Race Report: Lees-McRae

This past weekend the Furman Cycling Team travelled to Banner Elk, NC to take on the worst that Lees-McRae could muster. We were only able to get four guys to go (Spencer, Chris, Kit, and William), but that didn't limit our competitive edge, as all four competed in Men's A. This was the first time that the team got to use our new trailer, generously provdided by our sponsor West Coast Tomato. It was an amazing help as it would have been tough to transport all of our gear and 7 bikes.

Saturday morning was an early one, up at 5:45am for our 9:00am TTT. After a nervous trip to the start where we thought we were lost on several occasions, we made it. The weather was in the lower 40's and the course was a tough one: nearly 14 miles with rolling hills and a finish on top of Grandfather Mountain. Despite all of this Furman prevailed, winning the TTT by nearly 30 seconds!

The guys had some time to kill before the crit at 4:30pm, so we went to Subway then back to the bungalow to chill. The crit was a tiny course with a steep little hill before the finish. Here are the results:

Spencer Beamer: 3rd
Chris Butler 10th
Kit Hunter: DNF
William Cunningham: DNF

The guys relaxed that night, eating whatever was laying around at the room. That night thunderstorms rolled in early in the morning, painting an ominous picture for the road race.

The road race started at 9:00am and boasted 1500 feet of climbing per 10 mile loop. We were doing 6 laps! It was cold yet again, and the roads were very wet with the rain from earlier. There was a bit of fog that rolled in during the race, joined by rain. The course was a challenging one, with a moderate climb at the beginning followed by a steep sketchy descent. That was followed by a very steep uphill, a false flat, and then a long 1.5 - 2 mile climb before finally dropping down a very fast descent into Banner Elk. Here are the results:

Chris Butler: 2nd
Spencer Beamer: DNF
Kit Hunter: DNF
William Cunningham: DNF

It was a cold rain that said wished us off as we drove out of Banner Elk comfortable with the gains we had made on Cumberland.