Our Season in review (March)

Our season started several months ago (March) in Albany, GA which was the first round of the Georiga Cup. It was a great start to our season as Thomas placed third in the crit, Jafer made the break and took 9th in the road race and 6th overall. Everyone was excited that the season was finally underway and our next stop was in Perry, GA part of Series 7.


Again, we showed the power of our team as Jafer made the break in the circuit race and Oscar, Thomas, and Joey took turns protecting him after the break lapped the field. Thomas lead Jafer out for a fourth place finish. Below is the full race report.

Wind was the big story in the Saturday afternoon circuit race. The course looked fairly simple on
paper, but a strong cross/headwind on the uphill section of the course made the 55 mile race very interesting (read-tough!) The plan for the race was for Joey and Oscar to mark the attacks early on before the field tired, at which point Jafer would attack and try to bring some guys with him off the front, if this didn't work and the field stayed together, we would regroup and try to help Thomas for the sprint. For the first part of the race Joey and Oscar stayed near the front to cover what seemed like endless attacks into the uphill headwind. Every lap an attack would go
on the hill and a big split of 10 or 15 guys would form only for the field to regroup on the downhill tailwind section.

After about an hour of this, the two riding the front were getting very tired and needed some time back in the field to recover. As planned, Jafer made his way to the front and went with the move that finally broke the leash from the field. Eventually, in what seemed like a never ending race, Jafer's group lapped the field with less than 5 laps remaining. Now it was up to Jafer to out-sprint his breakaway companions in the field sprint. To make sure none of those riders tried to escape again before the sprint, Oscar and Joey went back to the front and marked those riders until the final lap where Thomas took over, using his pack sprinting skills to give a great leadout to Jafer for the finish. Jafer ended up taking fourth in the field sprint, a great sprint effort from this non-sprinter, and since the top three in the sprint were also in the break, fourth in the race. The rest of the team finished in the field, a lap down, but happy to have helped Jafer
secure a top 5.

The next day was the "Epic Perry Roubaix" a 100 mile road race with a dirt road section on every lap. Luckily, it rained the night before and we were told to expect a slick Georgia mud pavee section. Last year it was like trying to ride through a sandbox, you either made it through or watched everyone ride away lying on your back. Like previous years the course favored a break away which went rather early this time. Finding ourselves out of the break Jafer attacked with about 30 miles to go and two other riders marked his wheel. With the help of the two other riders Jafer made contact with the break after 20 miles of chasing. As soon as he joined the break, Jafer took a Power Gel and drank some water only to be attacked by the break. Unfortunately, Jafer did not respond to the attack and did not regain contact to the break and rode the final lap with one of his earlier breakaway companions and rode in for 10th on the day.