LMC Home Race 09
I woke up early Friday morning on April 3rd knowing that I had a big weekend ahead of me. It was the weekend of our home race which consisted of a team time trial and individual time trail on Saturday and a road race on Sunday. On Friday morning, I boarded a school van not to go to a bike race but a track meet. My plan was to go with my team and run a 5k at Duke University at 9:30 Friday night, get dropped off Saturday afternoon directly from the meet to the ITT start, and race the road race Sunday morning. As I anticipated, it was one of the hardest weekends of my life.
NGSU Road Race: Mullets, Hypothermia, and Extreme Car Trouble in the Deep South
At 6:00 pm February 27, me and three of my friends set out for North Georgia State University on what was possibly one of the most epic race trips of my life. The race was in Lumpkin County, Georgia (aka the middle of nowhere) and our entire car route was through the Southern Appalachian Mountains. After a few hours of driving through backwoods country roads (we met this fine looking gentleman Jake is posing with somewhere the border of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia) the trouble began. At some point, we realized that we didn’t know where we were and that none of us had cell phone service. While Ally and Kera, the two girls in the front of the car, were discussing this, Ally (the one driving) ran over a huge rock in the road which flattened her tire, and of coarse we had no spare. Since our phones were useless, Kera and Jake had to hitch a ride into town to call a tow truck from a nice young couple we flagged down.
Wolfpack Cycling Classic
My road season kicked off this year with a road race and crit hosted by North Carolina State University February 14 and 15. They hosted both collegiate and USAC races. I needed two more points to upgrade to a cat 3 on the road so I did the cat 4 race on saturday. It proved to be my last race as a cat 4 as I finished 8th, the exact place I needed to pick up two points. The course was fairly flat with a few rollers but nothing big enough to break up the field, and it ended as typical sprint finish. I made a couple of break attempts, but no one seemed interested in working with me, and I was quickly reeled in. I was riding in pretty good position towards the end until several riders decided to ignore the center line rule with about a K to go and went around me. This left me boxed in with very little racing left. I made a mad scramble to position myself better and eventually got a clear shot at the line, but my attack came too late and my legs were too slow. Despite coming around at least a dozen people, the top spots were already long gone and I had to settle with eighth. At least it was good enough to upgrade.
Cyclocross!
After finishing my cross country running season, I spent three days lying on the couch then was back on the bike and ready for some serious cycling. I decided to do my first cyclocross race the following weekend in Bristol Tennessee.
Lees-McRae Cross Country 2008
Here are some photos from my cross country season at Lees-McRae. We had a great season, finishing second in our conference and fifth in our region.
SECCC Conference Championship
Clemson University in northwestern South Carolina hosted the 2008 SECCC Mountain Bike Conference Championship. Hannah and I both raced every event which included short track, downhill, and dual slalom on Saturday and cross country on Sunday. It was an action packed weekend full of nonstop racing.
Brevard College Mountain Bike Weekend
Adventure Village in the Appalachian Mountains of South-Western North Carolina was the backdrop for the Brevard College home race on September 13 and 14. I raced short track and cross country placing first in the men’s B short track and second in xc.
ETSU Mountain Bike Race Weekend
My first collegiate mountain bike race and my first race for Lees-McRae College kicked of September 6th and 7th hosted by Eastern Tennessee State University.
SCCCC Championship: My Collegiate Road Season Ends With a Bloody Mess
Midwestern State University hosted the 2008 SCCCC Conference championship in Wichita Falls, Texas. It consisted of a road race and team time trial on Saturday and a criterium on Sunday. As the final race of the conference road season, and with every race counting for double season points, the tension was high and the racing was crazy.
Texas State University Race Weekend
Texas State University hosted three races in two days on April 19th and 20th, 2008. They consisted of a time trial, a criterium, and a road race. I picked up two podium finishes in the men’s collegiate B division by placing 3rd in the time trial and 3rd in the crit.
Tunis Roubaix 2008
Here are some photos from Tunis Roubaix, a Roubaix style race through unpaved Texas country roads. I raced the normal cat 4-5 race and the collegiate race finishing 2nd and 6th.
