ToV Stage 5: Waynesboro to Staunton Road Race

The race started under cool temps and cloudy skies. The forecast called for clearing in the afternoon, but Mother Nature had other ideas and pummeled us with rain drops for the first half of the race.

The race course was about 105 miles through rolling hills with no categorized climbs. Just a lot of ups and downs for the next 4 1/2 hours. Should be easy, right?

Oh, and did I mention the dirt roads? Yeah, the put us on these dirt roads through these rolling hills. Local mountain biker Jeremiah Bishop led us through this part of the course and picked some great lines.

A 3-man break stayed off the front until 5K to go and the teams from Sierra, Rite Aid and Kalhara LaGrange tried to organize some trains. I managed to surf my way up to 20th position coming into the final left hand bend, about 500 meters from the uphill sprint finish.

Boy, I was bummed I didn't preview this finish because I honestly thought I had more real estate and opportunities to move up. I managed to wind up a really good high-cadence sprint, but I was too far back leading into what I now knew was the final corner and ended up 16th.