Elk Mountain TT #1 & Red Cross Charity Ride

So Thursday was the first TT up Elk Mountain Rd. benefiting Asheville City Schools. I was pretty excited about this event, as was the rest of the team and we had 3 of our riders there with Jason and Andrew out with work commitments, and Eric on the mend. We got lucky with the weather as well as the rain blew in then right out for the start of the race! I came into the race pretty fresh, but with a lack of sleep due to my little boy and his sleeping patterns! I got a fairly early start, and my goal was to go under 23 minutes - my PR for the climb (from the bridge) with better form. Race day, there was a nice tailwind and with the extra motivation from being in a race (and having Chris Emory chasing me!) I was able to shave 75 seconds off my best time, and allowing about 45 seconds for the shortened course, about 30 seconds. Not a super-high power output for me (about 320W), but based on my current fitness my pacing was solid and put me in 4th place behind Cameron Cogburn (with a superb 19:08!), Andy Applegate (21:26), and an impressive returning Adam Ray (21:43). Chris slotted into 5th to stack 3 of our guys into the top 5. Check out the results, and more pictures here: http://www.abrc.net/events/index.htm

In lieu of racing this weekend, the team took part in a Red Cross Charity Ride - Please donate here if you can: http://american.redcross.org/site/TR?px=8163330&fr_id=1246&pg=personal

We had just about the whole team out and all but me completed the full 100 miles, while I cut off about 20 miles to get home for childcare duties! It was a great event and a special thanks goes out to Marios, Alan, and the team for organizing this event! Afterward I had a superb Seven Sisters Abbey Ale from Highland. Refreshing!

As always, thanks to all of our sponsors - check them out: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.