Jittery Joes U25 p/b Kudzu.com Cycling Team

Only three riders, Anthony, Jafer, and Oscar, represented the team at Union City as Dan & Rebecca traveled to Florida to race, both Joey and Thomas raced collegiate, and Mike was sick. They knew it would be a hard race to control as there were a few strong teams with 6 plus riders. Saturday morning took everyone by surprise as the temperature stayed low in the forties. To add fuel to the fire we didn’t get a proper warmup, as getting to the race took a little longer than expected.

With Anthony off first at 8:49 am, we pulled up to the parking shortly after 8, which was a little too close for comfort! The time trial course was a rolling 10 mile out and back course, on South Fulton Parkway, a wide and smooth four lane divided road. Oscar got things rolling for the team by placing 2nd, only one second behind former Jittery Joe’s rider Thad Dulin. Jafer finished 11th with Anthony five seconds back in 13th.

Luckily, the crit wasn’t until 7:30 which gave us plenty of time to drive home, eat, and relax. After brunch we sacked out on the couch and watched tv for a little while before settling for Batman: The Dark Night, on dvd. After the movie ended we had a nice lunch at a burrito shop and headed back to Union City for the 30 lap crit. The crit was aggressive but the team did a great job of controlling breaks and grabbing point bonuses. Jafer led Anthony out for two point bonuses getting a first and second place bonus and Oscar even grabbed a third place bonus for the overall. On the final lap the field strung out and things got a little hectic but Anthony managed to salvage the crit with a 5th place finish.



It was another early morning with a start time of 8:30 and a short road race distance of 68 miles. The race was a rolling two lap lollipop course. The race was pretty aggressive with Anthony, Jafer, and Oscar all putting in attacks/counter-attacks . The largest team in the race was Mygogenesis as they had nearly 10 riders. On the last lap a dangerous move went up the road with two Myogenesis riders, a Hincapie rider, a Priority Health rider, and a couple more. Shortly after, a small chase group formed when Jafer tried to bridge to the break but it was disorganized at best. Only a few riders would work with Jafer even though they were closing in on the break and riding away from the peloton. As the chase disintegrated, the break moved further up the road as the chase group was absorbed back into the peloton. WIth only a few riders willing to chase Jafer spent the next 30 minutes riding on the front to pull the break back within reach. With about 5 miles to go the break was caught which gave the team a chance to rest. Shortly, after the break was absorbed the next wave of attacks came lasting until the finish. In the final few kilometers Jafer moved up behind the Myogeneis train with Antony on his wheel, giving them both great positioning.

Unfortunately, with less than a kilometer to go, the motorbike official cut Jafer off in a turn causing them to bump at nearly 30 miles an hour. Luckily, Jafer kept it upright but it caused a little confusion in the peloton and Jafer was not able to get his momentum back. Once again, Anthony saved the day with a 2nd place sprint finish just behind Thad Dulin, who jumped with about 700 meters out. Anthony ended up 4th overall with Oscar right behind in 7th.