Indiana State Road Race

We kicked the month of June off with the Indiana State Road Race, which for the second consecutive year was held in Fishers. The course for the day consisted of 9 laps on a 7 mile circuit through rural eastern Hamilton County - a flat course, with one very short, but rather steep hill. We had nearly the whole team in attendance (Slattery was away in Ireland), and were confident of our chances of some high placings amongst the 77 riders that lined up at the start. On the first lap, Reed successfully ignited a break of 4-5 riders, who quickly got a 1-2 minute gap on the field. With a teammate up the road, the rest of us positioned ourselves at the front of the pack, to ensure that we could easily respond to any attacks. The break eventually got caught about halfway through the race (kudos to the Gray Goat team, who missed the break, and put a number of thier riders on the front of the pack to do a majority of the work in bringing the break back) and all indications were that things would end in drag-race sprint to the finish (long straightaway leading to the finish line). With about 2.5 miles till the finish, we were well positioned for the upcoming sprint, with Reed and Jolivette both sitting in the top 10, and Yancey, Romain, and Kramer not far behind. But, our good fortunes quickly reversed - Jolivette and Yancey were both struck with debilitating cramps going up the small climb before the finishing straight, knocking them both to the back of the back. Then, Reed flatted less than a mile from the finish. Kramer ended up as our top finisher, coming across in 26th place. Disappointing to see is all ride a strong race for 60+ miles, and have so much bad luck in the last three miles. But, that's bike racing.