The Race of the South or MSGP was my first foray into stage racing and only my second road race (the first being the Rouge Roubaix). I wasn’t too nervous with the exception of the criterium. Watching the 1,2,3’s on Friday night navigate 90 degree turns at speeds in excess of 30mph and hitting bumps on the road causing there wheels to leave the safety of the road wasn’t helping my confidence either. There race wasn’t much different then a NASCAR or F1 formula event with the sounds of motors being replaced by the sound of deep dish carbon rims. The ability of Glenn, Jacob, Jeb, and Brian to hang on to World and National champions wheels gave me a new found respect for the type of athlete’s these guys are. While not all of our team was able to hang on for the full 60 minutes there ability to compete with guys of this caliber is nothing short of spectacular.
Saturday morning was the beginning of my race weekend beginning with a 25-mile road race on a rolling hills course. The CAT 5’s were the last to start and I tried to go over in my head all of the advise and tips that everyone in the team had given me especially Jonathan Falgout and Matt Billeaud who had gone one, two in this road race the previous year. As I pulled up to the line I saw a group of about 10 guys from Absolute Racing at the front all looking pretty strong. I settled near the back of the group but wasn’t planning on being there very long as I was hoping to avoid any crashes that I have heard are prevalent in CAT 5 races. The race actually started pretty mellow and I quickly worked my way to the front of the peloton. My teammate Tony Morrow was just in front of me when someone clipped his front wheel and I thought for sure he was going down taking me with him. He was able to keep himself vertical luckily for me and I thought to myself not bad for a roadie and especially a tri-geek. Soon after Tony moved to the front and pushed the pace for a while, after he dropped back I didn’t see him for the remainder of the race, as come to find out he flatted shortly after. The rest of the race was spent covering attacks made by Absolute Racing by myself and 5 others. With 5 miles to go Absolute Racing made there way up to the front and we all knew what was going to happen next. They launched an attack with three of there guys on the second to last hill and I tried to follow the rider’s wheel in front of me but he was unable to hold the person’s wheel in front of him and I wasn’t strong enough to bridge the gap. I stayed with a group of three riders all the way until the finish line beating them in the final sprint for a 9th place finish.
Later that day was the time trial and would be only my third time on a time trial bike. Don Kent let me borrow his bike for the event so a special thanks goes out to him. I knew that my chances for a good placing in the TT wasn’t going to be easy as the guy who won the road race was some big shot triathlete (Ben Hall). Luckily it was only 4 miles long so the suffering was hopefully going to last less the 10 minutes. I knew my teammate Tony Morrow would have a strong showing as he spends most of his time on his TT bike. I ended up with a time of 9:39 for a 10th place finish and Tony ended up beating me by 10 seconds giving him a top ten placing as well.
Sunday was the last day of racing being in the form of a 30 minute criterium.
The rain from the previous night left the streets wet with a few puddles under the overhanging trees.
The race started off pretty fast and I stayed in the middle of the pack trying to stay out of the wind and from taking any pulls.
After a lap or two the pace picked up and when I looked up to see who the culprit was low and behold its my teammate Tony pulling us around the course.
I stayed with the lead group a few more laps until someone attacked and I was unable to go with them and settled into a chase group of 4.
We were never able to catch back up with the lead group and I ended up winning the sprint out of the other 4 in my chase group to end up with 8
th place.
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