- Handy, GA -
The weather on Saturday was perfect. Sunny, 75 degrees, with a slight breeze coming in from the northeast. It was a perfect setup. The weather could not be better in the booming metropolis of Handy, GA. With specialized bike in tow, Gabe Denes and Andrew Lockwood entered the 30 man field “B” race, and just like at the Nascar and Talladega tracks, a crash happened within 15 seconds of being “un-neutralized.” There were many four letter words shouted, many deralleurs broken, and a few wheels snapped. The Collegiate B category really knows how to tear up some bikes.
Lockwood reflected, “It was like Darwinian cycling: weeding out the weaklings at the very beginning.” Luckily, with expert mountain bike skills, Denes used one of the downed Lee’s McRae riders as a jump and did a tailwhip over the rest of the carnage. After landing perfectly, he moved up to the front and took a monster pull to decimate the pack’s size.
Lockwood and Denes then teamed together to weed out the mere mortals and milk the lactic acid out of their bulging legs. …And then Lockwood decided to pull out early. “Let’s just be honest. I blew my engine way early in the race. I gotta slow up on them dat gum Thursday world’s rides. But I would like to thank all my sponsors who made it possible for me to have a wonderful first lap. I looked REALLY hot on my new bike, and without my new sponsors, this never would have been possible. My sponsors include: Gu energy labs, Francars Buffalo Wings Rick “TrainedByCain” Cain, College Hill Alliance, and and the boys back at Bike Tech of Macon. I want to give a special thanks to Jittery Joes. Their brew really gave me a great pre-race stew today. My triceps cramped up, because I had been benching just too much this week in my attempt to get big arms for Monica (Lockwood's wife).”
Denes had a great race, putting the hurt on the field with the help of Luke Correale from College of Charleston. The race was brutally hot and brutally fast. Denes recalls: “I remember getting on the front during the 3rd lap and pulling the pack up to 38mph as we entered the feed zone. It was quite fun, making people suffer, trying to get grasp of their feeds while going 30+ mph.”
The end of the race ended in a sprint finish, with a leadout from another team illegally crossing the line at 1k to go. Denes ended up with a 10th place finish and some dead legs. Lockwood landed in 20th after hurting in a solo comeback attempt during the final four laps.
The Bears will recuperate for the next SECCC events to come soon, training in Bolingbroke and around Macon.
