Lees McRae Race Weekend

After 8 weeks of racing every single weekend, nothing is more intimidating than a race weekend dominated by North Carolina mountains. We spent our spring break in those mountains, riding 26 hours up and down 38,000 feet of elevation.

On Saturday was the Individual UPHILL Time Trial, starting in tiny Valle Crucis and climbing to the city limit of mighty Banner Elk. The 5.2 mile course featured a generally gradual climb with many super steep sections. The course was perfectly suited to Joe's strengths, and uniquely designed to exploit all my weaknesses.

As expected, Joe tore it up on the climb, finishing 3rd in the B's. He caught a few people on the way too. I did a little worse than expected, fighting back cramps and a lack of fitness after a unplanned recovery week following last weeks crash. I didn't have the legs, and halfway through I just sat up and spun up the climb. Most of the Brevard team caught and passed me, offering encouragement along the way. Class act by those guys, they were super strong too. I finished quite pathetically in last place, but not terribly concerned about it except for the fact I expected to do a LITTLE better.

Sunday was the road race, and Stuart had given me a specific strategy which seemed logical and likely to put me into a top 10 position. Unfortunately Chris Butler and an over-zealous field destroyed that strategy when they attacked the first hill full speed, shattering the field into a million pieces on the first lap. I got into a groove with Sam approaching the 2nd hill (and going up it), until about halfway up i had the same back cramps/spasms but much worse. (Turned out that my seat was about an inch and a half too low...oops). I had to pull out after a measly effort. Sam stayed in, hooked up with a chase of 6 guys and finished 12th on the day.

Joe's B field played it a little more conservative on the first lap, sticking together until the climb on the 2nd lap. From there it started to break up. A small break got off the front of the B's while Joe hung with the main pack. Since I was sitting out I had a good opportunity to watch the B race develop. Every time they came around that pack had diminished until it was just Joe and a few other guys. And on the last lap, it was just Joe, who had apparently attacked his field (which had narrowed to 2) on the climb and stayed away until the finish for an 8th place finish.

Joe added another top 10 and a top 5 finish to the resume, and while I raced terribly, I still had a blast on the weekend.

Sadly, there only remains one more race weekend to blog about. Conference Championships is APril 18th and 19th in Brevard, North Carolina. We will be offering Twitter updates as they come, as well as updating the blog Saturday night to reflect the Road Race results.