Tria Cycling presented by DonohooAuto

Union City, GA
June 1, 2008
Cat 3
Posted by Wes Douglas

Union City Cat 2/3 Road Race

We started the race in good position with Darryl, Philip, & me right on the line. We had been planning on a 91-mile race but all the races were shorted and the 2/3 race was changed to 62mi. The course was pretty nice lots of large rollers, although nothing I would call actually climbing. The pace was pretty civilized until the 20-mile mark. After that there were lots of attacks going off and Darryl and I were catching a wheel on almost every one. Darryl and Phillip did an awesome job of pushing the pace and starting to soften things up before I made it into the first break. The first break was established about 25 miles in where there was a series of steep stair-stepping rollers. We had five riders and most of the big teams were represented but about 10 minutes into the break I noticed that everyone was a cat 3 and Myogenesis was not represented. I don’t know if that was the reason the break failed but after 15 or 20 minutes we were caught. After that I just tucked in and started recovering. From this point it seemed like nothing was going to get away and almost like all the teams were trying to keep it all together but with about 15 miles out a small break went up the road with 3 or 4 riders. A few guys attacked to make the attempted to bridge. Darryl said, “Go with that one” so I gave it everything I had left. It was a do or die effort and I knew if I didn’t make this one I was going to be done. Somehow we made the bridge and established the break with 8 or 9 riders. I don’t remember much after that. I was seeing stars and the next 15 or so miles were a blur. Our average was 30+ mph. I think I was the only one in the break that had been in the first so I was getting pretty tired. By the time we made the last turn and headed down the home stretch there was only one other cat 3 and five cat 2s. I got around one of the 2s in the sprint but that was all I had. So I placed 6th overall and 2nd for the cat 3s. Darryl took 4th in the 3s. I really appreciate Darryl and Philip making the drive over for this race. Good Fun but hard.