CBR kicks off the 2009 Season

Mike Loftus races Dacula

The early season kicked off with the Tundra Time trial on February 14. We had 7 local riders attend. John Stowe, Mike Loftus, Matt Ragan, Victor Karm, Adam Weinbaum, Steve Murray, Jose Solis Sr. & Jose Solis Jr. The day was rain and overcast. We had two podiums, each with a 3rd place finish - John Stowe (cat 3) & Steve Murray (master's 45+)

The Road season kicked off this weekend 28 Feb 2009- Mike Loftus opened the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix (GCGP) season for CBR with a 5th place finish at the Harbins Road Race in Dacula, Georgia. The fields were small due to the torrential rain and windy conditions which caused the hilly course to become a war of attrition. Mike (Cat 4) stayed up front the duration of the Cat 4/5 U-35 race trying to mark seven Florida State University team mates. Mike got away in a break on Lap 3 for about 2 miles that got caught from the hard work of the FSU team. The hard pace and multiple attacks in laps 2 and 4 caused about half the field of 21 to drop off leaving Mike racing against five FSU riders and four others.
In the end, one FSU rider got away with about 3 miles to go just before the major climbs and the remaining nine riders fought it out for 2nd place. In the bunch sprint Mike finished 5th overall after a great race garnering 16 points towards the GCGP season ominium and 1 points towards moving to Cat 3.