Jeff cup (ouch)

The 19th Annual Jefferson Cup was supposed to have two representatives from WVU racing in the men's 1/2/3 race, but at the last minute it came down to only myself racing. Ryan was there to be a moto official and keep me company on the long drive.

After loading Ryan's Motorcycle into my small pick-up and me cringing the entire drive from not only the dense fog but in fear of the moto failing onto my bike. We made it to the hotel with extremely horrible time taking almost 6 hours to arrive. The highlight of the drive was after passing senecea rocks we encountered Layman pedaling his mountain bike down the road. (he didn't recognize the vehicle or sponges moto, but inside saw my handlebars and recognized my bike)

The race day was very long, as I woke up early to go with Emily and cheer her on during the women's 1/2/3 race/ She did very well winning the field sprint from the chase group. The women's race split almost in half with about a 5 minute gap between groups.

Finally, at 2:30 the men's 1/2/3 lined up and then after a period of time we played in the parking lot and re-lined up. The delay was caused by a crash in the mens 4 field at the finish line.

The men's 1/2/3 showed up with some serious competition (125 riders), with Harley davison and PA elite racing for 1-2 at the finish line. Other noteable teams included Kelly Benefits, Kazane racing, and several others. The neutral roll out was very agrressive going about 23-24 mph, and I went from the 4th row to the back after being battled around almost like a pinball. This field was brutal and very fluid with riders constantly changing lines and battling for position. I was doing well following Tim from VT and trying to just survive with the intense changings in tempo. The line when strecthed out was HUGE. With many riders falling of the back of the group, I eventually was unable to respond and also fell into no man's land. After a few miles of intense chasing the follow cars came around me, but i refused to give in that easily. I kept my head down and charged ahead. Finally, I jumped into a small chase group of about 6 riders and we worked together for about 10 miles or so, 4 of the riders dropped out and 2 us continued forward. After mile 60 and being overtaken by the men's 35+ field, I was pulled from the race and was able to watch the finish. It was very exciting as a small break survived and sprinted to the line. 70 riders were able to finish the race. It was an intense day and I hope I was able to take away some valuable feedback and next time, be ready for this big of a race.