Joe Martin, Stage 3-4

Stage 3 was a 69-mile "circuit race" in which we only did two laps of the circuit.  Each lap there was a 2-mile climb with a very steep last 300m.  The rest of the course was rolling.  It was raining for the first hour and a half of the three hour race which made for some super sketchy descending.  Shannon had the misfortune of flatting just before the climb on the first lap.  Poor girl, definitely not a weekend for Metro girls.  We ended up doing the first lap so freaking fast.  Every time I looked down we were over 30mph.  The race felt fine and I just hung out and waited for the finish with my teammate playing catch up.  It must have been a pretty fast race because we finished in 3 hours flat. I felt good for the finish and moved up in the last 2-3k when we got on the highway and there was actually room to move up.  I probably should have gone to the left side of the road where there was more room but beggars can't be choosers.  I did my best in the sprint dodging those pulling off their leadout train and ended up 13th.  Not too shabby for me.  Shannon was able to make time cut after TTing pretty much by herself for 60 miles so we'd see the next day together.

Stage 4 was an hour long crit.  The course is arguably the hardest course of Joe Martin.  There was a steep climb every lap and lots of downhill turns and cobbles.  We had the misfortune once again to have it rain for the first part of the crit making for very slick, fast, downhill turns.  Shannon and I got to the line first, only to have Tibco come from up the road and line up in front of everyone.  Everyone was pissed.  We had a false start so after a 1-lap fake race, we had to start again, but this time Shannon and I were in the very back.  Definitely not a good course for that.  Eventually we ended up in a chase group.  Right before the climb about 23 minutes in I dropped by chain and ended up having to get off my bike and put it back on.  By the time I was able to go through the line, I was far enough back to get pulled. 

 So I was given a DNF...argh.

Peter and Christian had a much better time at the race though. Peter was able to get top 5 in 3 of 4 stages and win GC.  Christian was able to place equally well and finish second in GC.  I'm sure they'll each have race reports with details :-)  

After a long 8.5 hour drive, Peter and I arrived back in Austin at 3:30am...late night.  Now I just have to buckle down this week for one more final!