By Jesse Moran
Our trip down to Copperas Cove got off to a little bit of a rocky start, five of us (Jesse, Corey, Adam, Collin and Audrey) headed down Friday night after work so that we could get a good nights rest. I may have made a slight misjudgment in the quality of hotels in Killeen, TX, in an effort to save the team some money I booked us a room at the Killeen Super 8 Motel, how bad could it be… right? Just check out some of the reviews! Not only were the accommodations not exactly five star, our double room got switched to a single queen! I wish I could describe the smell of the place, the best way I can put it, it smelled like there was someone smoking stale cigarettes outside our room and blowing it into our AC vent! So we pulled ourselves up by our boot straps and swallowed our pride… and our last gulp of fresh air, and started to figure out the sleeping arrangements.
Collin brought his girlfriend, so he was an automatic shoe in for the bed, we couldn’t make her sleep on the floor, touché for Collin! Adam and Corey had brought air mattresses knowing that they were likely to be on the floor even if we were staying at the Four Seasons. So that left me! I surveyed the room, 4 bikes, 5 people, bags strewn about, generic hotel furnishings stacked on top of each other, ooh, is that a 2 foot wide section of bare floor between the bed and the wall? So that is where I laid my head, along with the extra bed sheet the hotel clerk so kindly gave me as a concession that we were short a bed. A short pre-race meeting discussing the course and possible tactics for increasing our chances for a good result, and we were off to bed.
7:00 am, time to wake up. Sometime in the middle of the night, Corey, in fear of hypothermia hops into the bed with Collin and Audrey. I somehow actually got some sleep, it feels like someone hit my hip with a sledgehammer due to the hard floor, but I actually feel pretty good. Everyone seems to be in good spirits, and with the early rising we have plenty of time to grab breakfast and head to the race start.
We arrive at the start, grab our race numbers, and get suited up. The conditions seem good, a little chilly, overcast and not windy. After a short warm up to loosen the legs we line up, the officials give us the pre-race talk, yellow line rules and the usual. There will be a short neutral roll out then 85 miles in the rolling hills of the hill country. The course is laid out like a lolli pop, two 35 mile loops attached by a 9 mile out and back section….which somehow adds up to 85.
The race starts out as usual, lots of looking around after the field is de-neutralized, then some small attacks go off to get things started. As planned I go with the first couple of attacks of which the second organizes and starts to develop a sizeable gap. The group includes Me, Nick Kiernan (Metro VW), James Lawrence (RBM), and a San Jose rider ruarri sturratt. We push the pace and continue to maintain some distance from the field, just after the left turn to start the first 25 mile loop 3 more riders join us Ryan McFeely (ALS-C3), Robbie Robinette (San Jose), and an Austin Bikes rider, lucky for me as the longer rest periods suit me better. We end up losing the first San Jose rider due to a flat, which is good because it levels the playing field in the break.
The six of us continue to push the pace and get the gap over the peloton up to 6 minutes, I think every one of us felt the fatigue fade out of our legs as we pictured the finish line. Audrey was prepared to hand up bottles at the feed zone, she said she could see me from 200 yards away, just smiling! This was the winning move, so we thought! Our next time check just as we started our second lap was, “One minute to the chase group, Four minutes to the peloton!” What!! My mouth must have been dragging the ground, how could that be?
Unknown to me Collin, Corey and Adam were struggling in the field to cover the flurry of attacks from guys trying to bridge the gap up to us. Just before the start of the second lap we lost Adam after he made an attempt to sling shot Corey and Collin up to a chase group. They gave it an all out effort to get into that chase group, which would mean a free ride up to me in the break, meaning fresh legs for the finish. Despite the effort, the small chase group including some big names, was just going too hard to catch. This group included, Patrick McCarty (RBM), Josh Carter (San Jose), Scott Simmons (Think Cash) and others.
The chase group was able to close the large gap up to us just before the end of the second lap. As I looked back to see who was in it I desperately wanted to see a PACC jersey, unfortunately I was all alone, and the legs were starting to feel heavy! We take our final right turn before a hilly section and the final stretch back into town. The group of 6 was now 10, riding straight into a strong headwind that seemed to have picked up just as we had been caught. The group being bigger was harder to keep under control, especially with the finish just around the corner. Attacks start flying on the hills and it doesn’t take long for me to start feeling the effects. I end up getting dropped about ¾ of the way up one of the larger climbs before the left turn into town, about 8 miles from the finish!
I turn back to see what’s left of the peloton, chasing me down. I put in my best effort to keep them from swallowing me, but my best effort is no match to the 20 riders or so left. I was relieved to see Corey in this group, we had lost Collin due to losing a bottle and dropping a feed, then succumbing to the dehydration. We need to get that guy some Velcro bottles or something! Corey seems to be in good shape, I let him know how many riders are up the road and bid him farewell, as my legs are too shot to hang with his group in the hills.
In the end Corey gets 4th in the group sprint which earns him an 11th place overall. In the end this was an emotional race for me, I am definitely satisfied with an 11th place for the team in our first race, but it is hard to stomach that I was so close to a top 5 to end up 23rd. All in all I think that this race is a positive indicator of things to come for the team this year. Corey not traditionally being a sprinter getting 4th in a fast group sprint, me not being a breakaway specialist staying away for almost 80 miles, and if we can keep Collin hydrated he should be as strong as ever! I think its shaping up to be a great season for PACC Elite, and I think we are all super excited to see how Tour of New Braunfels and all the other races around the corner are going to go!
