LINK: Great story from the Athens Banner Herald on the handcycle race

Last weekend’s awesome racing culminated in Athens, GA at the wild and crazy Athens Twilight Criterium, after a 3-year hiatus for the handcyclists. Racers and staff made the three hour drive from Rome to Athens following the conclusion of the TT in North Rome, Saturday morning. Once in Athens, things immediately heated-up and it was good to be back at the circus that is “The Twilight.”

There are numerous events going on throughout the day in Athens, and the crowd starts to pick-up as dusk approaches. Handcyclists were scheduled at 6:30, and spectators started to fill-in the fencing, three-deep around the 1 kilometer course. Organizers opted for a rolling start this year, sending the entire handcycle field of 24 around for the first lap, all together. As soon as the gun sounded for lap #2, the fireworks began as 10 guys headed fast in to corner #1. Things spread out quickly up the hill on the back side, and the usual trio of Oz Sanchez, Krige Schabort, and Scott McNeice immediately dropped the rest. Undefeated so far throughout the weekend, Matt Updike was content to ride with his longseat counterparts and see how things progressed…he later said he is always extra cautious at the Twilight after a serious crash in 2000 landed him in the ER.

As the leaders rounded the corner for the third lap, Schabort was nowhere to be seen. Further investigation uncovered that he had thrown his chain all the way off the cassette on the bumpy turn #1, and had to completely stop to fix it. So it seemed that it was a two-man race for the overall win with McNeice and Sanchez settling in to their all-too familiar battle positions.

Things through the rest of the field weren’t quite the same as the previous evening’s criterium in Rome, however, as first-time Twilight racers struggled on the narrow, tight, bumpy technical turns (particularly corner #4), and the short and deceivingly steep climb on the back side. It seemed that the field was torn to pieces on the tricky course, with individual riders strewn all over the place, and the leaders putting laps on *everyone* more quickly than usual. Rafael Ibarra had plenty of difficulty in turn #4, thanks to a narrow camber tube, while veteran Twilight-er, Todd Richardson seemed to always pick the right lines and looked smoother than most....as did Bike-On.com's Josh Sharpe, who also had a good race in Athens.

Niel Harding and Geoff Hopkins seemingly continued their points battle, until disaster struck mid-way through the race: Hopkins --- fueled by a solid TT performance earlier in the day --- was ripping around the course with Harding when he came upon a lapped rider in the apex of the infamous [off-camber] turn #4. With nowhere to go, he jackknifed and laid it down, heading straight for the fence. It was similar to Bob Molinatti’s crash in 2001, when he spectacularly hit the hay bales and flew in to the crowd, except for one thing: Hopkins only saw fence in front him…race organizers opted for NO bales this year in order to keep cyclists from “launching” *over* the fence. This really didn’t help Hopkins, as he initially landed hard on his arm, and subsequently kissed the metal fence with the left side of his face.

Meanwhile, Sanchez had a disaster of his own brewing, when he realized a serious crack in his left crankarm after about 10 laps. A half-hearted attempt to “baby it” didn't help, and the crank finally gave way and snapped midway through the race. As he came around to the stage, one crank in hand, his face said it all: “I just lost a bunch of money!” Indeed, it would cost Sanchez not only a chance for another win, but also major points for the weekend and for the series, which translates directly in to hard-earned prize money. According to Sanchez, equally disappointing was the fact that he LOVED the course.

Although Schabort chased, now a half lap behind, McNeice made sure the crowd knew that he wasn’t just in the lead all by himself because of the misfortunes of his breakaway mates: He hit the gas and began gobbling-up more and more lapped riders on his way to victory…not to mention the overall victory for the weekend’s Omnium now that Sanchez had just lost major points. Sure enough, McNeice brought home a solid victory in front of the wild and crazy fans in Athens, and was stoked to be back at the world’s biggest criterium. “I’ve raced here more than almost anyone, and it's always awesome to get the win....it was worth every minute!” said McNeice following the race.

In the longseat race, things started to get back to some sense of normalcy the second half of the race, and again it was Dane Pilon and David Randall who looked solid on the course. David Lee regrouped too, and chased Updike down for final lap showdown…but couldn’t quite match the Coloradan’s acceleration the last 200 meters, leaving Updike to take his fourth victory in as many races.

Hopkins received medical treatment at the venue, but was advised to get x-rays at the ER. Fellow racer Rick Gilliland, along with his girlfriend Llynda Edwards (a nurse and veteran ‘rock star’ volunteer at the Sadler’s Ultra Challenge in Alaska) earned the heroes of the day award by accompanying Geoff to the local ER….easier said than done when it comes to the simpler things like transfers and driving with hand controls. After 4 hours of “hurry-up and wait”, Hopkins was finally x-rayed and the good news: No broken bones! Plenty of road rash and bruises however, so USHF staff insisted that he stay in nearby Duluth with some of the other racers to get some rest – which he did, and how!

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