Jonez World

Stage 5 was the longest of the tour at 133 miles. Ed’s foresight in sending vaLarry and I down to preride the courses for stages 5 & 6 paid off. Larry found his way into a break of four that lasted about 115 miles and was caught with about 1 mile to go. Moises capped of the day with a top 10 in the sprint. After the stage we were in such a hurry to get moving that I didn’t even have time to hit up my favorite ice cream shop.
Stage 6 was the granddaddy of the week with a cat 1 climb, followed by a cat 2, and finishing of with the HC rated Brasstown Bald. The team’s plan was to try to get I-mac up the road in the early break and if that didn’t work then conserve for the climbs. As we started brasstown TT1 was the only team left with atleast five guys in the 51 person group. The group just ripped to pieces as soon as the climb started. It turned into every man for himself as we all went deep into the hurt box for the next twenty minutes. The fans lining the roads were awesome and it was so loud in places that their yells almost covered up my gasping for air. We ended up putting four of us in the top 20 including a stellar ride by Moises.
Stage 7 was the circuit race in downtown Hotlanta. As we pulled into the race to sign in the skys let loose and the rain came down. As most of you know I am a serious softy from CA but for some reason racing in the rain seems to suit me well. The formula for success goes something like this, when it is raining whine and complain to teammates and enemies to psych them out. Once the race starts attack, attack, attack until the break sticks because you do not want to be in the field going around all of those wet corners. Once off the front ride and pray that you don’t flat out of the break…
Overall I was stoked on the team’s performance. We had a run of bad luck leading up to Georgia, but are on the upswing now and will be knocking off plenty of wins soon.
This was my first trip to the big show and was a big learning experience. I was suffering at the begining of the week with allergies and the speeds. Each stage I started to feel a little more comfortable and the allergy medication slowly started to work so I was able to enjoy myself more and start racing. My only real disappointment was that I didn’t break the top 10 on b-town, but that gives me some extra motivation for next year.
The amount of staff TT1 had was incredible and we couldn’t have done it without them, so thanks guys and gal.
Next up is a trip home to the Ghetto Haven followed by a race around the Pentagon and some racing in Arkansas.