Yancey, Reed, and Kramer head west to O'Fallon, IL (located just east of St.Louis) for the O'Fallon Grand Prix - a 68 mile road race along the rolling hills of the Mississippi valley. Before I get into the details of the race, I want to give props to the folks in O'Fallon for putting on a such a great race - extremely well organized, attentive course volunteers at every corner, excellent course (23 mile loop, which we did 3 times, that had 1000 feet of climbing per lap, 22 turns, and a 50mph decent, per lap.), and even a goodie bag for each racer. We'll definitely be going back next year, and highly recommend this race.
First lap was fast and furious with a number of small attacks, but no one having any luck in getting away: Yancey was off the front with a few other riders for a short period of time, and Reed put in a handful of attacks in hope of establishing a break. Things calmed down a bit during our second lap, with the pack maintaining a pretty consistent pace for the next 23 miles. Just as we started our third and final lap, Reed launched a solo attack, and immediately got a small gap (2o seconds) which he maintained for the next 3 miles or so. 4 riders then bridged up to him, and and solidified a five rider break. Over the next 18 miles, the break would eventually dwindle down to just two (Reed and a rider from Burnham Racing out of Chicago), with the remaining riders being absorbed by the pack, which had been dwindled down to just 17 riders (40 started the race). Reed hung on for a very impressive 2nd place finish (You the man Russ!!!), and Yancey rolled in within the pack, which finished about 1 minute down from the two man break. Kramer fell victim to the heat and intensity during the the last lap, but stuck it out to finish the race. A real race of attrition, with 1/4 of the starters DNF'ing. Great racing, and a great result for Reed!
