"Old Faithful Race," February 22
by Bryan Holloway
i had my first race of the season two weeks ago in greenville, sc. i had very good luck that day and took 2nd! i did it with.a long two-man break-away with another dude. it was a rainy, chilly day in greenville, and i did the Cat IV race: 4 laps around a 7 mile loop for a total of 28 miles.
immediately after the start, one guy went off the front. his name was Jim, as i would soon find out, and get to know him well. i had visions of bridging up to him, but wanted to wait until the end of the first lap (where there's a slight uphill grade) to make my move. well, two other guys had the same idea, because as we neared that point, they attacked. i jumped on their wheel and went with them. i worked with them a little while and we had a 3-man break-away going, but it started to break down. so then it was decision time - and from there i decided to go for a solo bridge up to the leader. it turned out to be the right call. for one thing, it wasn't hard to bridge, as he was waiting for someone to bridge up to him, to help him out. and then, once we started working together, we pulled away from the rest of the field. get this...he said, "i just need a little bit of rest every once in a while, and we'll be fine." no problem! i couldn't have asked for a better break-away companion. it wasn't long before we had a 45-second gap on the field and were out of sight. they tried to reel us in at the end, but we had such a huge, comfortable lead, we held them off no problem for a one-two finish. it was very clear who was the strongest rider on this day, so Jim took 1st, and i was extremely happy with 2nd. my first Cat IV top-5 finish, and only my 2nd Cat IV top-10. a great way to start off the new season. plus, i won $50! can't complain about that. i feel lucky.
Pictures of the Race are on Cyclingnews.com.