Speedweek Recap
Good, bad, and ugly from last weekend down south.
Speedweek was upon us and TSL sent Mike “SoPro” Jones, Sait Arana, and Andrew Scott down to Georgia and South Carolina for a weekend of night criterium activity.
This would be Mike Jones’s first ever Athens Twilight Criterium, one of the biggest domestic races this country has to offer. Thousands of fans line the streets of Athens, GA to watch dozens and dozens of cyclists from across the world duke it out for the top spot on the podium.
We kicked off Speedweek down at Spartanburg, SC at the “fastest night.” The criterium would be Andrew’s 2nd ever criterium (after Sunny King) and marked SoPro’s first ever Speed Week (Sait isn’t new to this.) Mike Jones comfortably navigated the peloton during most of the race while Andrew got caught up in 2 earlier crashes, hitting the deck twice.
With 8 to go, Sait got unlucky and caught a barrier, crashing hard with it and other cyclists; he eventually had to get lifted to the hospital where his compound fracture in his arm was treated; he’ll be back in 6–8 weeks. Andrew hit the deck again, hard, and this third crash was it for him, as his bike was too damaged to continue; the race was neutralized, and eventually SoPro was the lone finisher, placing 20th. Racer’s after called it “the most hectic and crazy race they’d ever done.”
Athens was a bit “tamer,” but the pace was high, and crashes started not long after the gun went off. Jones fought hard to reach the front before a pileup crash behind him neutralized the race, and he and Andrew had to restart about a half hour in. Andrew was still too damaged from his wrecks, and had to abandon about 1 hr into the race, as SoPro fought on to take 31st; 150+ cyclists started the race, and only 51 finished. Perhaps wrecked by the effort, Jones succumbed to a brutal stomach bug which left day 3, Commerce, down to just Andrew.
Andrew rode the Commerce Criterium well, covering what he could and riding the field conservatively after two ragged nights of racing. He finished with the peloton, 20 seconds down on the breakaway group that took the podium.
“This racing is really something else,” Andrew said. “I’ve done UCI road races, I’ve done stage racing, but this is a completely different beast. I can’t wait to see how my crit experience will help me develop my road and stage racing abilities.”
“Back on Jelly-Belly we had a crit squad that would go and do these kinds of things, but I never did- I always raced the stage races. Now that I’m getting a 2nd ‘go’ at this kind of thing, I’m so glad I’m racing the races I never did when I was younger. This was an amazing race and I’m glad I’m still throwing down with some guys that are nearly half my age. I have like 19 years already on Andrew [chuckles.]”
We would like to thank our sponsors, Giant Bicycles, Vie13, Speedsleev, KMC Chain, Precis Engineering, Gryphon Coffee, Pizzeria Geppetto, and the Perla Hotel for aiding us during our season. Please be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more live updates and other visual resources!
