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Well hello there Jittery Joe’s fans, I’ve been given the daunting task of writing about this past weekend’s 23rd annual Redlands Bicycle Classic. Heavens to Betsy, where to start… You see folks, this was a weekend filled with nearly every emotion a rider could possibly feel. Without further adieu, I suppose we should just dive into it. After the stage one prologue, the Bean Team was flying high and loving life with Cesar Grajales sitting in a fine 3rd place position and Neil Lavernen Shirley holding strong in 18th. This was a perfect position for the team and everyone was pretty pumped up for the opening road stage and ready to make a strong team effort to put Cesar in the yellow jersey. With the legendary Oak Glen mountain top finish, the course couldn’t have possibly suited him better. However, half way through the stage, exactly what we didn’t want to happen, did happen. I was a few riders behind Cesar when I saw him abruptly go ass-over-tea-kettle in a very nasty and hard crash. After closing my eyes, praying, and riding over some guys wheel I made it through the crash only to stop with Evan and try and help Cesar up. If you’ve ever seen a bike crash, two things can happen: the rider gets up quickly giving you hope of catching back on, or the rider lays their motionless holding some part of their body. This was an instance of the later of the two as Cesar lay on the ground holding his shoulder. As they say in France “merde” and in my mother land “S$!%”.

At this point, the Bean Team’s plans went straight down the dumper and we were scurrying to change plans and find a new GC rider as the peloton quickly approached Oak Glen. Trent “The Man They Call Willo” Wilson tried his best to carry the Bean Team’s “precariously balanced, fully-city roasted, aromatic yet uncompromised greatness and taste” Flag right up the finishing climb. With 100 miles of riding aggressively and chasing breakaways in his legs, Trent fought hard for the team to get up the mountain in 26th place. Thanks mate. I’m sure after all the early work you did, that climb felt like death warmed up.

At this point, we didn’t have much going on in terms of GC, but we did have possibilities in stage wins and the Mountain Points jersey. In Saturday’s criterium, we managed to put Tommy Nankervis up the road in a small but mighty fast six man breakaway. With the peloton chasing full gas, Tommy and his breakaway companions remarkably continued to put time into the bunch. In the end, Tommy finished off an impressive day with a solid 4th place finish. It was beginning to look like things were turning around for the team…

That is until we woke up and headed out for Sunday’s Sunset Loop death march. What a painful day that is… Jeez. To make a long, hard, cross eyed, drooling and snarling, day short, only 13 riders were allowed onto the finishing circuits in downtown Redlands to fight over the stage win; none of those 13 riders were from the Bean Team.

Well, there you have it folks, your write up from the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Like I said in the beginning, it was a weekend filled with every emotion a rider could possibly feel. Not a stellar racing trip, but none the less, lets hope all the season’s bad luck was achieved in one weekend of racing. In a final note, Please send Cesar and his little boney arms positive healing vibes. As of now, it’s looking like a small break in his left forearm and a separated right shoulder. The poor guy has to drink his Jittery Joe’s coffee with a straw… So if you’re in Athens, Georgia and you see him struggling with his straw, lend the poor guy a helping hand and hold his coffee up so he can get a quick sip. Muchas gracias amigos.

Until Next Time,
Austin King

Courtesy of: WWW.AKINGSLIFE.COM …… Giving Freckled Kids Hope Since 1981.

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