There's not a thing flat about the Jefferson Cup road race in Charlottesville Virginny. A ten mile triangular loop. They stage you at a school parking lot about 2 miles from the actual start/finish line. At any one time there will be 3 groups on the course racing, staggered 5-7 minutes apart. Each group gets a rolling police enclosure complete with motorcycle escorts and support vehicles. Makes you feel special. At least until you go OTB! Hah. Groups do between 3 (C5M, C4W) and 7 (PRO123M) loops. The start is a 3 mile climb (with one rolling hill), up to the highest elevation on the route. After the last right hand turn in the course you have a steady 3/4 mile 2% grade up to the finish line that was into the wind this year. There are 2 screamin' downhills where the bold, strong, or gonzo can hit speeds topping 50MPH. Really a fun, challenging, and technical road course, even for a newbie FOF (Fat Ol' Flatlander) like myself. Field size in each class is limited to 50 or 100. Our team TriPower was well represented with 15+ members spread across the fields.

I'll give a report on a few of the classes. If I screw up any of the details, it's not intentional. Let me know and I'll change 'em. It was just almost as much fun to watch as to race (aww heck, that's a fib - watching was fun, but racing was WAY better!). After I finished my race I rode around the route backward takin' pics and yelling at people.

Pro123W - 40 Miles (clicky clicky makes pics biggy biggy)

The field of 40 included Trek/VW Pro, and MTBer extraordinaire Sue Haywood.

On the first big uphill at 3 miles a break of 3 got away. It was initiated by Dee Dee Winfield and Andrea Dvorak of Charlottesville Racing Club. Tammy Sadle of HPC-List matched their AXE-celeration (use your best Paul Sherwin voice here) to stay with the locals. The 3 worked together well and opened a gap of over 1 minute by the end of the first lap.

---

The break caught Sue Haywood in a bad position and unable to immediately respond. When Sue started to chase in earnest, her pace chopped the remaining field in two, then she went off the front in attempting a solo bridge to catch the 3 women break.

---

BJ Samuel worked hard with a few others to bridge the main group back together as the three leaders continued their strong effort off the front.

---

Sue Haywood continued her solo effort to bridge..........keeping her gap to the leaders under 2 minutes. She was truly in no-man's land. No one to draft or pull.

---

The break had established nearly a 4 minute gap on the main field by the time they went up the winery hill on the 3rd lap. These three ladies were working hard and working well together.

---

As the last lap neared, the lead break poured it on, and Sue Haywood settled into a sure 4th place.................................

---

as the field consolidated for a final group sprint.

---

The finish saw the Charlottesville Racing Club duo of Andrea Dvorak and Dee Dee Winfield go 1,2.

---

With Tammy Sadle of HPC-LIST in 3rd,

---

Sue Haywood in 4th. I had the chance to chat with Sue after the race in the parking lot/staging area. Yep, she loves2ride. She should be arriving in Curacao about now for a UCI World Cup MTB race. Best of luck to ya'!

---

A field sprint for the rest. Props to BJ Samuel for her first successful road race as a Cat 3. 3rd place Cat3 woman and 14th overall. Well done.

---

Wish I could go out and get a good

RideOn.................................................. but I must follow Dr's orders.

JB

Hey - Thanks for all the get well emails and messages. They are appreciated. Doc says the surgery went well. He was able to remove "something" from the back of my throat. I feel better already. I'll feel a WHOLE lot better once I can get back on my bike. For now I'll just have to settle for writing about riding and looking at pictures. If I mis-reported anything, email me and I'll correct it. - the blog name(at)mindspring.com