Post by Josh Whitmore on Apr 14, 2008 15:11:36 GMT -5
Two more road races this last weekend. Saturday was another suffer fest at the Donaldson Center in Greenville, and Sunday offered up the Walnut Grove Road Race south of Spartanburg.
More and more pros are showing up for these events, as we had several of the regular Time and DLP guys, along with some of the local individuals like Teddy King and Dan Timberman who only race around here inbetween bigger events. This weekend also saw the entire 8 man squad of the Trek - Marco polo team line up with both days. They used to be the Discovery - marco polo team, the Asian Continental Pro team. They are in town before their debut at the Tour of Georgia and wanted to get in some racing on American soil before the big event.
Saturday was wet at the start. A big thunderstorm delayed the race for a while. During the race it brightened up, but the wind was fierce and once again dictated the race at the Donaldson Center. It was really tough to stay in the group as there was no where to hide.
I'll save all the gory details, but with about 10 miles to go in the race, we were all split up into groups of 2-3-4s. I was by myself for a while and then caught up with a Marco-polo rider. I came in for 8th, just ahead of my last lap companion.
Sunday was early and longer. The race came back together with about 30 miles to go. A Marco Polo rider attacked hard, and just rode away from us, gone. He stayed away for the win. The rest of the race was attack after attack, all infighting and no one working together. Two more riders got free from the group to finish 2-3rd. I was in the field sprint, racing for 4th. I had good position at the end but not much pop and ended up 10th.
Another good weekend for me, extending the top 10 streak to 5 races. I'm proud it was a good showing against so many pros, 20 or more in each race.
Deb finished 2nd on Saturday in the women's race. She won the field sprint with an excellent leadout from her team. One woman was up the road solo for the win. Deb then raced the Men's master's race on Sunday because she had to get to work in the afternoon. She fared well, and managed to finish with at least a small group.
More good racing for the Whitmore's. Its a race between us now to upgrade to cat 1.
More and more pros are showing up for these events, as we had several of the regular Time and DLP guys, along with some of the local individuals like Teddy King and Dan Timberman who only race around here inbetween bigger events. This weekend also saw the entire 8 man squad of the Trek - Marco polo team line up with both days. They used to be the Discovery - marco polo team, the Asian Continental Pro team. They are in town before their debut at the Tour of Georgia and wanted to get in some racing on American soil before the big event.
Saturday was wet at the start. A big thunderstorm delayed the race for a while. During the race it brightened up, but the wind was fierce and once again dictated the race at the Donaldson Center. It was really tough to stay in the group as there was no where to hide.
I'll save all the gory details, but with about 10 miles to go in the race, we were all split up into groups of 2-3-4s. I was by myself for a while and then caught up with a Marco-polo rider. I came in for 8th, just ahead of my last lap companion.
Sunday was early and longer. The race came back together with about 30 miles to go. A Marco Polo rider attacked hard, and just rode away from us, gone. He stayed away for the win. The rest of the race was attack after attack, all infighting and no one working together. Two more riders got free from the group to finish 2-3rd. I was in the field sprint, racing for 4th. I had good position at the end but not much pop and ended up 10th.
Another good weekend for me, extending the top 10 streak to 5 races. I'm proud it was a good showing against so many pros, 20 or more in each race.
Deb finished 2nd on Saturday in the women's race. She won the field sprint with an excellent leadout from her team. One woman was up the road solo for the win. Deb then raced the Men's master's race on Sunday because she had to get to work in the afternoon. She fared well, and managed to finish with at least a small group.
More good racing for the Whitmore's. Its a race between us now to upgrade to cat 1.