Josh Carter Race Report via Julie

Greetings ABDers!

This is Julie Carter, more commonly known in the cycling world as "Josh Carter's wife" ... although over a decade ago people in the cycling world new me as Julie Thomas and knew Josh as "Julie's boyfriend". Anyway, Josh has been telling me for over a month that he wants to type up an update for everyone but he's just been too busy. Between his travels for racing and work and his training he barely has time to mow the lawn. So here are his thoughts from the last few weeks:

Winfield on Saturday: Going into the race Josh was excited for several reasons.
1. He'd won this race the previous year.
2. He'd be able to race with all of his (healthy) teammates.
3. He was excited to drive the pace car for some of the other races because he'd never really driven a pace car [despite following them around for over 10 years].

Josh had a good time driving the pace car with Jeff. Then at race-time everything went off without a hitch and all of the guys did a great job racing. You can't ask for a better finish than a 1st and 2nd. Props to Jeff for that long solo effort. I know he's been training hard. After the race was over Josh and Jeff were cooling down together and Jeff said something to Josh that, at the time, went in one ear and out the other. Jeff said that of all of the wins he's had ... that was the most exciting win he'd ever had because of all of the cheering from all of you fellow ABDers and it being his team's race.

Sunday Winfield: Josh was confident that the guys could pull off a second win for the weekend because everyone was riding so strong on Saturday. And he had a lot of confidence in his own sprint after winning the field sprint on Saturday. Sure enough, the guys never missed a single move and controlled the entire race down to the last lap with Jeff solo off the front. Every single one of the guys played a huge role in contributing during the race and Josh felt like they were really racing as a unit. Jeff got caught on the final lap, Josh won the sprint and the race. Afterward, Josh began to understand what Jeff was saying the previous day after Jeff's win about it being the most exciting win he'd ever had. Even though Josh has won huge crits in California, won sprint competitions in UCI 2.2 stage races in Mexico, raced on a beautiful island in the Caribbean, has helped a teammate win the GC at a UCI stage race in El Salvador and won in his own hometown ... his win in front of all of you ABDers was the most thrilling experience he's had on the bike ever! It means a lot to him to have all of you out there to support him and the others on the team. Keep cheering!

Last Sunday Josh and Jeff raced in O'Fallon, MO in a race called Winghaven. The course was 3+ miles with nice pavement and a few rollers; There was a roundabout 200 meters from the finish line and a medium-small hill between the roundabout and the finish. The race was 20 laps. Big pro sprinters Dan Schmatz (who was 4th in the 2006 USPRO Criterium Championships in Downer's Grove) and Hayden Godfrey (the New Zealand rider that wins World Cup track events) were present along with two young pros from VMG and Steve Tilford's entire, super team (including Brian Jensen). Andy Crater also had his team present. With a $10,000 prize list and $2,700 for first prize and having each won a race at Winfield the previous weekend ... the guys were more than ready to race. The guys did an awesome job of covering moves. Tilford's team tried like crazy to get away. Josh or Jeff were always on them. Tilford's team was pretty picky about who they'd work with though. They were unwilling to work with Josh, Dan or Hayden (basically they weren't racing for 2nd place) so every move with one of those three sprinters was not going to work. When Jeff was in the move and not Josh, they'd not work because one of the other sprinters were in the move with Jeff. Ultimately it came down to a field sprint. Josh popped around Hayden and Dan came around Josh ... leaving Josh in 2nd place when it was done! He was happy to finish between two world-class sprinters. All-in-all it was a great day.

I hope to see you all soon!

Julie