The Beginning of a GREAT Weekend!
This
past weekend was a staple on the Georgia race calendar – The Georgia
Games. Saturday was the road race followed by the time trial and
criterium on Sunday. Being part of the Georgia Championship Series,
LITESPEED-BMW knew this would be a good opportunity to score some points
as we had several riders in the top 5 in both the Category 1 and
Category 2 overall standings.
Waking up on Saturday, the weather looked a little iffy, but it ended up being perfect for racing – overcast skies with a chance of rain later in the race, with temps in the mid-70′s. The field was small, and LITESPEED-BMW had the biggest showing with 4 guys in the race. The race was cut from 5 laps to 4, making it about 72 miles instead of the planned 90 miles.
Chad Madan kicked things off on the first lap with an attack. He stayed away with one other guy for most of the first lap, with the chase being mostly made by Tim Gotsick from Lupus and 5-Hour Energy. Shortly after Chad got brought back, Nick Van Winkle created a gap on a short roller right before the end of the first lap and brought two guys with him. A few minutes later, Dave Gearhart covered an attack that ended up bridging to the break. There were now 5 guys up the road right at the start of the second lap, and two of them were LITESPEED-BMW. PERFECT!
Chad and Garey sat in as Lupus and 5-Hour Energy continued to do most of the chasing, with a little help from Round Here and Beck. Finally, after almost a full lap the break was caught a few miles from the end of the second lap. Chad whispered in Garey’s ear to start attacking. We were approaching the climb toward the start/finish, so it was the perfect time to take his advice. And so he went.
Nobody responded. Garey rolled to the top of the climb, through the feed, and settled into a nice tempo. Jon Atkins from Beck bridged up to him alone about a mile later, and they started working together. The beginning of the lap had quite a lot of climbing, and a brutal headwind. The two worked well together to increase their gap. They never got a time split from the officials until much later, but the field was completely out of sight, so they knew they were in pretty good shape. Jon and Garey finished a complete lap, taking equal turns. But at the beginning of the 4th and final lap, Jon began to unravel. After the first few miles of that last lap, Jon stopped taking pulls and began to suffer from some cramping. Shortly thereafter they got their first time split – 2 mins and 30 secs, and the race official added that there was nobody chasing. Garey was beginning to question the success of our break once his partner stopped working, but that was all he needed to hear to bring some new life into his legs. Jon was only able to take two short pulls in the last 10 mies, but that was just enough rest for Garey to keep on trucking, and it all worked out. Garey came through the finish for the WIN with Jon about 30 seconds behind, and the field a few minutes back.
It was great experience all around. We were aggressive from the first minute of the race, which put the other contenders in the difficult position of having to chase. And after all the chasing was done for two laps, they couldn’t be bothered to chase for yet another two laps. It was perfectly played by the team! AWESOME teamwork all around by LITESPEED-BMW!
This was only the beginning of what turned out to be a fantastic weekend for the team! Stay tuned for a report on how the time trial and criterium went down…
Waking up on Saturday, the weather looked a little iffy, but it ended up being perfect for racing – overcast skies with a chance of rain later in the race, with temps in the mid-70′s. The field was small, and LITESPEED-BMW had the biggest showing with 4 guys in the race. The race was cut from 5 laps to 4, making it about 72 miles instead of the planned 90 miles.
Chad Madan kicked things off on the first lap with an attack. He stayed away with one other guy for most of the first lap, with the chase being mostly made by Tim Gotsick from Lupus and 5-Hour Energy. Shortly after Chad got brought back, Nick Van Winkle created a gap on a short roller right before the end of the first lap and brought two guys with him. A few minutes later, Dave Gearhart covered an attack that ended up bridging to the break. There were now 5 guys up the road right at the start of the second lap, and two of them were LITESPEED-BMW. PERFECT!
Chad and Garey sat in as Lupus and 5-Hour Energy continued to do most of the chasing, with a little help from Round Here and Beck. Finally, after almost a full lap the break was caught a few miles from the end of the second lap. Chad whispered in Garey’s ear to start attacking. We were approaching the climb toward the start/finish, so it was the perfect time to take his advice. And so he went.
Nobody responded. Garey rolled to the top of the climb, through the feed, and settled into a nice tempo. Jon Atkins from Beck bridged up to him alone about a mile later, and they started working together. The beginning of the lap had quite a lot of climbing, and a brutal headwind. The two worked well together to increase their gap. They never got a time split from the officials until much later, but the field was completely out of sight, so they knew they were in pretty good shape. Jon and Garey finished a complete lap, taking equal turns. But at the beginning of the 4th and final lap, Jon began to unravel. After the first few miles of that last lap, Jon stopped taking pulls and began to suffer from some cramping. Shortly thereafter they got their first time split – 2 mins and 30 secs, and the race official added that there was nobody chasing. Garey was beginning to question the success of our break once his partner stopped working, but that was all he needed to hear to bring some new life into his legs. Jon was only able to take two short pulls in the last 10 mies, but that was just enough rest for Garey to keep on trucking, and it all worked out. Garey came through the finish for the WIN with Jon about 30 seconds behind, and the field a few minutes back.
It was great experience all around. We were aggressive from the first minute of the race, which put the other contenders in the difficult position of having to chase. And after all the chasing was done for two laps, they couldn’t be bothered to chase for yet another two laps. It was perfectly played by the team! AWESOME teamwork all around by LITESPEED-BMW!
This was only the beginning of what turned out to be a fantastic weekend for the team! Stay tuned for a report on how the time trial and criterium went down…
Garey on the top step of the podium!
