Greenville Training Series

by Mitch Askew

Race: River Road Race, Greenville Training Series, Cat. 4 Men
Place: Greenville, SC
Date: 3-6/7-2004

For the River Falls RR on Sat. Mathew Reeder, Richard Shell, Chad Pepper, and Mitchell Askew, of the cat 4 squad of Boneshakers, were present. The plan was to work for Richard Shell and to go from the gun. On the first lap Mathew Reeder and Mitchell Askew gapped the field by about 20 yards and strung everyone out. The Bones boys could not get away. Richard was having difficulty getting up to the front. Chad lead Richard all the way up then saw a hole and jumped right allowing Richard to pop out right behind Mitch and Matt. Richard along with Matt and Mitch then did a lot of the pulling the first lap and kept the gas on. It was nothing but green at the front for the first two laps. They then went to plan B. Attack the hill. Mathew Reeder the last 1/3 of the way up the hill gapped the field. Mitchell Askew bridged at the top and they were off, but the field caught them. Time for plan C, attack time. Mathew Reeder attacked and got a 100 yard gap. Mitchell Askew sat in 5th in the peloton. The peloton got to within 30 yards of Mathew and Mitchell Askew attacked and got about a 60 yard gap. The field closed it. Time for Plan D, wait for the final climb. On the 3rd time up the hill Mitchell Askew cracked on the hill, but stayed with the field. On the back side there was a wreck and Mitchell Askew just got by it. However Richard Shell went down. The field was now down to about 30 and Mathew Reeder was in the top 5. Mitchell Askew was on the back, but stopped. Mitch turned around and went back to get Richard.  Richard Shell was alright and was rolling within minutes. Mitch pulled Richard and one other guy all the way back almost to the peloton. The peloton was on the climb just 40 yards away and Mitch cracked wide open and Chad ended up catching Mitch before the last climb. Richard had to do some work as well and could not quite bridge back. Mathew was in the top 25-30 somewhere. Results only went to top 20. Even though we did not place in the race, I think our teamwork grade would be an A+. 
Donaldson Center "New Circuit course" 

It was Richard Shell, Chad Pepper, and Mitchell Askew from the 4 squad again. This time the plan was simple, word for Mitch. Mitch stayed in the top 5 for the first half of the race. We started with about 40 to 50 guys and were down to 23 within the first 5 or 6 laps of the race, according to Chad Pepper. At one point Mitch found himself in the back, Richard pulled Mitch all the way back into 5 position again. A break opened up with two guys off. Mitch pulled the peloton to within 30 yards and tried to get off but the field would not let him. We were on the back side with a slight rise and the wind was a full on head wind that would slow us down sometime to 10 mph. Richard saw this and did a full out sprint attack and bridged the gap to the two off of the front. Now one from the peloton could answer Richard's attack. With a Bones boy in the break and no one letting Mitch off of the front, Mitch slowed the peloton down to 8 or 9 mph. This gave the break about 20-30 second  gap. Within the next several laps they were a full minute ahead! Richard stayed in the break, did not work, but could not hang on Richard sat up calmed down, recovered, and then gassed it just before the peloton caught him. Richard was now in about 12th place and Mitch was right behind him. On the back side slight rise with a head-wind part, a crash went down. The guy to Mitch's right went over his handle bars. This pushed Mitch and Richard out over the yellow line. With Richard in front of Mitch they were set up for the sprint. Before the last turn Richard unleashed a lead out for Mitch and got Mitch into fourth place as they rounded the corner. Richard with nothing left gave out a yell and gassed it for 20 more yards. Mitch went past Richard got up behind second place guy and flew past him in
the last 10 yards of the finish. Mitch got second in the pack sprint, but ended up finishing fourth over all.  Richard deserves all the credit. He covered the break, blew, and still lead Mitch out for the sprint. Richard is the Boneshakers rider of the weekend. 
Keeping the tradition that Matt Reeder started with Eric, Mitch split his winnings evenly among himself, Chad, and Richard. With us able to make plans and follow them through in races this early in the year, it looks like the Bones boys are going to have a great year.