University of Florida race weekend

Saturday
Today was an 8 mile time trial...about 4 miles out and back with a few small rolling hills. There was a tailwind on the way out, and a headwind on the way back.

Since this race is organized by UF students, there are always delays. The first wave of riders started an 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours behind schedule. I'm not going to complain because I'm happy that they are taking the initiative to keep this race going. I know it's a thankless job, and we all appreciate the opportunity to have another race on the schedule.

The results are posted, but they are still incomplete. Curtis had a great race and was the top finisher for our team in 9th place. I snuck in ahead of Jeff for the next spot, and the "Koppster" continued to show his TT prowess one place back. So, we ended up in 9th, 10th, and 11th. Two top 10's...not bad.


The Koppster giving lessons on proper TT warmup and form...




Sunday
This was the downtown Gainesville criterium course that has a bumpy brick section all the way from corner 1, through corner 2, and about 25-50 yards on the back stretch. As an added bonus, right before the 3rd corner there was some construction in the road which had been filled in with limestone...nice.

The way the course was setup, it made it somewhat difficult to get away. There were many attempts before a group of 4 leapt off the front and included one of our newest team members, and Gainesville resident...Ryan Saylor. This was a good move and we were happy with Ryan representing Lindner Capital for a possible win. Unfortunately, a group of 3 bridged up to Ryan...and the rest of us missed it. Having only one person in the break of 7 wasn't great odds. The breakaway had a lot of horsepower and gained a gap very quickly. We covered the rest of the attempts to latch onto the break...but none of those came close.

Ryan rode a great race and was 5th, an excellent effort for one of our "non sprinters". It was great to see Ryan place in his hometown race, and we were all happy for him.

Our first tier goal is to put someone in the top 5, and we accomplished that level. The whole team rode great and worked together as a cohesive unit. Only good things can come from working together...and they will.