6/22/03 by George Liolios
Wow, we finally had a beautifully warm and sunny day to race. Too bad we hadn't had time to acclimate to the heat. So it goes.
The venue was in and around Caesars Creek State Park about 45 miles north of Cincinnati. The road surface was in excellent condition that twisted and turned it's way around a 16-mile circuit. I was surprised by the amount of auto traffic; especially in the many S-turns we navigated.
Keith from the Dayton/Saturn team and host club was giving us a running commentary of the course during the first lap. Since this was 50-59 age group I told Keith he was wasting his breath since most of us suffered from short-term memory loss and that the course description would soon be forgotten.
Organizationally the set-up was a bit muddled with staging in one location and the finish 10 miles away located a half mile from the top of the only climb which was similar to the lower section of Quick Rd. and slightly steeper. Additionally, the feed zone was in never land as well which was changed at the last minute and now located near the staging area.
Our 48-mile race started out really slow until we juiced things up on the first climb. I was about 3 back at the start of the 3-step climb riding a comfortable tempo. Phil Broizer, Mahoning Valley Cycling set a hard tempo to the top opening a small gap of 20 meters with two other riders which was closed immediately by the rest of the field.
As I pulled through Phil mentioned that he wished the finish were right at the top of the climb and not a half mile down the road. The next three laps were relatively fast. I wasn't riding too aggressively, but smarter than usual. Mark from GoMart continually rolled off the front simply turning the pedals a bit harder and opening small gaps just to be pulled back very quickly each time.
On the bell lap Keith attacked semi-hard after the descent causing a reaction from the bunch with Phil and Mark at the front chasing with the rest of us along for the ride. I assumed there would be a hard attack on the final climb, but was equally convinced that any break would not be significant. My plan was not to panic, ride tempo, quickly bridge and then duke it out in a sprint. I took the lead at the base of the hill deliberately setting a moderate tempo. Keith was the first to throw down with Phil and Mark countering his move with a Billy-goat effort. They opened a 20-meter gap with a rider from Indiana Hand Therapy dangling in between at the top. I popped it into the big meat and passed Indy and closed the gap to leaders. Keith charged to line as I moved past Phil who at this point sounded like a steam engine ready to explode. Unfortunate for Phil I believe he left it all on the climb as he died a 1000-death's in the last 100 meters. My sprint was nearly perfect as I charged up the inside around Mark heading for the finish. Apparently Keith had popped and for no reason suddenly moved hard right into my path slowing my momentum causing me to quickly change my line to his left. A UPS rider from Kentucky nipped me by a tire width at the line as we both threw our bikes. Since he was a Kentuckian I took home the gold as first Ohio rider.