Rock Hill Spring Classic Omnium

11Apr10

My first full weekend of racing this year and it went pretty well. Saturday’s road race was a 47 mile, 1 loop course with lots of rolling hills and a KOM/QOM. As those of you living in Charleston are aware, training on such terrain is difficult and therefore I am always at a disadvantage on such races. Also, they combined our field with the Master’s 50+ men which made the dynamics sketchy at best. I hung on to the front pack until the top of KOM/QOM and at the next surge found myself stuck behind a rider who got popped- and I didnt have enough juice to get around him to get back on. I was getting used to the idea that I would be riding the last 20 miles as a solo TT when a group of ladies who fell off the back earlier picked me up. We just rotated a paceline and with 1 km to go another group of men and women caught up to us and we all sprinted to the finish. I finished 19th out of the women- in the top half- but not where I wanted to be. I recovered, refueled and rested up for the crit on Sunday.

The crit was a very cool course- a 1 mile loop with one moderate bump and mostly swooping turns. Not too crazy techincal- and the girls took off right away. Part of that was my fault as there was a prime on the first lap and I wanted it. I got edged out by a fraction of a hair by one of the Shields twins. Bummer. The front pack was hot and heavy with lots of attacks and surges and a good sprint to the finish. Again, found myself boxed in a little bit but managed to slingshot around a few ladies to get in the top 10.

The weekend was a perfect precursor top next weekend’s local race- the Pivotal Fitness Race Weekend and SC State Crit Championships. If you have never seen a bike race before come check it out- I’On on Saturday and Hampton Park on Sunday.