Beaufort Recap- Onward and Upward

Hello again!  Paceline Projects p/b Veloforma is slowly inching our way up in the Speedweek competition.   Hopefully this steady progress continues!  Yesterday evening I lined up for the 3rd race in the series in Beaufort, SC.  With a particularly tight and technical corner on turn #1 which spits the riders that make it through upright out on a narrow road, I knew that I would have to do a better job of positioning myself in the race if I wanted to stay safe and have a decent result.  After a nice spin on St. Helena Island in the morning and a stellar pre-race turkey sandwich (and yes, Rocky and Joan roasted this turkey themselves so it was delicious and noteworthy), the legs were feeling good and I was ready to race.  My new Beaufort fans were very vocal during the race, and Rocky's reminders to move up were encouraging and did the trick.  I stayed out of trouble and spent more time towards the front than I have been the past couple days, so success in that regard.  With Mellow Mushroom and Tibco forming a strong break of two up the road, multiple all racer primes, and few field primes, the pack was fairly complacent and those of us in the field prepared for the field sprint.  We went through a sweeping bend heading to the finish line and things became a little dicey when some were not very careful to hold their lines.  It happens.  With no where to go but into the barriers or another rider who was also trying to avoid the sporadic sprinting, I had to ride in at the same position I headed into the finish with.   About 10th or so.  Finished 12th for the day.

Veloforma enjoys Beaufort view at dusk.  Special thanks to Alex Raicer for providing me with some super fancy wheels to race on this week. 

Enjoyed a wonderful post-race meal (a local shrimp, chorizo sausage, green apple, alfredo sauce, mozzarella and basil pizza) with Rocky, Joan, their neighbors, and Sara Clafferty, another racer who volunteered to be my travel buddy for the remainder of the week.  In case you are curious if this seemingly bizarre pizza combination was good, it's a ordering risk worth taking if you have the opportunity.  Very tasty.

This morning called for an early departure, as I volunteered to visit a local elementary school in Walterboro, SC the location of today's race.  Of course, I woke up to this funny card from the Keith's wishing me a Happy Birthday before we continued onward to Walterboro.

Joan & Kat 

Sara and I were escorted to Forest Hill Elementary School by Melissa who heads up the Let's Go! Program which aims to get more kids and their families moving and eating healthy.  We arrived to a packed auditorium with very enthusiastic kids to discuss bike safety, making healthy snack choices, and the races tonight.

We had some volunteers come up to the stage to see if they could pick the bikes up, and of course even the littlest ones, hoisted my Veloforma right over their heads with ease.  They had many questions ranging from "I like to ride fast, but my dad tells me to slow down or I'll break my bike, but I really want to ride fast, what do I do?" to "What do you do when you can't keep up with your friends?"  Of course there were the usual inquiries too: Why are your tires so thin?  Why do you wear that?  Why do your pedals look like that?  Are you famous and have you been on TV?  I had a great time and sounds like we will have some young fans out there tonight to wish us luck.  I'm planning on doing a bit of spectating this evening as well.  Kids' race in a few hours!  Excited for tonight and was notified by my friends and forever teammates, Debony and Bruce, from back home in NH that I'm sitting in 10th overall.   Looking forward to continuing that upward climb this evening!

Stay tuned...