Familiar Faces at Mead Roubaix

I went to a road bike race today and a cross race broke out.

Breeze and I rolled up to the Town of Mead at an early 8:00 am. The sun was out, the dirt was moist, my boy Cam Dye had won Nautica South Beach tri and things were looking good. Breeze's race went off at 9:13 and unfortunately it came to an early end after a gnarly digger on the dirt. She and the bike came out of it well, but frankly, I needed very little warmup after seeing her get out of the Rocky Mounts van. My heart rate went through the roof. Thankfully she is fine, a little scraped, but fine. It was nice to see my friend Ariel Brown killing the Cat 4 race off the front. Not sure where he came in, but as always, looking like he was having fun.

After a solid warmup and a last minute bathroom break I came to the line to see some old friends. The Wizard (Pete Webber), Boups and Robson were all on the line as well as the usual road heavy hitters. By now the weather had turned as well. 30 mph winds and the sun went bye bye.

Off we went. I went to the front with my Vic's teammate Rob Kelly on the first dirt section to try and keep things in line. We all got through the first downhill and hit the pavement in good order. There was a constant fight for the front and I felt good up there with Vic's boys Mike Sutter and Frank Zoldak. As we turned onto CR 3, the next dirt section loomed and a selection was about to be made. I was forced to crank up along the inside in the wind to get to the front, but it was good I did. The downhill to the bridge was a little loose and guys stopped peddling and went EVERYWHERE. It was chaos. I powered to the front and crested the hill with some solid compatriots. Pete, Robson, Boups and a few others were there and a gap was made so we worked.

As we hit the dirt section on CR7 things were a bit back together, but again there was carnage. The downhills were doing the damage. People were all over the road, but luckily I found Pete's wheel and I rolled up both hills in good order. As we came to the top and through the start/finish for the first time, it was obvious a gap was on, but holding it in the wind was going to be work. Zoldak got across and made it two Vic's boys in the group. I think Mike got really close, but didn't quite get across. As on lap one the first dirt section was indecisive. We came to the road and turned right onto CR 7 only to be passed by an ambulance as there was a bad crash down by the bridge. I hope you are ok whoever it was. Again Pete, Jeff Hartman, Robson and I pinned it up to the pavement and worked with he tailwind. The group shrunk again.

Now I must say, this whole time we saw no riders in red. In fact, I thought there was only 1 in our group. I was wrong. On the pavement, CJ Goss attacked. Robson and I were on the front and decided not to chase. We just peddled through and as we turned onto CR7 two Mix 1 riders came to the front and blocked. That was fine by me as the hills would be decisive. Pete and I came around on the first climb and I hit the dirt in a great spot, on the front. We cranked up the hills, caught CJ and as Pete and I crested the climb, we had a gap. We eased up as Jeff Hartman was right there and we were quickly joined by Robson too. As we came across the pavement, Boups cranked on to the group and we were committed. Through the finish on the second lap there were 5 of us. Hartman, Boups, Robson, Webber and myself.

We were working well and fully committed. These guys were great to ride with. On the first dirt section the moto came up and told us the gap was :20. Jeff went to the front in a massive gear and took us onto the pavement with at least that much time. Unfortunately Boups was a casualty and we were down to 4. We killed it across the pavement and came onto CR3 for the last time with the same gap. I was not going to get caught, so I went to the front again and cranked it up the rise to the pavement. The good news was we were strong, the bad, I was cramping. At this point I was cramming everything in me I could. Again into the cross wind and again all 4 guys were committed. Jeff was strong and so was Robson. I was on the rivet. However, the race was the crosswind section. If we could get back on the highway and into a tailwind with a gap, we were going to make it. It hurt, all of us, but we made it and came to CR7 together. The dirt climbs would decide the race. I took them in the front again. Brandon, Ward and others were screaming for us up the climbs. That was awesome, thanks guys. I was pushing a tiny gear in order to not cramp and when we came to the top, Robson was gone, but Pete and Jeff were right there. I tested the legs with a couple standing strokes and they cramped. No sprint for me.

As we came onto the pavement I went to the front. I may not have a sprint left, but I was hoping to hold onto the podium. I told the boys this and went to front and went as hard as i could to the line. with 200m to go, Hartman went and Pete tried to follow, but the gap was sealed. I tried to go get Pete and cramped, so I sat back down and cruised in for a hard fought third. What a fun day.

Thanks to my Vic's teammates, my boss at Apex Coaching (and my coach) Neal Henderson and everybody at DBC Events for a great day out. Congrats too, to Jesse Goodrich and Scott Tietzel (Apex athletes) for their 2nd and 3rd in the Pro field.