On tap today is a 1.75km four-corner loop around scenic Forsyth Park in downtown
Savannah. The course is largely non-technical, save for a "challenging" (read:
minefield) bit between turns one and two consisting of a manhole cover sticking
up in turn one, cobbles with various bumps and dips for the first half and
then two lovely tire-eating grooves running left and right on the second half
that claimed at least one victim.
After a warmup and some pre-race tactic-talk, the Aaron's boys take the line.
Present are Dana Hamric, Robbie Kollar, Keith Lewis, Erick Pierce and myself.
As Erick is sitting pretty at fourth place in the GA Cup standing after Brooks,
he's our "go-to" rider for the day. On the line, we are given some
good news; the three guys ahead of him in the standings are not present so
we have a good chance to move him into at least second place by the end of
the weekend.
The race begins, and we hover near the front of the field waiting for the
first prime to be called. The bell rings and Robbie moves up to cover the sprint.....and
then proceeds to take the sprint....and then puts in an attack on the front
straight as soon as the other riders contesting the sprint sit up. The pack
is still fresh, so he's allowed only a few laps of freedom before being reeled
in on the back stretch. The plan at the start of the day was to use our numbers
to keep hitting the peloton until something sticks, so I shoot past Robbie
and off the front with one other rider as soon as we're within 10 meters of
his wheel. The pack takes a bit longer to react this time, but again runs down
the break within a few laps. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Erick Pierce
then immediately jumps off the front (taking my breakaway companion with him)
and immediately gets a 10-12 second lead within a lap or so.
The peloton, having just chased down two successive breaks, are now much less
decisive. Sensing the hesitation, the four remaining Aaron's riders move to
the front to take a defensive position for our man in the break. We're all
doing our best to disrupt the chase by blocking into corners and interrupting
any attempt by other teams to get organized at the front of the field (much
to their annoyance). Erick and his breakaway accomplice are slowly putting
time on the field, but are still in sight (thanks to the long straights) with
15 minutes to go. The other teams are starting to sense it's now or never to
run down the break and there are several strong surges, but again the Aaron's
men take their place at the front of the field and the gap is hovering at approximately
25 seconds.
Finally, with 5 laps to go called, the field concedes that they are really
just racing for 3rd place now and the gap to the break blows up to nearly a
minute with the pressure off back in the peloton. I am pretty much wasted from
covering moves all day, and drift back into the field as the fight for positioning
begins with a few laps to go.
Bell lap; I'm roughly halfway down the field on the inside of the back stretch
when I hear Robbie telling me I need to get him to the front to set him up
for the field sprint. I bury myself up the inside and nearly get to the front
before getting stuffed into turn three by another rider. I grab the brakes
to avoid a pileup, and my day is done. Robbie, on the other hand, finds a hole
in the field, latches onto Dana's wheel and charges down the front straight
to just pip another rider on the line for the field sprint. Dana holds on for
eighth place.
I take a slow cooldown lap and see a mass of Aaron's jerseys on the start/finish
as I come back around. Turns out Mister Pierce has blown the doors off his
breakaway companion to win the day by a large margin. Aaron's takes first,
third, and eighth on the day.
Sunday
Today's course is a 1.6km loop at the Georgia Tech Savannah campus that's
essentially shaped like a capital "D" with the start/finish on the
curve of the D. Given the non-technical nature of the course, the strong headwind
going into turn one, and that everyone's going to be watching us after our
domination of the crit on Saturday; we're looking for a field sprint.
The bulk of the race is the typical attack/surge/sit-up cycle as the teams
realize we're not letting anything get away and are getting assistance to this
end from the headwind. The downside of this is that the race is relatively
hard to control; every time we get our guys near the front where we want them,
a train of other riders will go flying up the right or left (or both). We do
manage to lead Erick out for some MAR point sprints (Robbie the first time
and myself the second) and a really sassy pair of socks.
We're now down to 5 to go with the field intact. A lap or so later, a two-man
break escapes and is still hovering off the front with two to go since no one
wants to blow their chances in the sprint by chasing the break. Finally a Cycleworks
rider attempts to bridge, I get his wheel, pass him and drag the whole field
back onto the break with 1.5 laps remaining.
Going through the start/finish with one to go and it's utter chaos. I'm stuck
in the middle of the field on Erick's wheel and everyone is diving left and
right looking for position. Somehow, Pierce finds some daylight to the left,
I follow him through and then jump to the front heading into turn one for the
last time. As if by magic, all five Aaron's riders make their way to the front
at the same time to form what we have since dubbed the "A Train".
As we start the back stretch, it's Keith, myself, Erick, Dana, and Robbie 1-5
on the front of the pack. Keith immediately drops the hammer and takes a massive
pull for the first few hundred meters of the straightaway, I then take the
front (with Keith now screaming encouragement/obscenities in my right ear)
and bury myself to deposit our final three riders into turn two at something
approaching 35mph. I peel off high and wide and it's Erick-Dana-Robbie flying
under me through the turn on the front straight with the entire field single
file behind them. As no one is now remotely close enough to really contest
the win, it's an Aaron's drag race to the line with Robbie taking the win,
Erick second, and Dana coming home for fifth place.
Another cooldown lap, and another L5 celebration on the line in the form of
high-fives, hugs and various caveman noises.
Final results are Aaron's 1-2 in the omnium and almost half of the weekend's
cash in our pockets thanks to some of the best teamwork I've ever seen.
