North Carolina- South Carolina State Road Race

Today Whit Clifford, Tim Henry, Hayden Brooks, and I took part in the NC- SC Pro1,2,3 State Road Race. It was 90 miles on a 15 mile loop that had some rolling hills and only three turns. Tim got in a move early in the race with three other guys. This meant Hayden, Whit, and I covered moves that tried to bridge. If a large group got up the road to Tim it would have been bad if we weren't with it. This break looked promising because there were no NC or SC citizens in the group. But with about 1.5 laps to go this break was caught. Then there were a lot of attacks but none stayed away. During the last ten k Tim asked me how I felt for the sprint, and I told him I felt well. Hayden, Tim, and I were together with about 4k to go. We began to gradually move to the front of the field. With about 2 k left we were in the top ten together, and some guy decided to hit his brakes for no reason. Tim and I managed to get by this mess by almost riding off the road. Then it appeared there was no way out. I told Tim as soon as he could get out to rail it. This was about 1.5 k out. Tim was on the front going until about 700 meters, and I was left with no one. I tried to make it to the last turn(200 meters to go) on front but 4 guys passed me right at the turn. The finish was kind of downhill and I retained my fifth place to the line. I am happy with this result, but maybe if I had more patience I could have won.