Tour of Atlanta 2009

May 22nd to 25th was the Tour of Atlanta, a 4 day, 7 stage race. I did the last 5 of the 7 stages of the race (Saturday to Monday). My family and I chose to do this race instead of Dragons challenge this year because of so many racing opportunities in Georgia, and a hilly, "epic" T.O.A RR.

Stage 3: 10:35 am., on Saturday May 23rd, cat. 4/5 U35, 3o minutes long

I lined up for the start of this short crit after a long warmup to see a pretty small 20 rider field. The race started pretty fast, but I held a pretty good position. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, they announced 5 to go.

With 1 lap to go, I bridged up to a recently formed 2-man break on the course's short, steep hill. I passed both the riders, who had sat up, and just went medium when I looked back and realized that they, as well as the pack, didn't follow me. I decided to go for it. I sped around the course while the dropped breakaway riders blocked the field on a one-lane section. On a long, strait downhill my gap fell, but I kept going and went around the last corner at 32 mph. The last 300 or so meters the gap fell to a second, but at the line I held off the field to take my first ever category 4 win!

Stage 4: 3:00 p.m., on Saturday May 23rd, Cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long

The 23 rider pack started and I soon realized I was a marked rider. I wasn't in a great position for a lot of the race, tried 2 breakaways unsuccessfully, and sprinted to 7th at the end.

Stage 5: 10:35 a.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long

I lined up to the start of my second day of racing along with a 25 or so rider field. After the start I had a little trouble clipping in and fell to 1oth, reminiscent of the days when I would nearly get dropped at the start of every race because I couldn't clip in.

Another short race where I had good tactics and felt strong; I followed a couple of short-lived breaks but didn't start any myself until 5 to go, when I counter attacked after the field had been chasing hard for at least a lap. Nobody responded, and I built up to a 10 second gap, out of the peloton's sight at times. I thought I had a chance to hold it to the finish until 2.5 laps to go, when my advantage went down a bit on the course's long downhill as I had no one to help me pull.

With 1 3/4 laps to go I was caught and went to the back of the pack. I tried to survive and got 1oth at the line.

Stage 6: 3:00 p.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long

I was hoping to conserve myself in this race after being so aggressive in the last one. I chased down a few breaks, but never was in the wind for much more than 15 seconds. For much of the race I was top 8, and I went into the last corner 4th or 5th wheel, right behind the guy who turned out to be the winner. But going into the bend my right foot unclipped and I almost crashed and went straight to the back. I finished 20th or so, 3 people away from the rear of the group.

So going into the final stage, the "epic" T.O.A RR, after 4 previous stages, only 1 yielded good results. But I had to be pleased, because I did win stage III, and for 3 of the races I had good tactics.

Stage 7: 9:25 a.m., Monday May 25th, Cat. 4/5 U35, 45 miles long

Prior to the last stage I was excited about the 2 lap course, which had 2 hills with 500 feet of elevation gain and numerous other "walls" per lap, held on undulating, sometimes very poor quality roads. The best thing was that the Race finished atop the biggest climb, which was also the biggest hill on the route.

The race started with a 5 mile neutral start for the 39 rider pack, but after it was over the attacks came thick and fast. I got in most of them just by holding the wheel in front of me. Usually the break was caught before I had to pull, but if not I dropped back a couple of bike lengths or bluffed exhaustion. I was in a bad position once during the race, on the first lap during the first half of a roughly 3 mile stretch of road with huge potholes, gravel, sand, sticks, and short but wearing climbs one after the other. It was easy to move up on the roads that resembled the ones in the hilly classics. I rode past the splintering group to the top 10, and stayed there.

The first time up the big climb, I conserved energy and went from 1oth at the bottom to 3rd at the top, while another strong rider powered up the 2nd half of the climb and won the prestigious KOM.

In the last lap the group was mainly single file from the difficulty of the climbs, and I stayed in the top 10 easily because of that. Going into the finishing climb, I was in 1oth, but was on the wheel of the wrong person, and was boxed in as he fell back to 2oth. I thought my race was over, but got around him and moved up to 3rd pretty easily. At the time the rider who won the KOM a lap ago had broken away, but I bided my time on 3rd wheel while the rider in 2nd pulled towards the leader and the finish line. When we got close to the lone leader halfway through the hill, I attacked. I caught and passed the rider who had broken away, and looked back at the field, which was 5 or so seconds behind. I held it on a short downhill with 200 meters to go, then powered up the final part of the climb to take the victory. Congratulations to everyone in the cat. 4/5 U35 race for their very strong performances.

And that's the end of a great weekend in Atlanta. I got great race experience, some victories, and 12 points over the weekend, which bring by total to 24, enough to cat. up to a 3!

Here are some pictures.

Stage 3


Bridging up to the breakaway with 1 to go



Finish


Podium
stage 4

Stage 5
3 lap solo breakaway

Stage 6

Stage 7
Half way through 2nd lap

The finish