Prologue: At 7:00pm on Saturday night, I spoke with Justin Thompson about his plans for Sunday's ride. He informed me of a race in Christina, Pa. He said he had done it the year before and had a lot of fun. Hearing that I went to the phones trying to round up a few teammates to race with me. Given the time, everyone had plenty of time to prepare their bikes,
and be sure there were no mechanical errors..

The Details: The course was a 1.25 mile loop with 8 turns and a climb at the start of each lap. The start finish line was on top of the climb which made each lap extra fun. What was really cool about the course was that it rolled around this small town. The small town stopped everything for one day and focused on the race. It was really cool. The course was lined with spectators, and people having picnics and barbecues enjoying the racing atmosphere. Given that the majority of my races are in the dirt, I really enjoyed the entire fanfare. I think it helped make the race as fun as it was.

The Race: John Caltuna, Mike Brevoort and I all started the Cat 5 race together. In typical fashion, we almost missed the staging of our race preriding the course. In fact, Mike and I had just gotten settled at the start when the official blew the whistle. We had a 10 lap race. In the early going a break of about 13 riders broke from the field of 60. John and I were fortunate enough to make the jump. Mike, however, noticed right before the race that he had a broken spoke. Two laps into the race Mike flatted on the rear and abandoned. John, having slipped from the front was working hard in a chase group trying to get up to the break away. With 2 laps remaining, the break away had shrunken to 8 riders. I was still fortunate enough to be in this group. As we started the 8th climb, I attacked on the climb making my move towards the front. As we peaked the climb, I had moved up to 3rd and suddenly had a sinking feeling. I had flatted. I was forced
out of the race. John continued to battle, and had broken free from his chase group. John battled strongly and without the benefit of anyone to work with finishing up in 16th place. Jeanie raced in the women's cat 4 class. The Tri State women's team who had 4 riders in this class dominated this group. They went out setting a furious pace. Jeanie had not yet warmed up and was dropped by the lead group on the 2nd of 10 laps. Jeanie hung in tough and kept battling, and as the race went on was beginning to make time back up on the lead group. Jeanie finished up in 8th place.

Wrap up: This race was very well organized and we had a great time.