Our Chattanooga teammate and Litespeed/QR sales rep. Chris Brown headed up to the Oak Ridge Velo Omnium Classic the other weekend, he was our lone LITESPEED/BMW rider racing the event and he was up against several strong teams. Of note the Hincapie/Green Creation, Friends Great Smokies (FSG), Team Sonic-Treehouse and Krystal Racing teams along with others.
Up first was the 75 mile road race. From the gun attacks started and an early move of three got away with Hincapie/Green Creation and FSG represented the group seemed content to let them get time as teammates of these riders just jumped on any counter moves that tried to get away. Chris was not super worried knowing that the difficult course and distance would likely wear down the small group of leaders and that they could be caught later in the race as they fatigue. But as the break continued to get time on the field, getting up to four minutes at one point as other teams seemed to not be motivated to chase, Chris started in the chase and this slowly motivated others to start working to get the break back a bit. Going into the last 10 miles the break had 2 minutes and Chris really thought the break was going to stay away. So he put himself in good position over the 1 mile climb 5 miles from the finish and got away with John DeLong of Hincapie/Green Creation. A small group formed with a couple of other riders getting with Chris and John, next thing he knows the break is right in front of them and they caught the leaders with a mile and a half to go! The finish comes 200 meters after a pretty steep hill, so Chris set himself up to be 2nd in the small group and made sure to be in the right gear combination to jump for the finish right at the top of the hill. Bam! He drills it at the top of the climb and comes in for the win! Nice work CB!
The 8 mile Time Trial was up next that afternoon on a rolling course. Chris had his Quintana Roo Cd0.1 decked out with Zipp Sub 9 disc and 808 front! He pulled down second place averaging nearly 29mph! This set Chris up with a good size points lead in the chase for the overall omnium win for the weekend with one race left, the criterium the next day.
Heading into the crit 
Chris knew which riders were closest to him for the overall and his plan was to get in break with FSG and Hincapie/Green Creation teams represented and get away from the others who had a mathematical shot at the overall. He was super aggressive throughout the race and finally got away like he planned but he had to fend off constant attacks out of the break from Hincapie/Green Creation and FSG riders. Chris had used a lot of energy in the race but wanted to get away from a good sprinter in the break so he was launched by a Sonic rider on the last lap for a solo move. Chris gave it 100% only to have John Delong catch onto him in the last corner, with Chris gassed from his solo effort he didn’t have much left for the sprint and rolled in a strong 2nd. This gave Chris the overall win for the weekend, his second overall win for the year as he won the Rocket City Omnium in Huntsville earlier this year.
It should be noted that before the Pro,1,2 criterium on Sunday afternoon that Chris raced the masters crit and promptly won it! Unbelievable.
Next up Grant Park Criterium and River Gorge Omnium!