04/18/2025
What a time to be a bike racer. Hard to believe it’s been 17 years since I won a wild night at . That race was electric. I was part of a 3-man hit squad with Olympic gold medalist Peter Dawson and . Peter got off the front with another rider and nearly lapped the field…it was chaos.
Four teams hammered the front for the last 45 minutes, driving the pace to bring them back. I had to fight like hell just to hold position, dodging wheels, elbows, and the usual hecklers camped out in Turn 3 year after year. The sprint kicked off long before the final corner, and it was a bumpy, brutal drag race to the line.
Athens was the Super Bowl of crit racing! Fast, loud, rowdy, and incredibly hard to win. If you took the pro win, you were a rockstar that night, free drinks, free food, clubs and bars around UGA showing love like you just won the Tour.
I told myself two things would happen if I ever won: I’d party hard, and I’d never come back to race again. I kept one of those promises.
After the podium, I grabbed my trophy, packed up the car, hit , and went straight to bed.
Good luck to all racing Athens next weekend!
04/10/2025