Southeast Crit Series Thursday April 30th - Monday May 4th

A park in Spartanburg

Thursday April 30^th

We made it to the Hawley Company in Lexington, SC. Their place is great and it is like a candy shop for cyclist. The company is expanding which is always great to see. We got to meet the entire crew. It was wonderful to actually meet in person the people who are supporting and believing in us and it is fantastic to be associated with such great people and such a wonderful company. Andy, our main man for our bike support wanted me to challenge Colin to an arm wrestle which if anyone knows me I am always up for. I guess Andy and Colin have a little banter going on and I was more than happy to help Andy out. I have to admit Colin got a little red when I met him and immediately mentioned that I heard he was quite the arm wrestler. Colin did not want to arm wrestle at first but Andy was insistent and so the table was set up. I gave Colin a run for his money but he eventually won. I think my arm could have been raised higher as he is bigger than me but it was all in good fun. To check out how it went down you can go to the Hawley blog link and see a play by play.

Steve Hawley took us to lunch at this great bistro with Derrick and we got to chit chat and get to know each other a little better. Steve and Derrick are awesome and we had a great time at lunch. We went back to Hawley and hung out with everyone a little more and then hit the road for Spartanburg.

On our morning ride in Spartanburg

Jenn X, Melissa and myself stayed with Angela again in Spartanburg which was great. She is so nice and I love her house. The other girls stayed up the street from us and we all went out to dinner where we officially determined that I have T-Rex arms and Jenn X has an extreme wingspan and obviously has some of my arm length, lol. Friday AM we got up and did a little ride on the hunt for coffee. Angela had mentioned that all of the coffee shops downtown had closed and so we ended up going to the Little River Coffee Company. We took a nice little ride through a park and then it was back home to rest. It seems like the trip is just filled with riding, resting and eating. We went back out again for coffee before the race at 6:30pm.

Spartanburg’s course is a 4 corner fast circuit with turn 4 really narrowing and the start/finish straight being tight. VK rode a good race with Jenn X, Virginia, Haley and myself covering the moves in the first 20+ laps. The other teams were super aggressive and we had to be very attentive. Jenn X got a prime by rolling off the front on the first lap. Near the middle of the race the pace stayed high and the other VKs Leigh, Liz and Laura kicked into gear. The race heated up with 5 laps to go and with 3 laps to go there was a small group off the front. I knew we had to get Melissa up there so Laura and I hustled to pull them back. After that I was toast, job done and Mel sprinted to 6^th place. Still not feeling quite like my normal self on the bike which is very frustrating but glad that I could help out the team in anyway.

It was back to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and a drink together as on Saturday our team would be splitting up to cover both the NRC race in Alabama and the other race in Dillworth where are sponsors would be.

Virginia and Andy

Jeff at Mellow Mushroom

Saturday May 2^nd

In the AM we were packed and hit the rode by 9am. Luckily for us Dillworth was only 1 ½ hours away from Spartanburg, SC in North Carolina. The course was a fast loop around a park with a tight turn in to the uphill start/finish. Our goal was to get Liz in a break with Rebecca Larson who was riding for Jittery Joes knowing that she was a strong rider. Virginia, Haley and myself worked hard in the beginning to make this happen and it did. The girls stayed away for most of the race holding an 8 to 12 second gap. I radioed to Liz to keep the gas on as the chase and attacks from the pack were aggressive. Things were looking good when all of a sudden I saw Liz coming back to the pack and I knew something must be wrong with her as she is such a fighter. VK then tried to bridge up to Rebecca but could not get successfully away so then we tried to pull her back by working together. With 5 laps to go we knew Rebecca was gone and it would be a field sprint for 2^nd. Virginia and Haley did a great job of keeping me at the front and then the pack started to come around on the long haul to the finish. I got a little jumbled in the mix and think I was in too big of a gear and got 3^rd in the field sprint for 4^th overall. I was very frustrated not feeling quite like my normal self in the sprint. My legs were also super tired from the weeks racing that we had been doing so far. It was great though to have Steve Hawley and his wife Jan at the race and hang out with them a little more. Also Steve’s son came by from college to check out the racing and cheer us on. We are very appreciated of their support.

Liz was okay but suffered a severe asthma attack and had to go to the medic. Having asthma myself I totally felt for her and understood the fact that she could not get any air. There must be something with North Carolina (no offense) as last time I raced there I got heat exhaustion or perhaps it has to do with the barometric pressure. As we were driving the 4 hours back to Georgia this crazy intense storm hit us and I could barely see the road in front of me. Cars were even pulling over under the over passes just to seek shelter because the rain/hail was so intense. All I can say is that I have never experienced rain like that back in So Cal.

Four plus hours later we made it back to Georgia and finally got showered and got some more food. We went to the Grange where Jeff knows the owner Steve (an Irishman!) where I had a great meat pie. The Alabama girls got in around 11:30pm having a pretty successful day with some primes and Melissa got 8^th place.

We were back together again and ready to hit the last day of racing in Sandy Springs, GA on Sunday!

Sunday May 3^rd

Melissa and I stayed and Jeff and Leigh’s place and we were treated to an awesome breakfast made by Jeff, an omelet with fresh veggies and amazing pancakes. I needed the big breakfast as the weeks worth of racing was catching up to me and I think my food intake had been down during the week due to the stress that racing puts on your body. Fueled up, we hit the road for the ½ hour drive to Sandy Springs. This course is a tight circuit with a downhill chicane and a tight downhill turn into the up hill finishing straight. Knowing it would be hard X and I did a longer warm up than usual through these great neighborhoods. Both of us forgot to bring our camera so we don’t have any photos L. Positioning was everything and we were all at the line early. My rear brake was attacking up and Jeff was able to fix it for me right before we started. I tried to do all I could in the beginning to keep the race under control unsure how I would feel near the end. Every time up the hill we were flying out of the saddle averaging 26 – 27 mph. There were some breaks up the road but the usually only contained one rider so we were able to spread the load of bringing them back with other teams. With 10 laps to go X and I went to the front to set tempo for a couple of laps and then it was gas on. Leigh helped Mel as much as she could to drop her off near the front and she got 9^th. We were done. Also, this is the course last year that I crashed really bad on and had that horrible concussion. I was happy to see the countdown under 7 laps to go as that is the lap I crashed on last year.

Sad :( no more beer.

After the race we collected are winnings as we actually had riders in the overall for the week as well as the individual races and headed to Meehan’s the Irish pub on course to watch the men’s race and get a well deserved drink.

What I love about this photo is the Motor Tabs bottle behind my drink -- hydration and a crown and coke, lol!

It was home to shower and then back out to the Grange for a post race party. The Colavita girls hung out with us as well as some of the guys and our ever handy support team of Andy and Brittany from Storck. Dave from Storck also joined us which was great. I have to admit we all got pretty toasted but had a great time. Luckily Leigh and Jeff just live down the street so we got a nice walk in afterwards.

So now I am on the plane home and have just over 2 more hours left (it is 10:29am Cali time).

Thanks for staying tuned and I hope you enjoyed the journey. Back home to tune the body up a little more and meet with my coach, continue to work on my house and back to work. I race again in Tulsa at the end of the month.

At the Grange Sunday evening, we made it!

To some up the weeks worth of racing I will quote the ever hilarious Laura, “cheese and rice”.