GC Union City, GA Mayor's Race - Omnium, March 21st & 22nd

TT - Brannon braved the cool morning air to open his legs up in the time trial & hopefully grab a few omnium points in the process.  The course was a difficult rolling out & back 10 mile challenge.  He came within 16 seconds of earning points which would prove critical later in the close final overall standings.

Crit - The warm afternoon welcomed the field to a well designed 6 turn oval shaped course.  It featured a turning climb through turns 4-6 into a final straight that is usually plagued by a crosswind.  Today, however, the wind would be a headwind down the back stretch & a tailwind to the finish.  Speed was kept high throughout the race as Patrick Allison (TNT Fireworks) & Sammy Flores (Birmingham Velo/Tria) did battle over MAR lap points.  Brannon & Steve stayed near the front most of the race.  Brannon read the field well going into the final lap & jumped into a great position as they entered the backstretch.  Coming out of the final turn he drove it to the line for 3rd behind Flores (Velo/Tria) & Cody Hall (VeloVoodoo).  This put Brannon back into the mix in 7th overall with only a few points separating him from a top 5.

RR - The cool morning air had everyone looking at each other to decide what to wear as it promised to warm up quickly & the race would be a long rolling 68 mile journey.  Eric joined Brannon & Steve, & had done the math to set our strategy for the day:  get Brannon KOM bonus points to move him into 5th, keep the contenders from taking them, & then set him up for the finish.  Of the contenders Adam Handler & Nathan Sibly of Aarons were only one point ahead of Brannon, Patrick Vrana (RBM) only a couple points behind, & several others in striking distance. Reality setup a 3 man train for the first KOM where Brannon edged out Patrick Allison (TNT) moving Brannon into 5th overall.  Eric & Steve worked to keep the many breaks within reach.  Steve launched for the second KOM to keep points from the challengers & was just beat on the line by Flores (Birmingham Velo/Tria).  From there it was a game of position with short break attempts going off on the run into the finish.  A small group hung off the front of the peleton containing the dangerous Aarons team in the finale.  Eric led the charge with Brannon in tow.  In the confusion of the final course turns & the catch of the break Brannon found himself behind a spent Aarons rider with 250m to go, & had to adjust his sprint while the field surged around on the right.  Steve drove through on the outside to a 9th place finish, Brannon recovered for 10th, & Eric finished 24th. Overall - Much of the hard work grabbing & protecting the 18 KOM points on offer during the road race was overshadowed by the large number of points available at the finish.  Adam Handler (Aarons) & Patrick Vrana (RBM) finished on the RR podium, & the KOM points that Flores (Velo/Tria) earned squeaked him past Brannon as well.  Matt Lipscomb, who won the TT, finished with just enough points to tie Brannon for 6th in the overall.  Steve's efforts to cover the KOMs & top 10 earned him 12th in the GC.