RACE REPORT: High Country Tour du Life

The weekend brought a race that I've been looking forward to for a while - the High Country Tour du Life. Andrew Stackhouse is a promoter that moved from Texas to Boone and has started to put on some great events in that area. This race has awesome courses (http://tourdulife.com/courses), with a TT up Beech Mountain, a hilly road race west of Boone, and a criterium in downtown Newland to finish it all on Sunday. I decided to make a weekend out of it with the family, team and friends, and rented a condo on top of Beech Mountain with our friends the Hamblens. It was a full 'house' with 2 kids, dog, and 1 pregnant lady! Also there was a case of Highland beer to fit in there!

The weekend started out with Chris Emory and myself making the trip up to Beech Mountain for the TT Friday night. The course went up the 'easy' side of the mountain, and the course looked good, steady, and the weather was perfect in the low 70s. I was the 2nd to start and after a solid warm-up I started conservatively in an effort not to repeat my performance of 2 weeks ago where I went out too hard during the Wintergreen Hill climb in Charlottesville. My pacing was almost perfect, but with a quicker climb than expected I actually took it out too easy. This in addition to the altitude pushed my effort into a 15th place - good enough for some overall points for the Omnium, but not a great result. Chris had a similar ride (in more ways than one) and came in just a few second behind in 16th. Results: http://tourdulife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Beech-TT1.pdf We joined our friends for a dinner on top of the mountain at over 5000ft!

After a nice evening Saturday greeted us with great weather and a very hilly course, with narrow, twisty roads. The course was one of the best I've ever done, unfortunately my performance wasn't! However this is when it's good to have a team. Chris Emory and I were joined by Andy Applegate, Andrew Erskine, and Jason Spouse. We agreed that since we didn't have anyone very high up in the overall we would let the other teams control the race and try to get riders in the moves throughout the day. While we missed a move by a solitary rider, the rest of the team maintained our positions in the field early on and Andrew Erskine helping to control the field early on. Andy went on some early attacks, but ultimately headed back to the field to let the course separate the men from the boys so to speak. With the overall contenders watching each other after the first hilly loop, Andy Applegate launched an attack on the flat, back portion of the course. He quickly gained time and increased his lead to over 2 minutes! While he was chased by a single rider the field couldn't get organized and left Andy to consolidate his lead. With 90 seconds going into the final climb he easily hung on for the win - the team's biggest of the year! Chris Emory had a superb finish for 8th while I faded after a chase effort and finished at the tail of the main field. The team now had Chris in 9th overall and an impressive win that took down some of the regions biggest teams!

Sunday the goal was to advance Chris up the overall and try to get a solid placing on the day as well. The weather was in the 70s, with a good chance of rain (which fortunately never materialized!). The course started flat, had 3 corners, and a large sweeping turn into a fast downhill that was preceded by a sharp 50 meter climb. The raced started fast with John Hamblen of Mountain Khakis, Sean Weddell of Team Metro, and John Patterson of Carolina Masters going from the gun. Chris and I stayed near the front of the field and followed moves while trying to conserve energy up the climb. With about 5 laps remaining in the 25 lap race, I sensed an opportunity as Chris Harkey of the Subaru-Gary Fisher team attacked up the climb. 2 laps later Chris Emory attacked as I let a gap open up the climb. Chris gave an awesome effort to bridge and ultimately stay away for 5th on the day. His placing moved him up to 7th overall, while I ended up with a safe field finish. Our goal for the day was accomplished, but of course it would have been nice to have a slightly higher overall placing.

So 1st in the road race, 5th in the crit, 8th in the road race, and 7th overall. Not bad for a little team from Asheville sponsored by a local beer company! Speaking of which, the beer from Highland made for popular prime prizes during the crit on Sunday, and it was made known that the local Lowes Foods carried it as well. Trek got another win on their bikes, and we heard a lot of great comments about our Swiftwick socks. Thanks as always to all of our sponsors who make it possible:

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.