3rd and 5th Place Finishes for the Double Race Weekend.
Last weekends breakaway group were at it again on Saturday at The Breast Cancer Awareness CX Race in Hagerstown. Chip Hoover, Keith Rohr, and myself took the top three spots on the podium. The course was dry but splintered immediately again this week but this time due to technical, off-camber sections. Chip got a early gap first and then Keith put in a solid effort to pull some distance from me. We ran a couple of laps in that order and I was slowly gaining on Keith but then I made my only mistake. I came into a corner too fast and got caught in the tape forcing me to dismount. I was then passed by two racers, Kenneth Morris and Neal Sapp. I jumped on the saddle and the chase began. I quickly bridged up to the two guys that had just went by me and then slipped in front of them. The effort winded me and I took a few moments to recover while they both stayed close to my wheel. They continued to track me for half a lap but I finaly broke the elastic and pulled away. I then knew, barring any major mistakes, that with only a lap to go that I had a 3rd place finish wrapped up. I almost began to ride conservatively but my teamates watching began to yell that Keith was slowing and that I could catch him if I pushed hard. I pushed hard! I seemed to be making up a little ground on all the technical sections and by the time we got near the finish I had it down to about 4 seconds. Unfortunately, the finish is immediately after a technical section where there is little room to pass and I could not make up the final gap.
Sunday at Kelley Acres the racers saw a mountain-biker type course that rewarded profiecient bike-handling skills. Jonathan Seibold certainly fits that mold. He got off to an amazing start and never looked back winning wire-to-wire. My race was simply one of survival. After a few laps I found myself in 5th holding on to the last spot on the podium. I knew that with a little hard racing and risk-taking that I could catch up to the racer in 4th and improve my podium spot/points for series classification. Backfire! A hard slideout at the bottom of a sharp turn that dropped my chain once again saw two racers go by just like the day before. Once again I chased and slowly reeled them both in. I settled in, rode hard but smart and wrapped up another spot on the podium. My youngest daughter Kailtlyn was able to stand on the podium with me and she gladly accepted my prize of a container of Rich’s Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork Bar-B-Que.
Click link for Saturday's podium photo
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