Local Racing

My name is Phil O’Donnell. This is my first year on Team Specialized Racing. I’m a little different than the rest of the team though. I live on the east coast about 45 minutes north of Atlanta, Georgia. This weekend I did a local race in Union City, Georgia. Because it is still early in the season and everyone has not gone off in different directions to race, the race actually drew a descent field. Team Type 1 fielded 8 plus riders, not to mention riders from Kenda, Hincapie Devo, and Chemstar Pro cycling.

The racing started Saturday with a short time trial. I ended up winning the Pro ½ TT! This came as a surprise to me because some of these guys done the UCI race in Uruguay a couple of weeks ago. Later in the afternoon was an hour long Crit. I played it cool. Tried to get in a few breaks but after a while I realized nothing was going to stick. I tried to stay consistent on someone’s wheel so I picked Matt Lipscomb, a junior on Hincapie Devo. As the finish approached the bumping increased. The highlight was when a TT1 rider did a “stoppie” in to the 3^rd to last turn. That dropped me back a few spots so in the sprint I had to settle for 15^th.

On Sunday the road race started in downtown and headed out for 73 miles around central Georgia. The race was fairly uneventful. Realcyclist.com rider Oscar Clarke set up a long 5 man break that we did not catch until 5 miles to go. Just like Saturday though most breaks were not sticking. Eventually though a group broke away from the lead group before we caught them. It contained two TT1 riders, Ty Magner and Tanner Putt, and an EDA/Aerocat Procycling rider. The EDA rider took the win followed by Magner and Putt. When the field hit 1 kilometer coming through downtown I hopped on what was left of TT1’s leadout train. Spinning on my junior gears I managed 6^th in the field sprint putting me in 9^th. As of Sunday night the omnium results had not been posted but hopefully I’m still in the top 5.

Great weekend for me! Glad to have the S on my chest. Specialized has been great!  Next up for me is San Dimas Stage Race in southern California! Heading out on Thursday to hang out with teammates and race our bikes! Stay tuned…there is much more to come!

-Phil O’Donnell