The Georgia Games is a staple on the Georgia racing calendar. Held in July of every year, it is not only on a challenging course, but it is also never under 95 degrees! First up was the road race, which also doubled as the state championship. On tap for the day was 90 miles on a rolling course with temps in the upper 90′s. Litespeed/BMW had a strong team for this one – Chris Brown, Benjy Coil, Matt McCarthy, Wes Parrish, Colby Millen, Chris Chotas, and Artur Sagat. We knew this would be a race of attrition, so the plan was to be in every break and come home with a state champion jersey. About 40 riders rolled off the line at the 11am start time. Three miles into the race, Wes ended up off the front with another rider. A few miles later, another rider bridged the gap to make it 3. This move forced the other teams to use valuable energy in chasing. Wes and his companions worked well together up front, but the gap never got above 45 seconds. Once we neared the end of the first lap and hit the hilly section, the gap dropped dramatically and the group was caught after about 18 miles off the front. We figured there would be some more attacks coming, so Matt and Colby rode a solid pace on the front to keep the goup intact for awhile. On the third lap a group of 4 managed to escape the field, but Chris, Benjy, and Artur decided this one wasn’t getting away without a Litespeed/BMW rider in it and quickly closed down the 1 minute gap! With about 35 miles to go Chris Brown decided it was time to do his thing and launched a blistering attack which only Serghei Tvetcoc (Aerocat Cycling Team) could follow. Upon seeing this attack, one rider turned to Chris Chotas and told him he’d never seen a move so powerful. Ever. These two went pull for pull over the next 34 miles while Benjy and Artur kept things in the field in check. The final mile is all uphill and Serghei managed to get a small gap on Chris and held on for the win with Chris taking 2nd place. Not too bad for spending the last 35 miles off the front with only one other guy to help! A small group managed to get away in the last couple of miles, but Benjy was able to place second in the field sprint for 8th place on the day. No jersey, but 2 in the top 10 after some great teamwork was 
not a bad way to start the weekend.
On Sunday, the Georgia Games criterium was held at the West Oak Office Park. This is the same course that many Atlanta area cyclists train on during the famous “Tuesday Night Crit”. A smaller field of about 25 lined up for this one and Litespeed/BMW had Wes Parrish, Matt McCarthy, Artur Sagat, and Oneil Samuels racing. The race started out fast from the start with attacks going left and right. We all took turns getting in every move. After about 20 minutes of this, Oneil was able to get away with John Atkins and Andy Lougher (two Tuesday night regulars). These three all took their turns doing the work off the front while Matt, Artur, and Wes patrolled the front of the field and made sure nobody was going to get away or pull this group back. With 5 laps to go the gap was 1 minute. Now the field knew they were racing for 4th place. With 2 laps to go, Matt put in a searing attack that only a junior racer from TN was able to follow. Being relatively new to racing in the P/1/2 field, he didn’t realize that you had to work to stay away with two laps to go and so only sat on Matt’s wheel. Matt did his best, but the field caught them as they came through with 1 lap to go. Wes immediately attacked as soon as they were caught. Up front the cat-and-mouse had started and as Wes came around to the backside of the course he could see the 3 leaders just up the road. Knowing Oneil was the best sprinter in the group, the other two forced him to lead out the sprint and were able to come around him at the line and force him into 3rd place on the day. Meanwhile, the group behind was flying and caught Wes coming out of the final turn. Another hot, aggressive race, but we got another podium finish for the team.
Next up, the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix!