Granville Grand Prix

Matt Herring wins big!

Photo courtesy of Eric George - The Newark Advocate

This has been a pretty awesome weekend for team roll:. After winning in Worthington on Friday night the 4-5 squad was back in action today in the Granville Grand Prix. Our team included John Price, Matt Herring, Dave Chambers, Marco Corroto and George Conti. This year's Granville course was changed a bit from last year and included a pretty serious climb up the bricks to the Dennison campus and then a fast descent down into town. The 4-5's stayed together most of the race and at the end it was a podium sweep for roll: with Matt Herring taking the win followed by John Price and Dave Chambers in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Marco and George were right there finishing in the top 10. Great job guys!

Josh Morrow and I were in the 3-4 race. It was big ring "go-like-hell" right from the start and I lost contact with the lead group after the 2nd time up the climb. I tried to have a good warm-up beforehand but it obviously wasn't enough. As the race progressed I felt better and was able catch some other riders to make up 3 or 4 positions. Most of my race was a solo effort and I ended up in 5th place. Josh Morrow was on his "A" game tonight and rode a terrific race finishing in 3rd place and in the money! Way to go Josh! A strong young rider from Team-COBC/Raisin Rack won the 3-4 race. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.

Josh riding strong.

Photo courtesy of Eric George - The Newark Advocate

This was an extremely challenging course and despite my pain and suffering I had a really fun time. Today's race was tied in to the last stage of the Tour of Ohio so the crowds were great and the organization was top notch. Team Columbus did a great job presenting another safe & challenging racing weekend.

Don Moxley deserves a huge atta-boy for making the call of the day. The 3-4 race was scheduled to begin at 5:00 and Don herded everyone together early so we could start at 4:45 due to the forecast for bad weather. During the last few laps of our race the rain began to fall and as we finished the skies opened up. Rain came down, thunder clapped and lightning lit up the sky as I rode to my car to put away my bike. When I reached the car it began to hail! If the race began 5 minutes later we would have been riding in a real mess.

I figured the day's excitement was over after the race when it was time to go home. But driving through Reynoldsburg back to Columbus I was rear ended at a red light. Fortunately I got the guy's drivers license info. and license plate number because he took off while we were waiting for the police. He didn't have insurance which is probably why he bolted (sounds like a topic for another blog?). This is one more thing I'll have to deal with next week. The Columbus Police Officers who helped me out were great and I can't say enough about the service they provide to our city every day. The next time I see mayor Coleman I'll recommend they all receive a raise!