The Yargo trail is really twisty, full of 90 degree turns and even more pinhair turns.  You can’t go very fast. I ran off the trail for that reason, and Jansen, who had been hugging my wheel for a while, slowed up, and then sped off. I trailed him, and caught up to him, then passed him.  At this part in the course, we came to the “Three Stooges”, which are 3 short, 2 foot “woop-dee-doos” that are kind of hard to get up.

They had recently done a controlled burn in this area , resulting in charred, black ground on both sides on the trail. With clouds of smoke passing the trail every few feet, it was both really pretty, and really eerie at the same time. It was here, a while into the trail, that I ran off again, and Jansen zipped in front of me. Man, I jumped on the bike and flew to try to catch up........ 5 minutes after that, WHAM! I endoed.

I don’t remember how, but I stood up, covered in dirt, and I had a pretty bad head ache. The head ache went away soon enough, but by then, Jansen was gone. Not only that, but my handle bars were bent at an interesting  angle. So I went on, at a bit more cautious pace this time, trying to steer at an unusual angle.  It took some concentration.  

I actually came in fairly close to Jansen, and still covered in dirt too.

I took a ton of pictures and fed the racers water during the rest of the day.  My family promotes this race so I stayed pretty busy all weekend, but the weather was great and the course was fun.  

On Saturday, before the short track race, two friends of mine had a special race.  One was on a double decker bike and one was on a pink, little girl's bike.  It was hilarious and put us all in a good mood.  Racing is about cycling, but also about hanging out with your friends on the weekend and this one was a blast.

State Criterium and Road Race report – Kyle Cochran

Augusta, GA, 19-20 Aug 06 -If there was ever a race where the Fulton Flyers Cycling team perfected teamwork the Georgia State Championships was that race. The team determined the leaders and workers and everyone did there job to perfection.

The criterium course was flat and fast. Dicey corners with broken pavement and a chicane with a pothole in the middle. Chris Hong, Oscar Clark, Brian Ceballos, and Justin Murray were in for the 17-18’s, and Kyle Cochran for 15-16.  Chris Hong was the “chosen one” for the 17-18 crew.

Quickly Chris Hong went with a very dangerous break away of Joey Roskopf of Aarons Cycling, and South Carolinians Alder Martiz and Andy Baker.

Brian tried to jump to the break but was caught in no mans land when his chase companion crashed. Oscar then successfully bridged to the leaders. Justin and Kyle covered all attacks while the break gained an incredible gap.

A $50 prime came for the main group at mid-race and Kyle felt he could take it if Justin could lead out.  Unfortunately, another racer got in the way, but Justin already had plan B in action. He launched himself for a whole lap, snatching the prime.

At the end Chris Hong won the sprint to take the State Championship for the 17-18 age group;  Brian slotted in third and Oscar fourth. Kyle Cochran took in the state due to a controversy on placing. Justin finished with the main group.

The next day’s road race was 72km of gut-wrenching heat-blasted pain.  Alder attacked causing Chris Hong and Oscar Clark to chase with Alder’s teammate Andy and Joey Roskopf.  Justin was down and out with stomach problems in the first lap, but hung tough for two laps before throwing in the towel.

Brian Ceballos and Kyle Cochran blocked for Oscar and Chris. Then Kyle realized all of the other boys with him were in contention for the 15-16 State Championships!  He and Brian decided to pick up the pace and dropped all but three of 15-16’s. Brian then told Kyle to sit in and wait. 

With four miles to go Brian set a pace that put everyone on the rivet!  Brian then lead Kyle up the final 1km climb.  Three quarters up Kyle cramped - both legs locked up. He then felt a force taking him up the hill - it was Brian suffering but pushing his teammate to the finish! As they crossed the line neither had the strength for a victory celebration but just hung their heads in exhaustion and smiled because they knew that the Land Rover team had just taken the state championships for the 15-16 year olds.

In the 17-18’s Chris Hong and Oscar Clark took second and third behind Aaron’s Joey Rosskopf – a fine rider that missed this race last year after being taken out by a Sheriff’s car right before the State Crit on the previous day!

What it came down to was team. They were not the strongest individuals but they worked together. The unselfishness of the workers and the tenacity of the leaders paid off in the end and gave the team one of the greatest victories of the year.

State Criterium and Road Race - Oscar "The Grouch" Clark.

Augusta, GA, 19-20 August 2006 - Chris was getting on me all weekend for being grouchy. I raced the jrs crit, the 3s crit, and the jrs rr. It was a pretty good weekend. As always Augusta was incredibly hot.

In the crit Chris went off the front in the early part of the race with Joey, Alder, Brian, and some other kid. That was pretty much the race.  After they went it was just total “sit-up” in the group. After a few laps the one kid slid out in the rain and gapped Brian off.

Andy and I were just sitting at the front of the field then decided we would attack - so we did and I felt awful and he dropped me.  He rode off in pursuit of the leaders - I came across Brian and we rode together for a good time.  Then the break lapped the field, then us. 

Right when they lapped us Andy caught the break. Andy attacked and I chased it down for Chris.  Brian and I sat up and let the four roll away from us. The race anouncer called 1 lap to go and we all went for it including Chris, who won the sprint ahead of the break only to be told he had another lap to go. When Brian and I came through with 2nd 1 to go we just decided to sprint it out between the two of us on the next lap. I lead it out from the last corner and Brian came flying by with about 50 meters to go. That was 5 and 6th place in the race for us and 3rd and 4th in the state.

That night the leggoes weren’t feeling so hot but I was glad I could sleep in the next day. Before the road race I was sitting around feeding Jafer and Thomas and sweating. In the race there were some small attacks in the first few miles. Then we got down to what we really wanted to happen, get Joey, Chris and I off the front. We tried attacking several times with Andy along but Andy's teammates kept chasing us down. I guess they didn’t trust him with two of us in there.

Eventually Alder got of the front solo and was motoring away. Joey jumped and Chris andy and I went too. We worked together, save for Andy, until clear. Then Andy attacked and we followed several times, then one time he went and we let him go as he was out of state. Then it was Joey Chris and me.

Coming over the final climb on the second lap I rolled off the front and got a good gap through the feed zone and held it over the first climb. Chris and I both knew what we had to do. Joey was chasing me down with Chris on his wheel. Once they caught me, in text book fashion, Chris waited for me to get situated on Joey's wheel and then turned it on.  Joey knew what he had to cover us immediately and not let a gap open and that almost took any reason for the attacks away.

Chris did most of the attacking, as he was trying to work for me. I was putting on a big show about how I was hurting so much, but I was fine. After a while everyone was just tired from the heat and we stopped doing the counters so often. As Joey said after the race - "it was like 20 miles of match sprinting."

In the final miles Chris started more attacks.  I told him I wanted him to attack so that Joey wouhd have to chase at the base of the climb. Chris tried but Joey was smart and jumped his wheel right away. 

Chris led it out, with me on Joey’s wheel, from the bottom of the hill.  At 600 meters out Chris yelled "go Oscar go!".  Joey was sprinting full on and I was right behind him, ready to pass.  I was about to come around with 150 meters to go, but Joey kept accelerating and that was the end of me – so second place for me at the and third for Chris.