Remax Town & Country Road Race - New London, NC

I decided late Friday afternoon that I would race in the annual Out Like A Lion Road Race in New London, NC after checking Accuweather.com, as earlier in the week they were predicting torrential downpours for Saturday but they were now predicting some afternoon rain only. I left the house at around 5:00AM and drove the 2 hours to New London for a race that started at 8:05AM. I packed a half gallon of water, a recovery drink, a bottle for the race and some food to eat on the way up. As I approached Monroe, NC, the fog was pretty thick and it made the 2 lane country roads difficult to navigate.

I made it to staging area at 7:00AM and started setting up the trainer, etc before heading over to registration. By the time I got back to the car, I had about 25 minutes to warm-up. 10 minutes into my warm-up, Rick from Giordana-Clif Bar stopped and said the first race would be delayed at least 30 minutes due to the heavy fog. 30 minutes turned into over 2 hours. Not anticipating the delay, I ran out of food and water and didn't pack any gels or bars. Shortly after 10:15AM we assembled for the race of which was shortened by 1 lap due to the delay.

Last season, I played catch-up for half the race due to a poor starting position and vowed that I would start every race this year on the front row. So far so good as I've managed front row positions in my first 2 races. With the race being shortened by 1 lap, the pace was pretty high from the beginning. Me and 4 others set the tempo from the start and 5 minutes in, I knew that I would pretty much be a non-factor in the race today. My legs were heavy and I felt slow and uncomfortable on the bike. Maybe it was the less than optimal pre-race dinner or the 4 hours of sleep combined with a 2 hour drive and then 2 hours of waiting.

On one of the hills, the lead pack accelerated and the guy in front jumped out of his saddle and his rear end went crazy. I was seated and accelerating with the pack and my front tire got a little ahead of the guy's rear and our wheels touched. My handlebars went right and the end jammed into the left side of my right knee cap, tearing a hole in my knee warmers. I knew I was going down but managed to stay up and went off the right side of the road into the grass and came back on only losing 6 positions. My knee was throbbing but I was able to pedal without any problem. I decided that I would stay hidden for the second lap and hopefully, stay out of any further trouble.

We started the race with 36 riders and at some point, we split the pack into two groups - 20 and 16. The wind was going from right to left so everyone was jockeying for position on the left side. I managed to get in a line just to the right of the centerline and managed to stay in the position with 2.5 miles to go. As soon as we rounded the last turn, the pack starting breaking up due to the acceleration and I found myself picking off riders and making my way up the middle and was in position 8 when a hole on the right side opened up and Rick started saying - Go Scott Go! I decided to jump and me and 2 others got separation but after 30 seconds, I was on the verge of popping and I decided to sit-up and wait. At this point I was done. I could see the finish line tent and all I wanted to do was hang on. We topped the hill and everyone took off. People started flying by me and I couldn't do anything about it and I managed to hold on for 15th place. The result is better than I expected especially after several attacks (one right at the end), the handlebar jamming into my knee cap, and almost wrecking.

In reading the Time Factory Development Team blog, the Pro 1,2 race was shortened from 10 laps to 2 and they raced in a downpour with quarter sized hail. Glad I got it over with earlier and only had to contend with a little drizzle.