Spangdahlem Race weekend part 1

Just made it back from Spangdahlem after the road race. KMCCycling did quite well for themselves. We took a second place in the 18-34 division with Kelly (toto) and first place in the overall and whatever age group he is with Chris L (cllulei) Chris P (Christian Price) also finished in the top ten overall. Chad (velodoc) win the dubious honor of finishing his race first with a flat on the second of five laps, but our team held it together for the overall. It was cool seeing our jerseys in a breakaway and up driving the group. Personally, I finished my race about 14 minutes faster than I did last year. Still was dropped off the back at the end of lap three, but had a great time.

Great job by everyone!

Hopefully we can get some people out to the MTB race tomorrow.

I'm enjoying pizza and a beer as a reward. I believe Chris P got a 3rd place medal for his age group too. Good race guys.

Ah, well deserved reward. Chris P sorry for the slight.

No worries...it was a great ride! Agreed that having 3 of the top 7 overall positions going to KMC Cycling was a good showing. Catch you guys on the road this week. BTW...we really need to push for a Ramstein road race.

Agreed...great showing by KMC Cycling at the Spangdahlem RR yesterday. Awesome to see Brian and Kelly, as well as meeting Chris Lulei and Christian Price...all great guys! The weather for the race was perfect. Started out in the 60s with clear skies and no wind. The course is a 6mi loop with rolling hills and no real separator to speak of. The pace started off pretty hot, with the local club driving hard in hopes of launching their perennial solo winner, Martin. He made his move after a couple of miles with the pace in the high 20s, bit to no avail. Never gaining more than a hundred meters or so, the group motored on and the escapee was brought back to heel. Chris Lulei was feeling his oats and took a flier to test the group, and I suspect his legs as well, but was brought back, as the group had too much horsepower at this early stage in the race. Having observed the result of these early salvoes, I sat comfortably in the group, biding my time, and chatting up the competition. Well...this proved, ultimately, to be a poor tactical decision. Although the road surface was >90% perfect, there were a few areas with DEEP potholes. One of those holes found it's way to my front tire, and within a half mile I was flat. Probably wouldn't have happened if I were further forward with a better view of the road. Anyhoo, was cool to see the finish with our boys in red and white taking so many of the honors. Hope to see even more of our jerseys at the military races in the future!

I'm posting photos from the weekend to our FB site.

Chad