Season in review (Speed Week)

May was another big month of racing for the team as we took on the USA Crits Speed Week, the Tour of Atlanta, and the GA State Road Race. Speed Week started in Athens then moved on to Beaufort, SC on Tuesday April 29th. If you have never seen the Beaufort course it could be described as the tightest, narrowest, and fastest course ever. The peleton can literally stretch through multiple turns and the race is always blown apart in the first 20 minutes. The races during Speed Week are so fast that if you open a small gap (less than a bike length) then you can literally spend an entire lap chasing to close the gap. Since Beaufort is so narrow, gaps are easy to open and the peleton split into multiple groups with only Thomas finishing in 27th place. To put it into perspective about 140 riders started and only 44 finished!

We moved down the road to Walterboro a quaint little South Carolina town. Our race was delayed due to a bomb threat earlier in the day on one of the government buildings but that didn't stop the peleton from exploding off the line. Walterboro is a great course when you can see it but for the second year in a row lights were in short supply. The race started after 9pm so nearly every turn was dark except for the last two turns and the start/finish area. We really were sticking our wheels into the unknown as sewer grates, pot holes, curbs, and debris were invisible at 30mph in the dark! Oscar and Jafer were doing well until the riders in front of them opened up a gap coming out of a 35 mph corner. Needless to say, they chased as hard as they could but it took an entire lap to close the gap, so they ended up in the same scenario every lap. Chase as hard as you can, close the gap, then watch it open again as your legs are blown, then chase another lap to regain contact, and repeat. After a few laps of this it is almost impossible to increase your position and you finally pop. The plus side was they made it to about 10 laps to go, which was a much better performance than yesterday. Thomas again, led the team taking 32nd in an unyielding sprint.

Luckily, we didn't have a long drive back to the hotel because by the time we left the race it was around 11pm! The only restaurant we could find was Waffle House, which usually isn't a bad choice but mix in bad food and post-race stomach and you have all the ingredients for indigestion. We left early the next morning for Greenwood which Thomas informed us was ranked as one of the best cities in America. The race started at 7pm so we had plenty of time to lounge around our complimentary extended stay hotel, courtesy of the race promoters. All of the lattice in the hotel started to freak Oscar out which may be why he decided to leave later that night. The Greenwood course was probably the best course of the series, it had nice straights, a little hill, and fun open turns. It was nice to finally start a race in the daylight; by the the time we finished the sun had just disappeared. The race stayed together and it was relatively easy to move up, perhaps since some of the major teams weren't present tonight. The race was going great for the team until Oscar got caught up in a wreck in the last turn and went down pretty hard. We could see him laying on the side of the road but at 30mph there isn't much we could do. Tonight Thomas finished 34th, followed by Joey in 62nd, and Jafer in 81st. This might not seem that remarkable but just to finish these races is a feat in itself because you can always count on dozens of riders being dropped. After the race Oscar decided to head back to Atlanta with Joey's dad, so he could heal and get some rest.

On Friday morning, we transfered to the next race in Spartanburg, this time we stayed in luxury at the Marriot Suites, courtesy of the race promoters in the downtown area. The Spartanburg course was really fast with long straights and open corners but infused with wrecks. It seemed like every few laps half the field was sitting in the pits, waiting to get back in the race because someone had caused a pileup. We took our turns waiting in the pit to get back in the race; thankfully no one on the team hit the ground. Thomas was sitting pretty on the last lap when someone clipped bars in the last turn causing a massive pileup and he went from top 20 to 47th! Thomas said he lunged onto the rider next to him hugging him all the way to the ground like a pillow. Luckily, Joey slipped by the crash and finished 19th while Jafer had to push his way through the chaos and ended up 34th. Its amazing how fast your luck can change, one second you are flying along and the next you are flying through the air.

Saturday morning we awoke to what might have been the best breakfast ever, thanks to Thomas' parents who came to watch last night's race. They treated us to the breakfast buffet at the hotel where there was endless amounts of fresh fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, grits, omelets, and waffles, an athlete's paradise. Saturday was the longest car ride of the week as we had to drive to Charlotte, NC to race then turn around and head to Sandy Springs, GA for tomorrow's race. By now we just wanted to get the series over with as fatigue was heavily setting inside of everyone's legs. The course didn't make it that easy as turn three brought the peleton to nearly a full stop and then the ensuing full throttle accompanied by what felt like a 10% gradient stretch to the finish line put a damper on ones energy. With big money primes the pace never relented but we kept our motivation to finish nonetheless. Thomas finished a respectable 11th, followed by Joey in 34th, and Jafer in 50th. The next race was trying to get back to Georgia so we could get a full night of sleep. We faced a solid 4 hour drive which meant we wouldn't arrive until at least 11 pm. Our next obstacle was trying to find a suitable restaurant which is harder than it sounds. Jafer used the GPS on his phone to locate a Italian joint in a little South Carolina town called Blacksburg. Unfortunately, they went out of business years ago so we left empty handed. After we got back on the highway Thomas spotted a sign for Fatz Cafe, but wasn't sure which exit it said so he told us to get off in a few miles and we would find it. Thirty minutes later we were breaking the speed limit on a country road trying to figure out how to get back to I-85 when the road turned and we started to parallel the interstate. Once again we got back on with empty stomachs but as luck would have it we saw another billboard for Fatz telling us it was 30 miles south of us! This time we got the exit number and it was the best tasting dinner we had in awhile.

We rolled up to the hotel in Sandy Springs around midnight and got settled in as fast as possible. We nearly slept through breakfast as we were exhausted from all of the traveling. Everyone was relieved that we had made it to the final day relatively unscathed and ready to race. The Sandy Springs course was almost as fun as the Greenwood course, but it probably hurt a little more. Luckily, there were no major pileups, but there were still a few good wrecks. The only decisive part of the course was the start/finish climb which took 600+ watts to get over intact. After an entire week of racing a huge relief fell over the team as the laps slowly ticked down. Thomas finished just outside of the top 20 (23rd), followed by Joey in 39th, Jafer in 51st, and Oscar didn't finish due to his injuries sustained in Greenwood. Here is a little information about the PowerTap data collected by Jafer during the week (this is an average for each race): 1330 watt max, 355 watt average, 28 mph average, 171 heart rate average, all for less than an hour and a half of racing!