Tilson, the New Legend

by Jason Bentley

April 9, 2006 -- Excellent job by everyone at Coldspring! The highlight (in my humble opinion) was Jimmy's awesome 4th place finish in the P12 field! His first Cat 2 race and he gets in the winning break! Phenomenal!!  Next is Bill Goldapp's 8th place finish in the Cat 4 race. Keep those top-10's coming, Bill!

Tom, Kirk, Jeremey, and myself rode really well in the Cat 3 race. About halfway through the race, I was feeling great so I did my best to take solid pulls at the front and launched a few attacks to get the field fired up, and to bring back a break that had been out front most of the race. It worked pretty well, although I think some other teams should have stepped up and helped a bit more. But that's ok... Tilson was up front displaying our strength, and that alone will bring us the respect we deserve! In the end though, the multiple crashes took their toll. Jeremey continued his exciting weekend by getting sandwiched between two lesser-experienced junior riders and subsequently slamming to the ground taking him out of the race with about 8 miles to go. He's got some nice road rash and I'm sure a few attractive bruises, but he and his bike survived to fight another day! Kirk went off-roading to avoid a brutal crash 500 meters from the finish. It cost him his final sprint, but he was able to roll across the line. Tom was in a great position coming into the finish, and I was just off his wheel behind him. As soon as I stood up to crush the final hill sprint (with the hopes of leading Tom to the finish), the cramping began and I was only able to maintain to get 15th place. Tom also cramped up with 200 meters to go and finished in 13th. We were both a little disappointed with our finishes, but we can remain positive about the race because for 60+ miles, we rode really well as a TEAM, and every one of us was ready and willing to do what we had to do.

Here's a little proof that we are getting "Team Tilson" a little recognition and respect! From a TXBRA forum.

And check out this one... the writer refers to a few individuals, then refers to "the Tilson guys" as ONE ENTITY! That, my friends, is what it's all about!!

Next up... Fort Davis HAMMERFEST! See you on the road...