Well, I figured I would get chewed out by certain people if I put up a blog post with in 20 minuets of finishing the ride so I waited until the next day. I would like to point out that I totally could, but did not.
Since just doing a race report is kind of boring I'm going to try to keep this short. The day started off good, it was in the 50s with an overcast sky. I was about to take off my knee warmers but decided to leave them on before the start. The Saint and KOP took off through town and lead out the newspaper sprint. Kop took a break at the back while St. Marie and I drove it through some sketchy back roads. With in 15 minuets the field spilt and there was a lead group of 40 or so. We spilt up a little more going over Walnut Hollow but most everybody caught back on on the descent.
After that, it started raining coming down 178 and boy it was bad. First off imagine standing in a group of people in a elevator-you don't really want to touch any of them because they're sketchy. Then have some little kid throw really small rocks at you. This was not a gentile rain, it hurt. I might even have some bruises.
After getting in South Carolina, I covered a small attack that didn't go any were. Oh yeah, SC kept on raining but not as hard, so it was more like having your eyelids stapled to your forehead and staring into a garden hose for two hours. Awesome.
It was kind of funny at one point. Two Bio Wheels guys attacked and I hopped on one dude's wheel. As we pulled through one guy informed me that I needed to drop down to my 13 (on my cassette) because we were going down hill. And I was like: "Dude, do you think I'm that stupid?" I'm not going to pull you up to your team mate were I'll be in a group with two Bio Wheels guys and one Sycamore. Luckily we were caught a little later.
That is one thing that infinitely pisses me off about roadies. I'm not hating on all roadies just the ones who think it's necessary to tell me what to do. I've been riding and racing bike for over half my life time, although I always see room for improvement, I think I know what I'm doing. Thanks for telling me. I was told off three times yesterday for doing something wrong. Anyway more on that later.
After hitting Cesar's head about 4 guys took off, although Wes and I probably could have stayed with them, but it would have hurt very,very bad. So we sat up and waited for Tamer and Pinnet. Near the top I've got to shout out to Jay and Ray for giving us some Little Debbie Cakes and Gatorade. And Jenna and Stephine for cheering us on. On the descent we caught back up to Kop and Pinnet's group. Since it was about 10 miles from the finish we sat on the front and drove the pace. The same Bio Wheels guy was in our group as well as Tommy from the Etowah ride. So four Sycamore vs. two other guys. Good for us, not good for them. Everybody was working well together until the Bio Wheels guy stopped pulling.
Dude I sure hope you read this some day. I'm not going to mention names, but I know who you are. I totally understand at this was a ride and not a race. Yes, Sycamore treats it as a race but it's still a ride. When you stopped pulling, you turned it into a race. If you kept on pulling and doing your share of the work we would have had a normal sprint finish, no big deal. But you decide to not help so we attacked. You totally got what you deserved. And I'm warning you, if you decide to race 12 Hrs of Tsail with your puny Bio Wheels team, you will get destroyed. I have no problems with your bike shop and with any other people on your team, but I do have a problem with you. It's not finished.
Anyway on a happy note Wes killed it and won the sprint for 5th. I figure I didn't really need to stay with the group after doing my pull on the front considering we still had 3 vs. 2. I rolled in for 10th place. Not bad. I had fun and I helped Wes win the sprint. So was it successful? Yes, I did my job and even though I didn't finish with our group I helped out. Props to everybody who road and those who didn't ride.
The KOP has some good pictures and a little more detailed report here: http://wesdickson.blogspot.com/2008/03/assault-on-carolinas-crew-and-i-headed.html
Later folks, and watch out Bio Wheels.
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