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