Teddy's Race Report

It's funny to start the season with the Tour of California, because everything afterwards seems, well… smaller. Everything about ToC is just so darn BIG, that it seems to leave everything else dwarfed in its wake. Furthermore, it occurs so early in the season, that when I returned home in late February, most of the country's local races are training series. Thankfully for me, here in the southeast the local training series is put on by Hincapie Sports, which runs a very tight ship. I was thrilled as I was driving towards the start and see well organized "BIKE RACE" direction signs, a peloton leading police car, and an official on a motorcycle. Clearly this is a very well organized event. Moreover, the local training series draws the co-namesake of Hincapie Sports, George Hincapie. It's definitely not every day that your hometown weekend race draws ProTour riders, but this Saturday happened to be that day.

I must admit that I was pretty psyched when George approached me in the race and congratulated me on a good ride from Seaside to San Luis Obispo (110 miles in a freezing wet breakaway with George). I'll also admit with my tail between my legs that he clearly rode better than I did on that particular stage of ToC. He finished 2nd while I popped at the end of the race and, shiveringly cold, was content crossing the line in fourth-to-last-place. We chatted a bit, which was fun. He wasn't going to race Sunday and instead was opting for Paris-Nice over another training series race. Whatever..

Saturday's race was 75 miles over six rolling circuits. While some teams lined up with a dozen riders, I was BISSELL's lone representative. With the yellow line rule in effect, it was easy for three of the biggest teams' riders escape up the road, and then have those teams post three or four riders on the front and block. Ugggh… negative racing at its finest. After that breakaway was established, I proceeded to attack as much as I could and hopefully draw a chase group, but I was continually marked. With about half of the race remaining, it was clear George wanted some good training so he sat on the front of the peloton and dragged us along at 25mph for about 20 minutes. After recovering from my repeated attacks, I pedaled up to George and put in a high-tempo effort on the front as well. Mind you, at this point, I figure the race is basically over with those three well up the road. However, the gap was dwindling down to the point that the three escapees were within sight with one lap to go. With some more fine work by George, the Time Factory Team, and me, we reeled back the break, and had the race come down to a sprint. George led it out for about a mile, then Thad Dulin of the Jack Kane pro team went. I jumped on his wheel, drafted a bit, pulled out to pass, but was halted by a ferocious headwind, and was content to finish 2nd. Awesome training all day. Pretty good result. Talked to George. Fun day.

Sunday was 56 miles over the course of seven windy and exposed laps. After an onslaught of attacks by yours truly and lots of the other more populous teams, there was finally a successful breakaway with two laps remaining. It was fun for me because of the five breakaway riders, three are New Englanders: Dan Vallaincourt (Toshiba), Adam Hodges-Myerson (Time Factory), and me. Thad Dulin and a rider from the Hincapie team were the other two guys. With one lap to go, there were various attacks, chases, counter attacks, and the like. I countered an attack, was caught, and then was countered by Thad. I chased for a while with Adam until I decided to go it alone in the pursuit. Unfortunately Thad had the mustard in his legs to stay away and win by about 5 seconds. Once again, I settled for 2nd place and some great training.

-Teddy King