Despite talk the week before of staying home, getting some rest, etc.,
a good chunk of Panther’s northern contingent headed to Kentucky for
the Tour of Red Red Gorge Omnium, consisting of a Time Trial on Friday
(which only Ryan did); a rolling 50-something mile RR on Saturday; and
a 91 mile RR on Sunday which featured four good-sized climbs.
Saturday’s road race was fairly aggressive, but given the short
distance and nature of the course it took a while for anything to get
away.  With a little over 10k to go I found myself in a group of 9 or
10 riders.  I was the only Panther representation in the group, which
contained a couple fast sprinters, and I wasn’t feeling particularly
great at that moment, so I didn’t contribute much to the pace making.
Team Nuvo, however, had three riders in the move, and apparently liked
it’s makeup. They were successful (barely) in driving it to the
finish, despite the strong efforts of our riders back in the field to
reel it in.  I figured my only chance to win was by attacking, so I
gave it a go from around 3k out; the move was unsuccessful, and I
ended up finishing 4th in the sprint.

As expected, Sunday’s race started out fairly slow, save for a couple
of riders going off on “suicide” breaks, as everyone knew that the
real action was going to take place on the climbs.  Each time we went
up a hard climb, a group of 10 or so would form at the front, then
eventually get caught by the dwindling field. Each time we had nearly
the whole team making the selections on the climbs, so it was obvious
that it was going to be a good day for the Panther boys.  About
halfway through it started to rain, which led to Dan and Chris being
taken out of the race as a result of crashes whilst descending.  Chris
gets the team hardman award for dislocating his shoulder, then
immediately popping it back into place himself. After the final major
climb, the front group was established for good. Ryan and I were both
there, and after a few miles we went to work attacking the break.
Ryan made a nice solo move that lasted for a few miles, and after he
came back I was able to counter and solo the last 6k to victory.  We
narrowly missed out on going 1-2 with Ryan finishing 2nd in the group
sprint for 3rd overall.

-Greg Christian