Cone-Azalia Report

Ouch! Wow, this one hurt. Pitty the weather sucked...haha just kidding!

Blue skies plenty of sun was in store for us cyclists today at one of the hardest races in the state. It is a 10 mile loop with 3 miles of gravel and dirt roads. I went prepped with 3 spare wheelsets only to discover my preparation was pointless because only the Cat I/II guys got neutral support. O well.

As we lined up there were 22ish riders in the Cat 3 feild. 3 of us from SLC, Scott, Joe and myself. Wolverines had 7 guys, Kroske included. AAVC/Priority had 2 guys with Greg and Roger. Other teams included were Sprout, Venom and FRCC. All Scott Joe and I knew was that we were going to have to have representation and watch the Wolverines.

On the first lap we flew along the gravel sections. There were several attacks and I stayed near the front and covered them all. Anytime a rider went up the road, I was on their wheel trying to get into a break. There were several times we got nice gaps, but we were reeled in everyime.

After the first lap, the Wolverines were down to two riders. The other five flatted. The race was pretty boring for a while. There were attacks, I covered them and helped pull them in. Made it through the gravel sections in the top 5 everytime. Stayed at the front setting the pace for a while. Joe rode up to me and told me to get off the front and rest, so I did.

But the race started on the 4th lap. Halfway down the gravel section we neutralized the race. We all pulled over and stopped on the side of the road for a minute. There was a bad crash in the Womens race. I guess she hit her head and was bleeding pretty bad. There was a police car, an ambulance and a fire truck that we waited for. I do not know who it was, but she was from Saturn. I hope she is alright and pulls through alright.

After we started the race again, Scott told me to not be surprsied if they stop the race early. That would have meant this was our last lap. On the south secton of pavement between gravel sections two guys took off. Scott was with me at the front and I told him to go. I sat up and held up the peloton. They looked like they were struggling as they took off the road, so the group let them go figuring we would pull them in later.

With Scott up the road it was my job along with Joe to slow the peloton down to help our teamate up the road. Joe did this by sitting on the back and just being extra weight to be pulled along the road. I was more active. I would get up in the paceline and slow down a little everytime I got to the front. A second here, a second there...pretty soon the breakway was out of sight. Once we hit pavement again a chase was formed by everyone not from SLC or Wolverines. One of the breakaway riders from FRCC was dropped and came back to the peloton to help chase.

With me constantly slowing down the peloton, Roger eventually told everyone to not let me up there. Thats when I went to the back to rest. Eventually the chase gave up all hope of catching the break and let it go. From then on it was just attack after attack. Everytime I would go with them and sit in their draft. They would ride hard and pull off expecting someone to pull through only to discover me riding there. This too slowed everyone down.

On our run into the finish, I was sitting second wheel. We made the final turn and I took off with a Maple Leaf rider. We got a gap on the feild and tried to stay away. I could not hold that pace and eventually got passed by the feild (of 8 riders) with 700 meters to go to finish 11th. Joe was 7th and Scott was 2nd.

It was a great day for South Lyon. The Wolverine guy that won ended up riding away from Scott with a mile left. Sitting here I am exausted but extreamly happy. I rode a lot better than I had expected and I was one of the strongest riders in the feild. The funny thing is...we didn't have Darrell, Tony, Eric, Chris, John, Dominick or DMO there today. If this is a preview of things to come...expect us to dominate the MIScene this year.

Thats all I have....I need to sit in the hottub, massage my legs and sleep

Sorry, I didnt have a freind with me today to take pictures.