Donaldson Center RR: P-1-2

March 13, 2008 on 4:24 pm | In Road Racing |

Pro-1-2, 3-9-8,

Greetings Race Fans! Todays race is the last in the Greenville “Training” Series. I think why they call this a training series is that you can immediately tell if you have been training or that you need more! Anyway, our race brought about 70 riders to the line. Thad Dulin, of DLP Pro, brought out a team of 7, TIME Pro development had Andy Baker and 6 more mates, Harly-Davidson Team had 6, Josh Whitmore and the Carolina Triathlon guys were 6 in number and Hincapie Sports-Bianchi were represented with 5 or so today. Throw in Ted King of Bissell Pro, A (?) Kelly Benifits-Medifast Pro, a Hot Tubes U23 hot shot and a smattering of privateers and you’ve got a fast group.

The course is set around big 7 mile loop of an industrial complex that has a hill or two, great crosswind sections and a loong slightly uphill finishing straight.

My strategy going into today was to save it up for a field sprint at the end. Armed with some sweet borrowed ZIPP 404 cheater wheels (courtesy of Andy G.). I set about staying out of the wind and out of trouble. The attacks kept the pace up and the field was just rolling to quick to let anything go (See stats below). Even though I did have to move a bit and actively follow a lot of wheels, I did what I set out to do and came into the imminent sprint with lots of gas in the tank. A pair of riders did escape in the last 2 miles with the help of their teamates set-up. The field sprint was on. When the surges began I slipped a few spots back thinking about not using my last match too soon and started my sprint from behind. Dodging guys falling back from leadouts and passing others at 35+mph, I come away with 15th place. Not bad for a guy without a leadout.

Chad’s Fun Stats:

60 miles in 2hrs. 13min.

25.5 mph avg.

37.7mph sprint finish

40 minutes above LT (saving the gas as opposed to the self slaughter I put myself through last week)

2178ft. climbing total.

Another race in the bag. Much better feelings than last week. Stay tuned for a report from the Out Like A Lion RR and Crit from Salisbury this weekend 3-15&16.

Thank You so Much for reading!

-Chad Schoenauer