US 100K Classic? Hell Yes.

So last Monday (Labor Day), I did this badass race in Atlanta called the US 100K Classic. Every Laby Day there is running race called the US 10k Classic held with a big festival and whatnot, and it's the biggest 10K race in the country. A pro bike race is held in conjunction with the running race and it serves as the last NRC (National Racing Calendar) race of the year. Basically, it's a big boy race and luckily I had some connections that were in charge of the race and got me in.

Anyway, I drove up in the man-van with some other racers buddies on Sunday and then raced at the crack of down on Monday. The race went well. A field of 134 riders started and it took on 2 hours 11 minutes to finish 100K (62 miles). The course was AWESOME. Hilly. Closed roads, police escorts. It was as if Orlando closed down Colonial Drive for a race. The weather was amazing too. 65 degrees at the start was amazing after racing in the Florida summer heat for the past few months. Anyway, I played it cool for the whole race and was planned on going to try and get to the front in the last few Kilometers for a good finish. Unfortunately, we didn't really know how the race finished since we road on a lap course and came off of that to do the final 3K to the finish. I had no idea that a pretty intense left hand turn was taking us off of the course and onto the final finish straight and I had to hit the breaks way too much and was instantly out of it, bam, race was done for me. But I still managed a top 50 finish out of 134 starters in a pro race. Not too shabby I guess. Anyway, the drive home sucked. But I definitely can't wait until next Labor Day, I'm so there.

Here's a video of the downhill sprint finish. The winner hit 90K an hour.