Fayettville Stage Race: Day Two

The 150km 3rd stage was on pretty much the same roads as the first stage, with Buck and I sitting in 9th and 12th on GC. We had some catching up to do, and we thought a 150km road race would be a perfect opportunity. Buck has done this race a few times and said every year the field is in pieces by the end, but it wasn't that way this year.

The first 100 km were brutally slow with a few attacks going, but each was chased down and the pace slowed again. Our plan was to follow wheels until the last lap of 5. We wanted to stick to our plan, since we only have 2 guys in the race, thinking that everyone would be toast towards the end and we could get away. Instead we started the attacking on the fourth lap, but it seemed to be too late. Everyone was still fresh, including the Mercy team boys who just chased everything down. Again Buck and I were taking turns attacking until the final few kilometres. My last attack was at 4km to go up a little hill, but I was brought back on the downhill with about 2km to go. So, after 150km of racing it was going to be a field sprint. Buck took second place and a valuable time bonus which put him into 3rd on GC.

At the end it turned out to be a pretty good weekend for us with a stage win and 3rd on GC. It's just too bad the final stage couldn’t have been a little more interesting, but oh well. The next race down here will be in 2 weeks with our form only getting better, so it should be fun.