Brown Does It Again!
This past Sunday the
LITESPEED-BMW team won the PRO/1 category Tennessee State Criterium
Championship! This year’s race was in Cookeville,TN, on one of the
team’s favorite courses, a very fast and technical 1k course.
Chris Brown and recent team addition Anders Swanson were our men for the state crit championship race. Want to give a big welcome to the team to Anders. For those of you that do not know Anders he lives in Chattanooga TN and recently finished 10th in the country in the Elite Time Trial National Championships and is the defending category 2 Tennessee state road race champion! So he knows how to go VERY fast and suffer. We are excited to have him on the LITESPEED-BMW team, you will be hearing more about him in upcoming reports.
Chris & Anders knew the race would be aggressive and fast as this was the state championships, plus it was hot, very hot (100+ degrees) so they knew this would dramatically increase the attrition rate in the race. The Friends of Great Smokies (FGS Cycling), Sonic, Texas Roadhouse, Swiftwick, Krsytal, Marx and Bendsdorf and other teams each fielded several riders in the race. From the gun attacks came but each time riders from the different team’s would work to bring back the attack as the moves didn’t have the right composition of riders from the teams to stay away. Chris attacked several times in the race only to be chased down by riders on the different teams. With about fifteen minutes to go in the hour long race, Jeff Mcgrane from FGS Cycling made a great attack and got away solo. Chris & Anders tried not to worry too much as teams were setting tempo to keep Jeff at a reasonable gap and Anders got on the front and helped set tempo with the other teams with the plan of spring boarding Chris near the end. Well, with about ten minutes to go, after Anders had put in a solid effort on the front, Chris jumped in a move with four other riders and they were gone! Now the question was, would the break be able to catch Jeff who was still out solo in front. The answer was yes and no. On the last lap Jeff was just in front of the break and heading down the back stretch and into the last half of the course Chris launched a fierce attack into a corner and up a hill on the backside of the course. Chris lit up the last couple of corners, passed Jeff and came across the line with the win and room to spare! We later found out that Chris was pushing the last couple of corners so hard and fast that he was skipping the rear tire on his Zipp 404 wheel! That is pushing it!
Heck of an exciting finish to the state championship race, way to leave it to the last minute Chris! Jeff did hold on for 2nd as the rest of the break did not catch him. Anders punched it out of what was left of the broken down group and finished 8th. So a great day for the LITESPEED-BMW team and a big thank you to Cytomax and Muscle Milk for keeping us hydrated/recovered all weekend in the extreme temperatures. Next up, the Georgia State Championship road race!
Chris Brown and recent team addition Anders Swanson were our men for the state crit championship race. Want to give a big welcome to the team to Anders. For those of you that do not know Anders he lives in Chattanooga TN and recently finished 10th in the country in the Elite Time Trial National Championships and is the defending category 2 Tennessee state road race champion! So he knows how to go VERY fast and suffer. We are excited to have him on the LITESPEED-BMW team, you will be hearing more about him in upcoming reports.
Chris and Anders ready to rock!
Chris & Anders knew the race would be aggressive and fast as this was the state championships, plus it was hot, very hot (100+ degrees) so they knew this would dramatically increase the attrition rate in the race. The Friends of Great Smokies (FGS Cycling), Sonic, Texas Roadhouse, Swiftwick, Krsytal, Marx and Bendsdorf and other teams each fielded several riders in the race. From the gun attacks came but each time riders from the different team’s would work to bring back the attack as the moves didn’t have the right composition of riders from the teams to stay away. Chris attacked several times in the race only to be chased down by riders on the different teams. With about fifteen minutes to go in the hour long race, Jeff Mcgrane from FGS Cycling made a great attack and got away solo. Chris & Anders tried not to worry too much as teams were setting tempo to keep Jeff at a reasonable gap and Anders got on the front and helped set tempo with the other teams with the plan of spring boarding Chris near the end. Well, with about ten minutes to go, after Anders had put in a solid effort on the front, Chris jumped in a move with four other riders and they were gone! Now the question was, would the break be able to catch Jeff who was still out solo in front. The answer was yes and no. On the last lap Jeff was just in front of the break and heading down the back stretch and into the last half of the course Chris launched a fierce attack into a corner and up a hill on the backside of the course. Chris lit up the last couple of corners, passed Jeff and came across the line with the win and room to spare! We later found out that Chris was pushing the last couple of corners so hard and fast that he was skipping the rear tire on his Zipp 404 wheel! That is pushing it!
Heck of an exciting finish to the state championship race, way to leave it to the last minute Chris! Jeff did hold on for 2nd as the rest of the break did not catch him. Anders punched it out of what was left of the broken down group and finished 8th. So a great day for the LITESPEED-BMW team and a big thank you to Cytomax and Muscle Milk for keeping us hydrated/recovered all weekend in the extreme temperatures. Next up, the Georgia State Championship road race!
Chris Brown - 2012 TN State Crit Champ!
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