MOB at the PTO

MOB really come thur in fine fashion with support and racing the PTO this past weekend. The PTO is the biggest Cycling event in the in the State and apears to be growing int0 the biggest event in the Southeast. With the added street sprints there was the opportunity to race 4 times in 3 days with the crit Friday night, Time trial Sat. morning, Street Sprints Sat. night and then the Road Race on Sunday.
I wanted to say a big THANKS to Ken and Angela Craven as well as others like, Steve Golinski, Jerry Rebo, Preston Anderson, Blair Palmer, Rick Lee, Julie and Paul Paisant, Jeff Varner, Ken Gulledge, (I'm sure I"m leaving someone out) with the task of set up and tear down for Friday night. Ken was very organized working with shifts of folks from the Team to get everything set up in a very efficint and timely manner. Ken better watch it or Neil Boyd will want his set up skills for Cross Roads in Aug.
All weekend long, every event ,from the Categories, age graded and women there were very strong fast fields. With the crit Friday night in the 35 / 45 + 123 race we had Pete Cannell, newly crowned national time trial champion, Daryl Rains, Kelly Holms and myself. This race started hard and fast from the gun. With in the frist hand full of laps Pete was in a move off the front and would go on to finish 4th, 3rd in the 35+ while I held on to 14th and 7th in the 35+.
For the Time Trial Sat. morning we had a nice rain shower prior to the start so there were wet roads to contend with. I got a good warm up and a good start thinking that I would be able to make good time on the backside of the course on Ridge road but with the head wind it seemed the harder I tried the slower I went. I finished 5th just 2 sesconds in front of Chris Thomas who was in 6th. Then it was time to recover and get ready for the Street Sprints. This was a new experience for me, something that I had never done so I was not sure about the approach except sprint as hard as you can and hold it to the line. Two initial heats of 6 were whittled down to one finale of 10. I really had a bad jump but managed a 7th with all these slow twitch muscle fibers I have.
So it was on to the Road Race were Rich Melencio and myslef were in the 35+ ranks while Daryl and Kelly repsented the 45+. With the afternoon start the heat and humidity would be a factor. Hydration was the key. Thanks to my wife Nancy, Kathy and Blair Palmer, Michelle Melencio and Diana Whitt, Rick Creeds wife for being there in the feed.
There were several moves that took place during the first 2 laps but to no avail until finishing lap 3 when a break went up the road with Charlie Brown, Ryan Jenkins, John Patterson and Rick Creed. I missed the Carolina master's train so it was came down to the field sprint for me with about 40 of my cloest friends. I managed to finish 9th in the 35+ , not real sure about the overall. So for the weekend I had a 7th in the crit, 5th in the time trial, 7th in the Street Sprints and 9th in the Road Race. This was my best omnium weekend. Certainly was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the French Broad omnium in Asheville next weekend.
Thanks again to Team MOB and all their support of this wonderful event.