The crit was held Saturday morning and proved to be the longest day of racing yet this season, since several of our riders doubled up and raced in the USAC race in the afternoon.
Riley, Elliot, and Michael Norton were first off in the Mens D race. A five man break away separated itself from the rest early on and fought hard to win prizes in each of the primes. Elliot finished strong with a 4th place finished with Riley finishing close behind him with a 9th place finish.
Barry raced in the Mens C category, despite feeling under the weather. He fought hard, but had to pull out of the race due to illness.
Melissa was next off, racing in the women's B category. Melissa fought hard from the start and scored first in three out of the four primes and landed an astonishing second place finish.
Coby (the Boss)raced in the Mens B category where he proved how much of a boss he is and scored 19th.
After experiencing several mechanical issues with his bike, Greg raced with a mis-matched wheelset and still finished 8th. Immediately after the A race finished, he rested for 20 minutes before heading out with the Cat 1/2/3 race and still managed to pull off a pack finish.
Barry demonstrated what a real man looks like by racing a second time in the Cat 3/4 race, while still feeling sick. Unfortunately, he was unable unable to rid himself of his sickness in between his two races and had to pull out early again.
After icing and resting his knee, Elliot was ready to race in his first non-collegiate race ever. He stayed with the front of the pack the entire race, until the last lap where a crash caused him to lose the leaders and finish at the tail end of the main group.
Feeling strong, Melissa attempted the Women's 1/2/3 race, where she stayed with the front of the group and scored another top 5 finish.
After feeling exhausted from this long day of racing, we decided to celebrate in style at the Buffalo Wild Wings across from the hotel, where Barry demonstrated his true love for hot sauce.
On Sunday morning, the team woke up to a dense fog and drove through small back roads to make it to start point of the Mountaineer Classic Road Race.
Barry and Melissa were first off and showed true team spirit by working together the entire race, despite being in different categories. By working together Barry helped Melissa score her second road race win this season!
Riley, Elliot, and Michael Norton were second off in the Men's D category. With Elliot's knee feeling weak, he lost the group on "the climb" and worked to chase them down with Riley for the remainder of the race where they scored 6th and 7th place.
Coby and Greg were next off racing in the Men's B and A categories. Coby experienced several mechanical issues and was still able to chase down the tail group and gain a full minute on them in a single lap. Coby (the Boss) scored 17th overall despite having to stop twice for mechanical issues and working alone for most of the race.
An early attack occurred in Men's A, where a single rider gained 2 and half minutes on the main field with one lap to go. By working together, the main field brought his lead to a more respectable 10 seconds in the last lap.
Once again exhausted from one of the hottest and longest race weekends this season, we packed up our cars, grabbed a nice meal, and rested our eyes on the long drive back home.
