Pat and Chris Allison rode hard and brought home great results for the Union City Omnium. Read Pat’s recap below or on his coaching website – http://leaditout.com.

Me and Chris were the brave souls from tria to compete in the Pro 1,2 race this weekend in Union City. Justin Bynum, Jacob Tubbs and Phillip Thomson did the threes. I knew it would be a tough race when I looked at the feild, consisting several pro teams. Team Type One, Kenda, Real Cyclist, Round Here Cyclist, & Specialized Juniors. Not to mention the stacked feild of “locos”, Iron Data, & Aerocat. The crit, as you can imagine was flying from the start. The backside was superfast as I recorded top speeds over 40mph. And with the slight hill into the headwind, It made for an even tougher race. Chris worked hard early for me and then slowly fell back and pulled out before the finish. I found myself marking certain guys, and actually thought I made the winning break, but got pulled back in after a few really tough laps. I managed to win the MAR (most aggressive rider) which adds to the omnium total. A little rusty as this was my first race of the season I screwed up the last corners and found myself sprinting from too deep. I ended up 9th with Emile Abraham winning with Tye magner just behind him in second.

For the Road race, I almost got dropped in the first mile. These pro guys act invincible in the local races so they thought it would be funny to hit it from gun. We actually passed the lead car and the motor cycle got trapped behind a garbage truck so we were free to do as we please, which was pandimonium for the first few miles on the four lane highways. They got us under control and the break was established. I didnt want any part of a 75 mile 6 man breakaway so I settled in the pack and marked any chase groups. Iron Data managed to pull 3 of the riders from the break back just before the finished.

The last 3 miles were nuts, but I managed to stay out of trouble, position myself at fifth wheel coming around the last corner. I passed several and It was a photo finish between me and two others for the feild sprint. I ended up 6th. Chris did a great job helping bring back some chase groups I missed and ended up hanging on for 15th. With the crit points, MAR points, and the weighted 6th in the RR points, I ended up 2nd for the Omnium behind Tye Magner from Team Type One. Not a bad weekend.

Summary
18th last year, 9th this year, so does that mean I can aim for a top 5 finish next year? No matter what the result though, every person in every category who raced and finished yesterday raced 105 miles through some of the most grueling terrain and roads you can imagine – and all of it taking place under perfect weather conditions deep in the bayou of Louisiana. What an awesome way to kick start the road racing season! Team JuwiFirst-Solar took 1st and 2nd with Jonny Sundt (Kenda Pro Cycling) placing 3rd after crossing a gap of nearly 10 minutes and then suffering an untimely puncture late in the race.

The Details
Mike Olheiser was there with his new team, Team-JuwiFirst-Solar. Other strong teams included Kenda, Snapple, Metro-VW, Plano-PACC, Team La S’port, Herring Gas, and S3. Mike sent two of his riders up the road in the early suicide break as soon as we made it out of the neutral zone. One other rider (Plano-PACC) latched on making it a break of 3. With such a strong team having two riders up the road, there was much more racing at the front before the first dirt section than last year. No team wanted to commit to chasing, though. Instead, teams tried to launch riders off the front to bridge. Most of these moves came back, but eventually a chase group containing Jonny Sundt (Kenda Pro Cycling), Jacob Brewer (Herring Gas), and Scott Kuppersmith (La S’port Cycling) established itself. This was the situation leading into the first dirt section.

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