A Trip to Alabama

It sure has been a long time since I last made a post, but there hasnt been that much happening in the last month. I wrote a post to follow up the cali trip, but I still havent got it posted. I will put it up soon, I just wanted to make sure I could get some thoughts out about Sunny King Criterium before they escape me.

I flew down to Winston-Salem on Wednesday night after a pleasant extended stay in Burlington Vermont. There I able to catch up with friends that I hadnt seen since January, as well as get some much needed training to top up before Speedweek.

After a stress filled Friday morning, I was eager to leave the team house and start traveling south. I picked Will up in Charlotte and together we drove to Atlanta and spent the night at Thomas's house.

As a result of the recent conflict between Bahati Foundation and United Healthcare (my opinions regarding that to follow) the team was uncertain how the race would play out, so we spent the whole drive to Anniston going over possible race scenarios.

Well after all the conversations we had, the ONE possibility that we were all certain wouldn't happen happened. A huge break got away with one of our none sprinters. 13 dudes got away with our tank Will Hofarth. The kid is as strong as a brick shit house, but he has a school girl sprint in comparison to the rest of the guys the made up the move. As a result of some hesitation on Thomas and my behalf, as well as a completely satisfied peleton, there quickly became no way that we could get a second guy into the break.

The break eventually would lap the field and our only chance at getting the win would be if Will could make a solo effort in the last few laps and hold off the field. He made a good attempt but it was a bit to early (8 to go) and the field was determined to duke it out in a sprint.

Thomas and I tried to keep Will with us in the front but for me, it was nearly impossible to look after anyone else but myself going into the last two laps. The sprint was relatively safe, other than bahati, but I was pleased winning a 3rd place in the sprint. Sadly it was not for a podium position, but for 15th. Hopefully I can be sprinting for the win at Athens.

This is the highlights video from the race. It was an awesome event