Bewley.Alan's blog

If you are racing Page Valley this weekend and/or the 24th and haven’t had a chance to preview the course, Miles and I did it yesterday. It’s a bit like Jeff Cup but with nastier climbs.

The first test begins after the right hand turn onto Hollow Run Road (629). Watch this turn, there was a ton of gravel that hopefully will be swept. Shortly after the turn and around the 4.5 mile point you start a 1.75 mile steady climb. The first 1.25 is no big deal but the last .5 mile we agreed is equivalent in grade to the Reas Ford climb back up to Woodlands.

Sunday at Bryan Park was in fact a good venue but I broke my own rules and it got me. My cycling mentor in Birmingham has told me a million times that he wants me in the 3rd-5th position in every crit all the time. By doing this you can attempt to cover any breaks and avoid most crashes. Unless we have a new cyclist in Cat 5 that is secretly related to the King’s, there usually is no successful break. Crashes, however, do occur, and it caught me off guard in such a straight forward course.