Assault on Spartanburg

The BMW-Bianchi women amassed in Spartanburg, SC this weekend for two events that couldn't be more different!  Patty lined up with about 1,000 other crazy cyclists to begin the Assault on Mt. Mitchell "ride".  This ride is very much a race, and a normally grueling event that was made even more tortuous by being longer than before, having more climbing than ever, and landing on a day with positively filthy weather conditions.  This year's course featured 11,500+ feet of climbing and 117 miles, to finish, as usual, on the highest point east of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell.   To make a hard ride even more exciting, this year's climb to Mt. Mitchell had riders encounter rain, sleet and near zero visibility.  Enduring all of this was our own Ms. Shoaf, who rolled in at 7:08:53, in 50th place overall.

On an entirely different day, Nancy, Mandy, Cara, Janet and Riina lined up in beautiful, sunny weather for a much much shorter event, the Spartanburg Criterium.  This course was a little more than half a mile long, although the riders would be tearing around in circles for 45 minutes.  On a technical circuit,  the vicious accelerations out of the corners put paid to many rider's legs, and in the end, Nancy took 4th in the sprint, while Mandy was 8th.  

Name misspelling of the week:  Rina Toliver (almost as funny as Dabueka Stasjek)
Result mistake of the week:  Mandy winning the cat 4 bonus (which she declined)

This week will see the riders tune up for the Cap Tech Classic on Thursday, and the Raleigh News and Observer Twilight Criterium on Friday!  Make sure you come downtown and watch all the action!