Rock Hill Omnium and Murfreesboro, TN
Race: Rock Hill, Rock Hill, SC
Dates: April 1-2, 2006
By Brady Rogers and
Travis Sherman
Myogenesis Nutrition p/b Landmark Dodge
April Fool’s day, the annual springing forward of the clocks (along with losing
a beloved hour of sleep), Pollen galore, an occasional display of electrical
light and thunder from the heavens above, and The Rock Hill Omnium. All of these
things signify spring has arrived in the South. This year would be no different.
Waking up Saturday morning, those of us in Georgia were greeted by one of the
aforementioned spring showers. Why should things be any different than most race
weekends so far this year? It would take a lot more to deter the Myogenesis boys
from loading up and heading out to the northern part of South Carolina for the
annual Rock Hill Bicycle Clubs spring omnium. This race has been a mainstay on
the calendar since 1981, so I would venture to say it would be one of our
“Spring Classics”.
Arriving in Rock Hill we immediately went to the race site, a new criterium
course around old town. The course was very fast, in the shape of an “L” with a
little rise to the finish, and on the opposing side a fast downhill into a very
technical corner. Jon Atkins, Casey Magner, Erich Mattei, and myself would be
representing the boys in blue, and on Blue (competition cycles). Quite the
paired down version of what we have had recently. Also, making the trip would be
Trinidad & Tobago speedster, Emile Abraham, straight from his Commonwealth Games
venture in Australia, and his quiver of AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork arrows. Ryan
Barnett from the CAICO professional cycling team, Craig Lewis from TIAA-Cref,
and Cesar Grajales from Navigators Insurance. Others present would be
Abercrombie and Fitch with a full arsenal, Subaru-Deutshce Bank, with a crew
that could no doubt bring it, Pactimo on their orange Kane Custom Cycles,
Hincapie-Bianchi, with Scottie Weiss in stars and stripes, NERAC-Outdoorlights.
Also making the trip was a squad from Jet Fuel Coffee, from Canada. Looks like a
truly international field.
The start of the crit was very fast, very strung out for probably the first
quarter of the race. Right off the bat, a very dangerous threesome got off the
front. Mark Hechtman (A&F), Jed Schneider (Subaru-Deutsche Bank), and current
national champ Scottie Weiss (Hincapie-Bianchi) gassed it from the go and
developed a comfortable lead that no one seemed to interested in chasing. I mean
it was early. As the race wore on, several primes were thrown out, with Emile
Abraham taking the larger portion of them. I think he was getting ready for some
race in Savannah or something. At least that’s the “phone call” I overheard. The
chase finally started with Jon Atkins from Myogenesis Nutrition right in the
thick of things. After chasing for several laps, Craig Lewis, TIAA-Cref, thought
he would give a shot at bridging across to the break. The group realized the
danger in this move and acted upon it. Craig’s move actually caused the split to
be reduced due to the chase from behind. Chris Moteleone from Hot Tubes gave it
a go once the gap was down to 17 seconds. He made it across, and I think this
gave new life to the break. The time gap slowly increased again, and the group
sat in a readied itself for the field sprint. Coming to the finish line A&F
would take the victory. Big Jon came in with an 8th , in the middle of good
company. Not bad, but not the podium we had become accustomed with.
Sunday would be a bit different. Rock Hill held in store for us a 120 mile jaunt
through the South Carolina countryside. Pulling up to the line, the announcer
let us know that we would be starting with 104 today. We had plans to not ride
aggressively, but vigilant, since we had a mere 4 guys. It seemed as though we
might have been out gunned, but we weren’t letting that bother us. The gun went
off (literally), the guys on the front row mashed their feet into the
floorboards and it was on. Attack after attack, with NERAC and A&F exchanging
blows early. Looked as though no one was letting anything get away. After the
first lap, still groupo compacto. At the start of the second lap, Myogenesis
decided to try and make something happen. Big Jon took off like a rocket, with
Thad Dulin (NERAC), one of his teammates, and a Hincapie guy in tow. This looked
to be good for us. NERAC had a full squad. Unfortunately that valiant effort
ended at the start of the third lap. The teams with sprinters were not
interested in seeing this one stay away. The third lap saw a brief flurry of
activity at the beginning but then settled down again. With 15 or so miles to
go, a group got away. The Subaru guys (Tim Henry), I believe were the
initiators. Joining them in the break would be Emile, Cesar and Craig. VERY
DANGEROUS, and it did indeed prove to be. The packed chased but to no avail.
Coming into the 1K sign I moved to the front with Casey in tow to set up for the
sprint. Jet Fuel decided at that point to wick it up, I did my hard pull, pulled
off, settled back in and pulled across the line 15th, Casey was not far behind.
Erich and Big Jon in the group as well. Craig Lewis taking the “W” with Emile
second and Tim Henry rounding the podium out. Overall it was a good weekend. Our
intentions in going to Rock Hill were to get some good, hard, long road miles
in, and that we did. Look for the full squad at the Gainesville Georgia Cup (www.georgiacup.com)
next week, ready to light it up.
-Brady Rogers
Myogenesis Nutrition p/b Landmark Dodge
The following report is filed by Travis Sherman (Myogenesis Nutrition p/b
Landmark Dodge)
April Fool’s Weekend saw the boys of Team Myogenesis (www.teammyogenesis.com)
split up and race on multiple fronts. Since there was no local road race in
Georgia, the boys decided to race close to the house. A few guys did Rock Hill
(Rock Hill, SC), a few guys did a mountain bike race in Macon, GA and two guys
ventured to Mufreesboro, TN for the Lascassas Road Race.
Travis Sherman rolled away with victory in the Master’s 30/40 plus road race in
Tennessee. Shortly after the first lap of a 3 lap road race was completed, a
group of 6 or 7 guys separated themselves from the bunch. About 60 seconds into
the break-a-way, Travis gathered that the group didn’t seem to be organized or
want to put their heads down and extend the lead. Travis attacked the break.
Only one other person went with Travis and the duo quickly built a 45 second
gap. Attempts were made by the Memorial Health/Team One (perennial power houses
in the Master’s category) riders Tony Scott and Steve Carrell. They had let the
two get a little too far down the road and were unsuccessful in their attempts
to bridge.
In the last kilometer, Travis and Andy (Outdoor Chattanooga/SCV) shook hands,
congratulated each other and half wheeled each other up the finishing hill. The
last 100 meters or so, Travis pulled away for the victory. About 2.5 minutes
later, the chase group came in for their finish with Tony Scott taking the
sprint.
Travis Sherman
Myogenesis Nutrition p/b Landmark Dodge