Atlanta Heat and Smok’in Race Weekend

We traveled to Atlanta this weekend for the Sandy Springs races. Saturday I was the official feed zone coordinator. This job is not an easy one! Between avoiding newbie’s who throw the water bottles at the cyclist, the hot sun, and red ant attacks, the job is a stressful one, to say the least. After doing some research about the road course, I opted not to race, so I slept in and saved my legs for Sunday. Sean and Rodney raced the Pro 1, 2, riding a delightful 80 miles at 2:30 in 90 degree weather. My job consisted of a total of 30 seconds in a 3 ½ hour time frame, but the guys were happy to have cold water. Sean finished a strong 6^th although was in a bad place at the finish when both legs came out of the clips and the lock down started, a sign of pain to come later in the evening. I made it out in good shape with a nice summer tan (trying to work off the cycling tan-a sign I'm a strong cyclist, which I don't want to give people that imprecision) and only a few red ant bites.

Sunday morning came earlier than we thought. We woke to the smell of homemade biscuits and bacon that my Aunt and Uncle prepared for breakfast. I will admit I was not particularly stoked to race. If I had not prepaid I may have headed back to Clemson. And as I walked outside to leave, the thick smoke from the forest fires confirmed those thoughts. I thought to myself, “How could I possible race in a chimney?” I bucked up and tried to get myself ready for the 40 minutes of hell I was getting ready to endure. When I got to the course and got my number I realized they had reversed the course. This isn’t good, I thought to myself. I called Sean and got the confirmation, “Oh, that’s not good for you.” The race had around 15 girls and was run extremely well. The girls who run the Algabra Women’s Cat 4 series are always friendly and run a great series. I rode the first part of the race smart, at least I thought. There was a fast downhill and a long uphill that turned into the wind. I focused on being the first on the downhill and into the tight turn, but ended up pulling entirely too much on the uphill. Note, photo above. Thanks to True Speed Photo for great pictures! I got spit out the back with 4 laps to go and according the results got 12^th. We feel pretty confident I got more like 9^th, but at that point it didn’t really matter. I won a prime of bars, which I figure comes out to me paying approximately $2 a lap to race. So in hindsight, due to my lack of legs, fatigue, pulling to much, and inability to breathe quality oxygen, I just didn’t have it. Luckily, Sean finished a strong 8^th in the Pro 1, 2 race and won some money for us. At least he paid for the gas and I have some food to eat for the week. We head to Indiana this week for a short trip and the bikes will be staying at home for some much needed R & R. Oh, did I mention Sunday was our 6 year anniversary? And we were at a bike race... And I am writing this on Memorial Day because I have to work and Clemson doesn't consider it a holiday. How Unamerican!!!!!!