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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Tis the Season for being Thankful
This year I have more to be thankful for than I typically do. My wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and we are both healthy and gainfully employed. But the real thing I am thankful for is one hell of a good season. I began racing at 40 years of age. I had only been riding 10 months prior to that and had no idea what to expect. Well, it was harder than I expected. I thought it would be like club rides and I would dominate most of the riders....well, all of the cat 5's were doing well on their club rides. Then I moved into the 4's. I did okay that first season. In the next few seasons, I would bounce from Cat 4 to master's races and did okay. I had the occasional good weekend of racing, but never able to really put several good weekends together. I just missed the state RR title by 3 inches, for second place. Then I was second in the Time Trial state championships. Like I said - not bad, but not great.
This year I was able to turn that corner and pull it together. I trained hard and got good results. My main race series is the Georgia Cup. It starts in early March and ended in mid September. I was on the podium for every weekend except one. That weekend I had no team with me and skipped the TTT. If I had raced it, I would have been atop the box for something. This year I achieved the following;
State Criterium Champion
Georgia Cup Cat 4 35+ winner
Georgia Cup MAR series winner
3rd KOM - Georgia Cup series
Ranked in top 5 nationally by USA Cycling in TT, crit, RR and # 7 in stage race (all at the same time)
Ranked #1 Cat 4 TT at three separate times during the season
Finish - Race - Category
1st - LaGrange Criterium - (GA State championship). cat 4, 35+ -Ga Cup
1st - Dahlonega Table Rock Circuit race GA Cup - cat 4, 35+
1st - Gainesville Time Trial - cat 4, 35+
1st - Time Trial, LaGrange - cat 4, 35+
2nd - Time Trial, Union City - cat 4, 35+
2nd - Time Trial -Chattanooga - cat 4, 35+
2nd - Stage 4, Tour of Atlanta Stage race - Team Time trail - Cat 4 < 35
3rd- Union City Criterium Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
3rd - Perry Roubaix Time Trial - cat4, 35+
4th - Sunny King Criterium - Master's 45+ (combined 35/45 field - scored separately)
4th - Stage 3, Tour of Atlanta Stage Race -John's creek circuit race - cat 4, < 35
4th - Rome RR Ga Cup- cat 4, 35+
4th - Elberton RR Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
4th - Cycleworks Dog Days RR - Master's 45+
4th - Stage 1,Tour of Atlanta Time Trial -cat 4, < 35
5th - Perry Roubaix Circuit Race - cat 4, 35+
5th - Rome Criterium Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
6th - Elberton Criterium Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
6th - Roswell Criterium -Master's 45+
6th - Tundra Time Trial - Master's 45+
8th - Gainesville Criterium Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
8th - Chattanooga Criterium Ga Cup - cat 4, 35+
Weekend results
1st place - Gainesville Stage Race
1st Place - LaGrange Omnium
2nd Place - Chattanooga Stage Race
2nd Place - Union City Stage Race
2nd Place - Rome Omnium (tied in points for first)
3rd Place - Perry Omnium
3rd Place - Dahlonega Omnium
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