know (Donny) attacked and soloed to a 2 minute gap. When we hit the climbs, several other teams started attacking to catch him and the whole field exploded. We eventually caught Donny at the beginning of the 4th lap, despite a few of our efforts to block for him.
I just kept steady throughout.
By 5 miles to go, there were only 9 people left in the front group from the original 40. The heat and hills took their toll. (I went through 5 bottles and 5 gels) 1 guy got off the front there and built a 45 second gap. I attacked with 2 others at 3 miles to go and cut the gap to 15 seconds, but the field caught us. Another effort by Donny at the front brought us to within 5 seconds of the guy off the front.
At the 1 km to go marker, we were single file lined out and I was at the back. I knew I couldn’t out sprint these guys, so at 900 meters, I attacked. I shot around the field, caught the guy off the front, and just kept going. I looked back at 400 meters and had a huge gap. Thinking that the field sprint would catch me, I just put my head down and drilled it as hard as I could, crossing the line about 75 feet ahead of the pack. Looking back later at my powertap data, I hit the finish line at 28 mph and 400 watts. My first Cat 3 (or Masters) Road Race win.
Next Race is ours in Memphis. I think we can shread the competition as it seems we are all riding well. See you guys next month!
Aaron
