His Heart Beating out his Chest

by Kirk English

March 19, 2006 -- Congratulations to all the Tilson riders for a great weekend at Fayetteville! Oscar, Bill and Jason raced in Cat 4.  Oscar raced well but had to pull out on Sunday with "his heart beating out his chest" (Jason quoting Oscar).  Bill raced hard despite a flat on Saturday.  Jason finished 8th in the road race on Sunday, sprinting hard to edge Bill into 9th! Jason also won the time trial --sort of.  It seems there was mix-up at the start line; the officials informed him of a delay to the time trial start and encouraged him to continue warming up. Five minutes later he returned to see the delay continuing. Five more minutes of warm-up and he returned to see the rider after him taking off! So, despite having a ~50 sec "penalty," he placed 11th on the day. Without the time snafu, he would've won by 5 sec. He finished 8th in the general.

The 3's were Tom, Jimmy, Jeremey and I.  We'll get me out of the way first. I had been battling chest congestion that had limited me to one day of training last week. When the road race started, my legs felt great.  However, after the first climb, I found out my lungs didn't. I was breathing like an asthmatic and could not get enough air.  I continued but when I flatted, I knew I wouldn't be able to chase back on, nor was I strong enough to help out the team the next day. I left Saturday night.  My apologies to Tom, Jimmy, and Jeremey.  They raced great and I'm really sorry I couldn't be a part of it. Saturday, the guys worked their butts off chasing an early break, which I was supposed to be covering. Tom finished 4th and Jimmy 6th. In the time trial, it was similar --Jimmy was 7th and Tom 9th.  Sunday, Jeremey and Tom worked hard to deliver Jimmy in 4th for the road race. This resulted in a final general classification of Jimmy 3rd, Tom 12th, and Jeremey 28th. Jeremey, sorry I wasn't there to help out any!

Everyone is looking good and strong. Come Coldsprings and Fort Davis, our team will be one to be reckoned with!  While I'm at it, we're looking forward to welcoming several new Cat 3s in the coming races: Jason (upgrading), Mark Griffin (getting healthy), and Slade Lewis (coming out of his winter hibernation). Come help us dominate, guys!