Alright, so this pass weekend marked the end of back to back to back roubaix race weekends, so basically I've raced 100+ miles on dirt for the past month. Sure it's been great fun, but I'll be happy to return to some shorter races that don't leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The BH bears the scars of battle

The first of these was Rouge-Roubaix, probably the toughest terrain wise of them all and certainly the closest thing I've seen to a renegade bike race (in past years the payout was one deep, this year my friend got 5th and got a measly $50). The race was a big success on a team and personal level, and I got thrill out of participating in a few new aspects of bike racing that you don't see when you go solo: I got to wear a radio (though I couldn't understand 85% of what Nate said), help set tempo at the front of a field, take a musette bag and sacrifice my chances at the race by giving a teammate a wheel. Of course the last thing was thing big problem about the race, the fact anybody could've gotten a flat but Christian and we would have still won the race, but naturally it never works like that. So basically I got to drive 10-hours home all flustered with team spirit while being endowed with a new respect for how a mechanical can destroy a race.
The next weekend was Perry-Roubaix, which is probably the most baffling of all the Georgia Cup race with respect to why anyone would show up at it. For some reason the promoter can host three completely independent events over the weekend whose payout doesn't depend on your overall performance and call it an omnuim. Anyways I had a lackluster TT for a number of reasons, but the circuit race later that afternoon went very well. Yes, I was worked over by the TOSHIBA team multiple times in the course of lapping the field, but I still think it was pretty stellar to be trading pulls with Frank Travieso and to finish top ten in a race that was stacked by a pro team. As if the circuit race alone wasnt grueling enough for one weekend, the following road race was pure hell (at least for me). Between some wicked crosswinds and a small, yet big enough hill I was satisfied just to hang on for the full distance. I also took the honor of calling a pee-break on the last lap (14 guys were up the road, thus the field became a sunday ride). This race was probably the least Roubaix of them all, as the moist red Georgia sand did little more than make everyone look Ginger for the day.
The last race of the Roubaix "series" was held a mere 1.5 hours from my house in Webster, FL, and was probably my biggest result of the year so far. While the course was a piece of cake elevation wise, especially compared to Rouge, the dirt was bumpy and dusty and favored the riders off the front. After sitting in for the first 40 miles (my tactical masterpiece of the day) I moved my lethargic rear end to the front of the group and lead through the dirt a couple of time (12 nine mile laps), and soon afterwards I got into a break with the strongest guys in the race, namely the brothers Chaves and Bobby Sweeting of TOSHIBA-Santo. It's safe to say I probably did less then my fair share of work, but after being destroyed in the final K's it didn't really matter (I was in the break for 60 miles, which I believe is the longest allowed distance in a juniors road race). It was fifth for me, which is a big improvement of crashing in the cat 4's last year. I returned to my car looking not unlike the cow patties that infested the field where I was parked content and ready to not have to race any dirt for another year (baring entrance to the real Paris-Roubaix).

I wonder why my bike has been creaking ever since Webster?