Georgia State Crit Championships, 9-20-2003

by Matt Reeder



The black jerseys had an excellent showing this past Saturday at the Georgia State Criterium Championship race at Johns Creek. Chad Pepper, Richie Hunt, Eric Anderson, and Matt Reeder all raced. They represented the team in Cat 5, Cat 4, Cat 3, and Masters 30+. 

Chad raced first in a crazy combined Juniors/Cat 5 event. A pair of Genesis Pro,1,2 Juniors took off from the gun, and Chad gave chase until someone who couldn't take the suffering let him know that those guys were juniors and weren't competing for the same title. So, the group let the break go and started racing amongst themselves. Chad stayed up front the whole race and did (at least) his share of the work, and spent much of the time he wasn't working stuck out in the wind on the outside of the group. The main field stayed together for the duration of the race, and Chad pulled off a top 10 finish, which was all he needed to move up to Cat 4. Congratulations to Chad. 

Eric and Matt raced next in the Cat 4 event. The race got off to a slow start, which set the tone for the duration. No one wanted to work, so Matt and Eric spent most of the race in the front of the peloton, and took their share of long pulls. One two man attack went on an early prime lap. The field let them sit about 10 seconds off the front for about 5 laps and then the Boneshaker guys organized with Daniel from BigFoot to give chase. When the gap closed to about 4 seconds, Matt sent Eric down the road. Eric made the break look like they were sitting still as he powered across the gap. When the attackers saw him hook up and realized he wasn't going to work, they sat up. A few laps later there was a crash in the front of the field 
that claimed the two riders directly in front of Matt. After that near miss, the field stayed together and intact for the rest of the race. On the last lap, both Matt and Eric made tactical mistakes that cost them several places. Matt marked a lone attacker on the last lap and as the field came through he couldn't slot in until he was about 12 or 13 places deep around the final corner. Eric found himself buried in the middle of the main pack with no good way to move up. Despite these blunders, Matt sprinted his way to 8th, and Eric (literally) shouldered his way through to 15th. 

Richie rode next in the Cat 3 race. The pace was high from the beginning, with the first several laps averaging 30mph. The pace settled down to a more reasonable clip, and Richie started moving around in the pack, taking his turns at the front. On the second prime lap, Richie came to the front to try to go for it, but just before he jumped, someone came through hard 
on the outside, so he sat up and faded into the pack. There was one crash that claimed two or three riders. No one was hurt, and all of those involved got back into the race. Richie came through the crash with no problems and sat in for the rest of the race. He worked his way up in the pack at the end of the race for a top 15 finish. 

Richie didn't get enough in the Cat 3 race, so he decided to stay for the masters 30+ race. Unfortunately for him, some of the pro riders decided to do the same thing. About halfway through the race, the big guns made a jump and got away. Richie just missed the jump... he was positioned on a very strong Kalahari rider's wheel, and he knew the break was coming, but 
unfortunately when everyone went, the rider in front of him sat up to help his teammate (and the rest of the break) get clear of the field. So, Richie was stuck in the main field despite his smart riding. The breakaway finished about 45 seconds ahead of the main field. Richie finished with the pack. 

In all, the Boneshaker team showed very well. All 4 riders finished in the top 15 in their respective races, and 2 finished top 10. Great job!!