French Broad Cycling Classic & Team Performance

This weekend found the family traveling to Asheville, NC for the French Broad Cycling Classic. The classic is a 3 event omnium. Included in the omnium is a time trial, road race and criterium. Friday night we left town around 1pm to only find gridlock on I85 to Greenville. We decided at that point to get off the interstate and take a scenic drive through the north GA mountain skipping SC altogether. We arrived with about 40 minutes for Kate to warm up and get to the line for her individual time trial. Sadly Kate had a malfunctioning bike computer. The sensor was rubbing on the magnet which is attached to a spoke on her wheel. So she needed to stop and readjust the sensor. The process of slowing down, stopping and starting back up cost quite a bit of time. In the end she was pleased with her performance even if the overall results didn't show it.

Saturday morning was the very difficult road race. The road race was a rolling course with 3 distinct climbs. The last 2 being the hardest! Kate was riding a strong race and was staying towards the front. With so many smaller climbs the field was shattered leaving about 20 women to tackle the the last 2 climbs together. I was following the race in the car and started to move up past all of the slower competitors. Kate had about 9 or 10 teammates in the race. So as I made my way up I started to pass some of her teammates. As I got closer to the top and thinking that the next rider would be Kate, I was so surprised to see Kate still at the front with 2 other teammates and samll group of 5 women! At this point I drove on to the finish to wait for her at the top of the last climb of the day. Another reason I drove ahead was because earlier in the race there had been a crash which had involved 6-8 women. One of which had ended up with a broken frame! So I picked her up and introduced her to Joslyn and Odessa who were also in the car with me. I took her to the finish where her boyfriend was waiting. And where I would be waiting for Kate. 3 women had broken away and in the end the eventual winner came from that group. As I sat at the top the anxiously waiting for Kate. I then saw the women kate had been riding with cross the line! But no Kate! Then a few more women crossed the line, still no Kate! Finally I could see Kate making her way across the line. She looked tired and in quite a lot of pain. As it turns out the day was very hot and humid and Kate was a victim to the heat. Both legs had seized up with cramps on the run into the final climb. Kate ended up 20th on the day but knew a top 10 was hers for the taking.

Saturday night we had dinner with the team. Took some team photos! Which I was/am the un-official, official photographer of team Performance Bicycle Racing!

Sunday was the 3rd and final leg of the French Broad Classic. The Criterium was a 1mi circuit with a little climb that I'm sure hurt the legs after yesterdays race! Kate again rode a strong race. Her teammates were awesome taking home the win as well as a couple of primes (preems = cash prizes). In the end Kate finished a respectable 14th. After the race we quickly got our things packed up and headed to the Greenville Airport. Kate was flying out at 6pm to Milwaukee, WI. She has work to do and then 6 days of racing at the International Cycling Classic, also known as Superweek! So if your in the Milwaukee area over the next week come out and watch some racing!

Here are a few shots from the weekend, enjoy!