Sat. 24 Apr 04
Southern Pines, NC
100 miles / 4250' of climbing / continuous rolling hills and crosswinds
$4000 / 25 places
Evo Team: Pedro, Mark, Brent, Reed, Dan, & Adam
After pre-riding the finale for this course on Friday night with some of the guys, this was looking to be an epic day. Most of the east-coast cycling scene (about 90 riders) not involved in the Tour of Georgia or the Athens Twilight crash-fest were present to include perennial motors Chris Harkey, Kent Bostick, U-23 RR champ Erdelyi, and others. A mid-morning start got us rolling along at 30+ soon enough on the flat run-in to the 5 laps. Several attacks attempted to get away but nothing happened too early. Once on the laps, the rolling climbs were relentless with no rest in between. The short flat areas of the course were buffeted with cross-winds that kept the pack single file and fighting for gutter position. After 4+ laps averaging nearly 26mph, Mark & Reed made it into the decisive splits of the day and motored along with some of the heavy hitters. With the heat, the wind, and the hills, the pack was decimated and the lead group of 6 had a 2 minute gap to the next group of 6. Mark rolled in with another rider for 13th, Reed finished shortly after for 21st. For someone to finish this race in the money was huge (even to finish) - Mark & Reed should be congratulated.
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Meadowmont Criterium
Sun. 25 Apr 04
Chapel Hill, NC
60 minutes / .9 miles / 6 turns / 2 x 1 block 53-21 out-of-the-saddle climbs in quick succession on the course
$2000 / 20 places
Evo Team: Pedro, Mark, Brent, Dan
Probably one of the more unique crit courses I've seen in my years of racing, the .9 mile course winds through a newly built neighborhood with 6 turns, and 2 climbs in quick succession with a very quick (almost too short) reprieve in between. The finish was about 2 blocks after the final climb and was slightly downhill. The climbs were brutes of their own with a 53-21 or -23 a must and all done basically sprinting out-of-the-saddle just to stay in the pack. Snow Valley and others on their way back to their mid-Atlantic homes were in attendance after doing Athens the previous evening (about 60 riders). The race started quickly and riders quickly learned that the hills were going to make the race. A group of 5 riders got away pretty early that were absolutely flying up the climbs. A few other riders leaked through in the late stages to round out the top 10. Throughout the event, Mark, Brent, Pedro and Dan patrolled the front attempting to get into breaks or keeping the fragmented peloton together as gaps formed. As the race wore on, the pack grew visibly smaller from the repeated climbing efforts and 30+ flat mostly single-file straightaway. With 3 laps to go, Mark, Pedro, and Dan were still in the mix for the finale. With 1 to go, Dan was on the front (note: this usually isn't a good idea in a Pro,1,2 race with 1 to go). As some of the swarm came by on the straightaway Mark was paving the way for the field, keeping it stretched out going into the climbs. Up the first climb and all was still together, quick breath, up the second climb and the sprint basically started with 400m and the climb, straightaway, corner and finish to go. Dan crested with the top 6 or so of the field, and lost a couple of spots on the line for 19th.