Deleon Springs, one of the nicer road courses we race. Nothing in particular stands out to make it tough, but the race almost always finishes with a breakaway. Its seems there is always just enough wind, rough road sections, and an incline to cause a split.
Sunday was supposed to be a beautiful day with highs in the mid-60's. Somebody missed the memo because it was 42 and overcast when we started and 42 and overcast 100km later. Pre-race my teammates and I were having not-so-nice things to say about the cold. Preparing our bikes and selves for the race, the smell of liniment/warming oil was thick in the air as riders were liberally applying to their legs. In hopes of not having their legs feel like they were full of cement when the first turn of pedals and anger were initiated. The peloton rode calmly for exactly 4 seconds and the first attack went off. Two riders in the new and very talented GS Palm Beach Team jumped off the front. In a moment of obscure lucidity, Chris Bishop jumped across to mark their move. Soon Chris was joined by teammate Vance James and about 5 other riders making it a group of 8. The peloton quickly organized and was in full flight single file chasing hard. About 2 miles into the race the break was being caught. Seeing this, for some unknown reason, Chris attacked again. This time Chris was joined by another GS Palm Beach rider and Zmo's Jodie Gilligan. "My first thought was, oh good all three of the larger teams are represented, this break has a chance" thought Chris. Then Chris realized that he was stuck in a 3 man break with 2 extremely talented riders for the next 100k. OUCH!!! "All sorts of things go through your mind when faced with that situation. Self doubt, did I bring enough food? Why didn't I take up fishing? Why aren't my teammates chasing me down, don't they know I was only kidding when I attacked?" thought Bishop. Then 65 km into the race the break was joined by 4 more riders. Ball Watch Cycling Team leader and Florida Points Champion, Vance James, was one of the riders making it across. "At first thought, this is good, we have more power, all the teams are represented, things will get easier. Well they didn't. It seems Mr. Phil Elliott and Mr. Steve Selby don't like 7 people in breakaways. They commenced to make attempts to dismantle our breakaway by attacking us repeatedly. As Vance was there, I took the roll of closing the gaps as best I could. With 16k to go, Selby attacked again creating a gap that neither I or the ORC rider could close. I dug for everything I had to reattach but as I would get close, they would drop the hammer again." The break would stay away with Vance taking a solid 4th, Kurt Phillips 9th. Chris Bishop would manage to recover enough to finish 20th. Chris would later be heard to say, "It was fun! It was hard! And it was heart-breaking not stay in the break I initiated to the end. Hmmmm what race will I give it another go?"
After the first weekend of racing Ball Watch Cycling Team has assumed their normal position 1st place team and both Kurt Phillips and Vance James are tied for 5th place in the Florida Points Series. Ball Watch Cycling Teams next race will be the Swamp Classic in Gainesville, FL Feb. 6th & 7th.
