This weekend was absolutely beautiful in SC. Sirena and I had never been to Rock Hill and it was nice. Saturday's Crit was a great course. It was in an "L" shape in downtown Rock Hill. The course was 0.8 miles and had an uphill finish. My fellow cat 5 men and I had the luxury of going at 8:30AM. There where around 20 people in the crit. I was worried about the crit because my side-stitch problem is back and worse than ever. I have a sprained ligament in my side that connects my diaphragm to my liver (as far as anyone can tell). This week my doctor decided to put me on steroids (Predisone) to calm it down. Don't tell him I raced!! Anyway...back to race report...The race started out fast. We did 15 laps and the field stayed together the entire time. There was one guy in all black that was fast. He would lead several laps and then try to break away. Myself and one other fellow would pull it back in. The final two turns were very tight and technical. On the bell lap I moved up to the front 1/3 of the field and was fifth going into the last two turns. I went a little to fast and too wide but recovered in the sprint to finish 8th out of ~20. It was the fastest downtown men's cat 5 crit I have ever done. We averaged 23mph for 15 laps with the uphill finish.
Oh, Sirena finished 4th in the crit and got paid! She also won a jewerely preem.
Jon Hamblen won the men's crit with a lot of help from Mark Hekman and Team Moutain Khakis.
Rock Hill RR-
The road race was in hilly Brattonsville, SC. The course was one 45-mile lap that had the worst pavement ever! Potholes, sand, dirt, mud, road washed away, and debris throughout the course. Apparently Brattonsville is the site of numerous battles during the civil war, etc. A dude with a musket would fire the gun and then each group would take off. There were 30-40 cat 5 men in my race. Before our group took off there was a crash in the sprint of an incoming group. I went over and helped one of the riders. I then went to the restroom and before I knew it my field was at the line. I lined up nearly last (not a good place for a RR with the yelow-line rule and the worst pavement in the industrialized world). The race was good. It was fast and steady. There were plenty of steep hills (nothing crazy) that made you have that good-ole quad burn. I was afraid of the distance with my stomach/side issues and doing anything of 40 miles is beyond my realm/desire. I sat in the entire time and was there at then end thanks to two guys from the MOB men's team (since I was Mitch less...due to his car issues/etc). The finishing straight was about one mile long and I did not know when they opened up both sides of the road. I kept asking the motorcycle official but he wouldn't tell me. I stayed close to the yellow line and moved to the front third. With a couple of hundred meters to go I sprinted and finished 7th!!! My best finish ever in my fourth RR. During the last 50 meters I heard that loud, aweful sound of bikes and people hitting the ground. There was a crash behind me. My MOB friends stayed up (way to go Paul and Jeff). It was a great weekend of racing. We avereaged 22.8mph for 45 miles.
Oh, Sirena finished 5th in the women's 4s and got paid again! Awesome.
Deb finished fourth.
Pat Rimron, Charlie, and Scott Morris finished strong in the master's 4-5 race.
Finally...Mr. Mark Hekman of Team Mountain Khakis won the pro race!!
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