The season started last week as usual, in Greenville, SC with the first weekend of the Greenville Training Series at the Donaldson Center (long, boring laps) and then the BMW Test Track (short, windy laps).Saturday's race was challenging due to the dearth of teams with multiple riders, like Team Type 1, Global Bike, Hincapie, United Healthcare (or whatever their name is this year), Metro, etc. It was just Chris Emory and I, with Eric in the Cat. 3s working on upgrade points. It was an 8 lap race, and after some early excitement, we settled into a nice pace with attacks coming through the hills on the back of the course. Nothing really stuck until after the move that I was in got brought back! Global Bike and TT1 had guys in the move and they drove it home as the other teams weren't able to do much. Once it was apparent that they weren't going to be brought back, I tried to be as active as possible and just get in a good workout while testing myself (this being a training race and all . . . ). Chris Emory was active as well, but the gap stuck at 2 minutes and the break and money was long gone. We rolled in with the field, and went to see how Eric did. The good news is that he CRUSHED the 3s field! After launching a counter move after 2 laps, he chased down the break and then proceeded to drive it to the finish after dropping all but 1 other rider. Congrats to Eric after his first official race on Team ACE, and first Cat. 3 win! Shouldn't be long before this 'developmental' rider moves up to a 2. Sweet!
Sunday greeted us with similar weather to Saturday: about 65*, light breeze, and some nice sun. This was a nice change over last year when there were 20-30mph winds that made the race at the BMW track brutal! Then again, I like those conditions and was able to lap the field, so my joy was a little short-lived! After Eric's herculean effort on Saturday, being away for about 3/4 of the race, he was suffering the effects of dehydration and decided to take the day off.
This left only Chris and I again to battle against the other bigger teams. It was a similar result to Saturday with a break going from the gun with Hincapie & Globalbike (and Metro?), and staying away all day! Chris and I were active again, but no match for the teams with more matches to burn. That's OK, because when we bring our full team, we will be a force to be reckoned with! Field finishes for both Chris and I capped a mediocre, but enjoyable weekend of racing. The weather was good, the power and legs were good, and it was nice to be back in the thick of the action rubbing shoulders and getting tan lines once more! Oh, and we took away a win!Thanks to all our 2010 sponsors: 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.
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