South Carolina State Road Race Championships

Posted by Dan on 28. September 2010 18:46

by Frank Cundiff

This weekend was going to be awesome.  A whole weekend dedicated to cycling……. Again.  This time was different though.  The first day we would be racing in the South Carolina State Road Race Championship, and then watching the US Pro Road Race Championship on Sunday.  “Who is we?” you ask.  It is Andrew Vann and I.  Dan for some reason decided to journey down to the land of communism, old cars, and cigars; Cuba, and race in the Pan-American Masters Championship.  He’ll tell you more about that.  Andrew is new to the racing world.  He has done countless rides with Wick, Dan, and Myself, and has decided to give it a try.  I’ll let him write his own race report as well, in the meantime, on to the Cat 3 race.

Several of the guys that lined up with me today were the same from Carolina Cup last weekend.  The sun was out, and there was a bit of wind blowing about.  It was going to be a hot one today, and all we could hope for was that our race would be done, before it got too hot.  This shouldn’t be too hard with our race only being 63 miles; or was it?  Us Cat 3s amassed in the parking lot just caddy-corner from the start/ finish line, and watched the Pro 1, 2, 3 race start.  We rolled down to the start/finish, and that’s when we got the news.  I’m not sure how it happened, being either a course correction or another lap added, I don’t pay attention to much, but the officials informed us that the race would actually be 75 miles.  Interesting; I’ve never raced anything close to that.  At least with the 63 mile race, I could say that I had ridden that distance a few times recently to acclimate myself with it, but seventy-five?  This should be interesting.  I had on my person three honey stinger gels, and a Clif bar, and two water bottles.  Andrew would be feeding me more bottles though out the race, and was setup with my instructions on how to do it, and when I wanted each bottle, but low and behold this would all change.  The first lap was terrible.  I’m an idiot, and South Carolinians can’t climb (no offense to anyone out there, its South Carolina, you’re not exactly known for your mountains.)  I opened a gap on the first “climb” and another cyclist joined me.  We stayed away for a few miles, but we both knew it wouldn’t last and let the field catch us.

Photo courtesy of Dave Cobb and Team Traveller.

There was no feed on the first lap, and we rode by smiling at the spectators.  Then it happened… someone attacked and the pace picked up.  What this turned into was five of us rotating at the front of the field for the entire race.  It was stupid.  I finally stopped pulling through, and told the kid who had just pulled off that I was done playing these idiot games.  I wasn’t out there with a team; I was by myself, and I wasn’t working for the twenty something yahoos, behind me anymore.  Of course he got angry and kept killing himself.  Fair enough and more power to you.  We came by the feed for the beginning of the third lap, and Andrew handed me a fresh bottle.  I threw him my empty, and told him to refill it for the next lap.  He looked at me crazy, and after two more passes realized why.  In hind sight, we should probably plan these things out a little better.  With two to go a breakaway had formed about a minute and a half out.  I have no idea how, but it did.  On the last lap we had closed the gap to 20-30 seconds.  I could see them, and when I came off the front one guy pulled though, and pulled off, and nobody else was there.  That was it, I couldn’t do it anymore.  I sat up, and the guy next to me looked at me like I was crazy.  I told him I was done working….. yet again, and that I’m not going to get used by these people.  He went into deep thought for a second, and came back with, “You’re right; I’m not working for them anymore either.”  I told him to just coast, and we’ll see if anyone decides to man up.  They didn’t.  The pace of the final lap, I swear must have been 17 mph.  I and the other kid sat on the front just soft pedaling, and carrying on a conversation about college for well over half a lap.  Finally someone decided to attack, and I went with him along with one other person.  I knew they had the energy b/c I hadn’t seen them on the front once.  We opened a gap of about 40 seconds on the field with 6 miles to go.  This was it; 4, 5, and 6th right here.  Awesome!!!  Nope, never mind; the motoref came up alongside of us, and told the two cyclists with me that they were being relegated to the back of the field for violating centerline rule.  Thanks mister motoref, I love being left out in no man’s land with five miles of a 75 mile race left to go.  I sat up and let the field catch me, and finished 9th overall.  The breakaway finished almost two minutes ahead of us.  Not happy, again. A thanks goes out to the guys that put the race on; the course was awesome.  Also to Andrew for the feeds.  They saved me out there.

This was my last race of the season, and I raced it for my grandmother who passed away the next day.  I gave it everything I had, and finished top ten.  Out of the three Cat 3 races I have done this season I finished two in the top 10, and the other top 15.  I think the lesson I am going to walk away with is that it is really hard to do well when racing without a team with you.  I’m not saying that it can’t be done, as Dan and I have proven all year long in the 4s, but it is just easier.  The bike is now taken apart, and waiting my attention.  I’ll clean everything, and put her back together to prepare for winter training which begins in two weeks.  There is one more race sticking its head out there in October.  It’s local, and there is a pretty large purse associated with it.  I might do it, I might not.  I guess you’ll have to wait and see.