First, a lot of credit where credit is due: Congratulations to Steve Murray of Columbus Bicycle Racing on an incredible ride and win in Ringgold. Steve finished in 50:16 with an average speed of 24.94 mph. That doesn't sound incredibly fast, but on that course it was smokin'. The course was H-shaped, with three very tight u-turns. It was very hilly -- it didn't have many real climbs, but the rollers were constant. It was twisty and technical. But most of all there was what seemed like a constant very blustery head wind for the last half of the ride. Steve's time was good enough to win the Cat 4 division by over a minute and a half over the 2nd placed rider. He would have also won the overall in the masters division by a minute and 15 seconds.
I had what felt like a pretty good day on the bike. I thought I'd paced myself pretty well and was feeling confident and passing other riders. But at the 35-minute point when I was passed by Shannon Wredge of Fulton Flyers, who had started a minute behind me, I knew I was toast. I can't say I had a bad day, bad luck, or didn't ride well (I averaged 23.3 mph). There were simply 8 riders in my category who rode faster. There's always next year.
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