Georgia State Championship Road Race and Time Trial
by Greg App
Road Race:
Trek/VW/Freeflite was represented at the state championship road race by Greg App, Creed Sewell, Mark Kebbekus, Curtis Baker, and Jason Smith. A
brief discussion among the attending team members led to Creed being the
"go to man" for the day. Greg, looking for a big result in Sunday's state championship
time trial, and Jason, coming off of a slight hip flexor injury (successfully attended to by chiropractor, Active Release practitioner, and team
sponsor Dr.
Stephen Lascala), would be the early-race "work dogs." Creed would be kept as fresh as possible, until he could put his finishing speed to
use.
The race pretty much played out in "text book" fashion. Just looking to get the race moving, Greg went out on the attack in the first mile. When he looked back and saw a couple hundred meters between him and
the pack, he buried it until the gap was about a minute and a half, then he rode tempo,
waiting for the inevitable chase group to come up. About halfway through
the first lap he was joined by Steve Carhart (Roswell Velo), a Reality Bikes rider, a
West Virginia rider, and two Team Bling Bling riders. Everybody pulled their weight except for the Team
Bling Bling contingent, who between the two of them
pulled the weight of somewhere between one-half and one rider. Anyway, that's bike racing, so they were along for the ride.
Eventually, going into the third of six laps, the front group was joined by a chase group with one or two more
Bling Bling's, Josh Seldman (Krystal), Todd Nordemeyer Backyard Burgers), and our guys Jason and Creed. At this
point Jason and Greg committed to doing whatever it took to keep Creed fresh for the
splits that were bound to ensue. With the pack at only a minute and some change back at that point, the new lead group worked together fairly
well to extend our lead to something that would stick. Everyone in the group was
playing a different hand of cards. Jason and Greg were driving for Creed, Seldman
and Carhart both doing a fair amount of work for solo representation in the move, Nordemeyer never seemed to miss a pull, and Team
Bling Bling's three riders were pulling with the not-so-clydesdale like force of one.
This scenario played out until the fifth lap when Seldman and Nordemeyer started conspiring to split the group up some. An attack by the both of
them, a regrouping, and an immediate counter by Josh saw him ride off alone. Halfway through the sixth and last lap, the moto came back to tell
us that Josh had a fifty second gap. As if on cue, Nordmeyer dropped the hammer.
Creed immediately responded, as did two, if not three of the Bling Bling
baggage (there's something to be said for sitting on). Greg was unable to respond,
and Jason flatted, leaving Creed to fend for himself. Consistent attacks and counters
within that group saw Nordemeyer riding in solo (winning the race, but not the champion's jersey, as he's a Tennessee resident), and Creed
going to the line in a drag race with Seldman and a BlingBling rider. Josh Seldman
took the sprint and the championship, and Creed took the bronze medal on the day. Congratulations to them both!
Time Trial:
Thanks to Genesis Cycling for choosing a great course for the time trial. The course was well-paved, and constantly undulating, with minimal
traffic. Trek/VW/Freeflite's representatives for the race of truth were Greg
App, Creed Sewell, Michael Wolf, and Curtis Baker. Michael Wolf, fresh off
of a successful high school graduation on Saturday, was the first of our team to go,
racing in the junior(17-18) category. He produced the not-often-seen graduation/state time trial
championship double. Congratlations Mike!
After the organizers re-tooled for the 21+ mile senior distance, all categories
were sent off before the I/II/III's. Racing in these categories were Trek/VW/Freeflite sponsor Kito DeSantot(Moon Brothers, Inc.), team
director Mike Barman, and
club members Dub Smith and Scott Cochran, who along with their children who
raced in the junior division, represented the red, white and blue team kit well.
The Trek/VW/Freeflite elite's finished the day in style. Curtis did fifth fastest time in the I/II/III's. Creed followed up his bronze in the
road race with another bronze in the time trial. Greg had the pleasure of
pulling the Georgia State Time Trial Champion's jersey over his head at the end
of the day, after completing the course at almost 27 mph! As a note,
Greg's time was third fastest on the day, behind uber-time trialists David
Grice (Cane Creek, NC), and Todd Nordemeyer (Backyard Burgers, TN), who showed that his
road race performance was no fluke.