About 20 B (Scott S. raced the As and finished around 4-5th) racers lined up for the inaugural Bicycle

Works training race around beautiful Lake Guntersville.  The weather was nice and the course was good as well.  I was the only Warp9bikes/TriStar member in the Bs and the plan according to Travis was to either finish off the front or off the back.  I tried to execute the “off the front” end of things but it just didn’t stick.  The course was pretty much flat (flatter than Sumatanga) so I thought the race might be easier rather than harder, boy was I wrong.

The pace was tame to begin with and about 5 of us including riders from MedPlan, Cahaba Cycles, Antarus and myself establishing a decent gap about 5 miles in.  We tried to work together but the rotation never got smooth and eventually fell apart and we were caught 15 minutes or so after the break started.  As soon as we were caught a Cahaba Cycles and a Steel City cycling rider attacked and got around 30-45 seconds on the group.  The B’ham teams were happy (between them Cahaba Cycles and Steel City made up over half the pack) so it fell to the Huntsville contingent to bring the break back.  Barry Matthews (TriStar-Nashville), Jim (Antarus) and I worked over the next lap or so to bring the break back and at the beginning of the third lap we were within 10 seconds or so of the break.  I attempted top bridge up the break thinking that if I could join them the B’ham teams might be less than interested in chasing – but I never could quite make the junction and had to dial it back before blowing up (the one real hill on the course had something to do with that – guess the work bringing them back took its toll).  Wouldn’t have mattered anyway as the break-a-way was caught with about 12 miles to go. 

A group (maybe 6) attacked on the “back stretch” and got a little gap but again the rotation never really materialized like it needed too.  As soon as we were caught a rider who had been dropped from the A race attacked and took 5 guys with him.  I was gassed and couldn’t follow long enough to stay with the break as it formed.  Those of us that had been chasing/attempting to get away hesitated a minute and they were gone and no one seemed to want to work.  We rode at a moderate pace until about 2 miles out crossing over the causeway when it got lined out for the final sprint.  I was placed OK coming out of the sharp right hand turn before the spring and guess I finished mid-pack in what was left of the group, I’d estimate 10th place or so.

Overall it was a really hard race and a good workout.  I had a 23.6 mph average for 48 miles, pretty fast for the Bs.  It was a nice change to the constant “speed up/slow down” of Sumatanga as we pretty well seemed to keep a moderate pace up at all times with some pretty fast sections during the attacks/counters.  It’s a great course and the race was well organized with police escorts for the group.  I think they are going to hold a “real” race there next year.