Greenville Cycling Center Blog

This past Sunday I rode the Myrtle Beach Marathon Metric Century.  My goal was to finish the 100K in 3 hours or less.  Having finished well the last two years I aimed once again to be the first across the ‘finish’ line…  It’s a timed ride and yes, I know, I’ve raced Pro-Am successfully for several years now and shouldn’t be ‘racing’ timed rides.  I’m not too proud though, its good motivation and my in-laws that live in Myrtle Beach  like to see me hit it hard each year.

Mind you, the last two years were indeed timed.  This year not so as to discourage racing.  Yeah, right…  350 cyclists in February…  they’re not gonna treat it as a race… After averaging 23+ miles per hour in heavy cross-winds and 255 watts for the first 45 minutes it was clear the race was ON.

So what’s my point…?

After whittling the lead group down to about 1o guys, this one long-haired muscular kid (at first I thought it was a sick-strong girl!) kept drilling it and attacking…  Finally with about 20K to go he went up the road… 3 seconds… 5 seconds… 10 seconds… more!  Uh-oh…

Yes, the race was on and somehow I managed to get across (thankfully his team-mates helped in the chase; I was surprised by that!).  After reaching him it took every ounce of focus and will to stay with this young stud…  His acceleration as we traded pulls about popped me off every time and I couldn’t help but think… ‘If he jumps even moderately hard just once I am G-O-N-E’.

He didn’t, even though I sensed he was ready to pound and pounce my ’spot of bother’ -body into the ground…  We rode to the finish together.

Was the goal of 3 hours met?  Yes, 2:45…  I talked with my finish companion to learn a couple very interesting things:

1)  Been riding for 1.5 years

2)  Cat. 5 and has never raced

3)  Rides 350 miles a week ‘because I love riding’

4)  Finished the 2009 Assault on Mt. Mitchell in under 6 hours

5)  Going to race Hincapie Spring Series the next 3 weeks

…by the way, his name is Johnny Mitchell.  How fitting is that!