All I gotta say is kudos to all the folks at Presbyterian, Time Warner Cable, University Volvo and the Brain Tumor Fund of the Carolinas. There were countless other sponsors,  promoters and staff that quite frankly turned the night into a blur. I was not feeling too bad acutally after several days (NINE!) of talking. Neal Boyd put on the Crossroads Classic and that was 9 days of great grassroots racing. The Pro's showed up for some of them but most were saving their bullets for Saturday and Sunday.

 The womens race was intriguing because the race wasn't huge from a field standpoint, but lots of the guns were there for points in the NRC, Points in the USA CRits and points in the Prestige Series. I know...confusing. The womens podium was like 6 hours with alll the awards! Coach Robin, who has had great form this season, was on the move first......

Then the primes started taking their toll...and  Cat Caroll and Colavita watching, trying to bring it to a bunch gallop for Tina. However, the spoiler in this was the powerhouse Cat Carroll of Aarons. She is a marked woman everywhere she goes, but frankly she just willed herself and rolled it after a 500$ prime. She looked back and then kept pinning it. Cheerwine and Colavita S/H were sending soldiers to the front to shave down Cat's lead. They ended up  detonating each others teams trying to bring back the persistent Cat Carroll as she just rolled it! Easy one for a nice 25 second salute and a big win. 

The mens race is always a slug fest for several reasons 1) Heat: Its always bloody hell hot 2) Money: Money talks 3) Length of the race. Most Pro/AM crits on the regional level are about and  hour in length. The RACING at Presby really only starts when a HOUR is up. Multiple attacks, and counters show no real threatening signs until Borrajo drilled it to Adam Bergman, then Pipp responded and bridged to it along with Heckman and Emile Abraham and Kyle Wamsley. Boom, that was it. The two teams that really missed out were Rock and Jittery Joes. The riders, in the break, were all working very well. Each taking equal pools with Jittery Joes desperately trying to bring it back. Suprisingly Rock was nowhere to be found on the front to help out Jittery Joes. Tactically it was Borrajos race to lose. He had breakaway specialist Wamsley, who you knew was gonna go (or was he protecting Borrajo). Former Pro Bergman was the first to set out on his own, but straight on his wheel was Wamsley. Everyone else regrouped, trying to figure some way to unhitch Borrajo. It was not to be....he nailled it with 100 meteres to go and had time for the 2 hands up....easy cheezy as we say. Pipp second and Trinny Abraham was 3rd.

 Some guy in a black shirt bugging Borrajo.....

Credit: Dennis Johnson!

Thanks for my family and friends who were there to support and bear with my zanniness. 

That sums up a incredible week of racing. Look for updates of Thater, Dallas (just got that gig!), San Francisco, Vegas and October....phew!