Omnium Write-UP

First off, the omnium was a lot of fun. Jim did a great job. Special thanks to all those who assisted in making this a great event.

Crit-
Friday night was the crit race. I did the under 35 4/5 race with Dwayne Henderson from CycleTherapy, Kem Newman from Gita Bikes, and Lee from UNCA. The field was huge and we went off at 8:35PM. It was dark and there was a huge group of fans at the finish line. The race started off fast and on the third lap a rider went down in turn one. Dwayne and I were behind it and had to come to a crawl. Dwayne got on my wheel and we blizted it back to the field by the finish line. The race stayed together from there but it was highly unsafe. Mix in a bunch morons racing in the dark and you get craziness. There were around 4-5 wrecks during the race. I made it to the front and tried to pull back a break of 3-4 riders. Coming around turn one I hit a bump in the road and both my hands slipped off the wheel. I thought I ate it but my shoulder caught the bars and I somehow stayed up. I had to hop on the sidewalk once to avoid a rider half-wheeling another rider. At one point with ~3-4 laps to go these two cycling saints around me began cussing each other and I thought they were going to come to blows. There were so many people in the race I had a difficult time getting to the front. On the last lap I let the group go and finished at the back of the pack. Dwayne and Kem were up with the group.

TT-
Saturday morning was the time trial around DCCC. I went off at 10:21AM. I missed my 10:11 start time because no one told me we needed new numbers for the TT. The TT course was challenging and we had to do the RR course backwards. There was a head wind on Ridge Rd. The course was around 13 miles and hilly. I did the TT on my road bike without aero bars or an aero helment. I averaged 22+mph and did it in 35:22. I was pleased with that effort. I ended up 15th in my group.
Pat Rimon rocked the 35+ 4/5 group and was in the top five (I think). Jimmy, Chad, Scott, Bert all had good showings. Sara Tussey and Deb put in strong performances as well. Robin and Ritchie did the tandeem TT and I think Michael and Lynn Berry as well.

Special note-Dr. Rob Paynter did great on his first TT with a sub 35 minute TT without any aero equipment. Dwayne Henderson rode strong as well.

Street Sprints-
Saturday night marked the street sprints. This was the event that scared me because I knew nothing about it. It was on the finishing straight of the crit in downtown Lexington. We raced the straight backwards. The sprint was ~500 meters and slightly downhill. We raced into a head wind and drizzle during the event.
I raced in the under 35 4/5 with Kem (Gita) and others. The first heat had 8 riders and Kem took off from the gun. I got on his wheel immediately and we raced to the line. I sprinted around him but he got me on the line by a wheel (photo finish). Kem and I moved on to the final. In the 35+ 4/5 race Mitch, Scott, Chad, Bert, and Kevin (think that is all all were there. Dr. Rob joined them. After several heats Mitch, Scott, and Bert all made the finals. I think Mitch and Scott both finished in the top 4. I think Bert got 5th. In the women's sprint Sara Tussey had a strong showing and made it to the finals. Sirena (MOB) won her second heat and made the finals.
In my final I got a horrible start because I wasn't ready and was way late off the line. I ended up 6th overall in the sprints. Kem won my division (impressive). Sirena was also 6th in the women's field.
Oh, I think the Hooters girls only dropped one racer at the start. They did flee when the rain started though!

RR-
Sunday was the final day and brought with it the RR. We all know the course with the challenging hills on Clodfelter and the head wind on Ridge Rd. Bring with it the insanely hot temps and huge fields and we had ourselves a race!
Doing the under 35 4/5 included E-Rich, Dwyane, Lee, Kem, Eric Phillips (Clemmons) and myself. Our field was huge and we went off at 10:40am. The race was 3 laps and around 39 miles. For the first two laps I was barely hanging on and E-Rich and Dwayne looked strong up front. On the second lap E-Rich and Lee took huge digs and got a big gap on Ridge Rd. They had what seemed to be a 1/4 mile lead on us. I tried my best to slow the pack. E-Rich held the break until the final climb on Clodfelter. E-Rich got to the back of the pack and recovered. By this time the peloton had dwindled down and was left to around 20-30 of us. Kem cramped on the last climb and Eric Phillips got off. Dwayne came to the front and was leading down the final straight. I came to the front and tried to relieve Dwayne. I led until past the 1K line and the rode opened up for the sprint. A guy came around me and cut me off. He leaned on me and I began leaning heavily on him. I was looking at the ground and thought I was about to hit the deck. I didn't panic and regained my balance. After that close call I dropped back and ended up ~15th. I finished right behind E-Rich and in front of Dwayne. E-Rich rode awesome! He was in the break, got caught, recovered, and the sprinted to a great finish.
In the men's 35+ 4/5 race we had Scott, Pat, Chad, Danny, Kevin, Bert, etc. The entire PVS train was there (except for Mitch who didn't pre-reg and the field was full at 75 riders). Don't know the results but hope everyone did well.