By Johnny Purvis

110 miles on a 4.8 mile loop (23 laps) with 175 of the best CAT 1 racers in the country. The course was rolling almost the whole time, it felt similar to the Avoca Loop, just a few more rollers per loop. It was pretty fast from the gun and there was no getting to the front. Before the race started I had ambitions of trying to get into a break but early into the race I realized a breakaway was a long shot because the pace was so high. I decided I was going to sit about mid pack and try and stay out of trouble. I found myself riding around Steve Tilford most of the time because I trust him and know he’s going to ride smart and conserve energy as much as possible. The race went by fairly quick, time flies when your averaging over 26mph. I was eating the whole time, just about every CLIF product you can imagine. After 2 hours I looked back and noticed we had dropped a lot of riders and this continued. Somewhere around 3:15-3:30 into the race I started to feel my legs, some cramping as well. There were a few crashes, one nasty one on the last lap with about 1200m to go. The last lap was all about positioning, I tried to stay relaxed and smooth. I made a move with about 1k to go moving from around 30th up to the mid teens. The last 400m was real hectic and the final 200m was downhill. I gave it all I had to move up and I ended up 15th. Dan Hollaway won solo about 15 seconds ahead of our group.

All in all I’m happy with how the race ended up, I want to thank everybody who helped me get to Louisville for this race. Also I want to thank all the sponsors: Tyson Foods, Shoulder Center of Arkansas, The Bike Route, Creative Awards, CLIF BAR. Happy 4th everyone!

STRAVA data: https://www.strava.com/activities/626715211

Numbers:
Distance: 111.7 miles
Speed: 26.5 mph/avg.
Power: 271 avg. watts
Heart rate: 167 bpm
Calories: 3675 KJ’s
Elevation: 7,000 ft