1st Place Pro Men
BILL HURLEY
Porterfield Tire
Athens, GA

INTERVIEWS

• 1st Place PRO Men
  Bill Hurley
  PORTERFIELD TIRE
  
  
• 1st Place PRO Women
  Willow Koerber
  CANE CREEK CYCLING
  
  
• 2nd Place PRO Men
  Andy Johnston
  CDH / MARIN
  
  
• 3rd Place PRO Men
  Julian Hine
  PORTERFIELD TIRE
  
  
• 4th Place PRO Men
  Paul Bell
  CANE CREEK CYCLING
  
  
• 1st Place EXPERT
  5th Place PRO Men
  Eric Keim
  K2 / NEW SUN
  
  
• 1st Place PRO Women 30+
  2nd Place PRO
  Linda Murphy
  TREK / South East Team

April 29-30, 2000
Downtown Athens &
Oconee Heritage Park
Athens, GA

     I knew something special was going on in town when I pulled into Athens at 3:15 am Saturday morning and there were plenty of people all over town - wide awake. What kind of southern town was this anyway? The kind of town that is serious about biking and the kind of town which attracts very serious bike racers.
      At 10:00 am Saturday morning the time trial got underway. It was already about 70+ degrees and a beautiful day for some fast and furious racing. The top 5 riders finished within about 30 seconds of each other and the top three winners were to hold their positions for the cross-country event the next day. The 4th & 5th place spots were taken by the very strong K2 / New Sun Team members Jeremiah Bishop and Eric Keim. You'll hear what happened to Jeremiah a little later. Bill Hurley - Porterfield Tire (World Masters Champion) delivered the first of three knock out blows to the competition winning the time trial and being the only one to break the 21 minute mark.
     The Dual Slalom event was fairly small compared to the other events of the weekend - however the racers who showed up to compete in this event were very serious with some tough competition at the Expert level - and plenty of spirited competition at all levels. It was plenty hot with full body armor on and the spectators seemed to love this event. Juan Ashworth won the Expert/Pro Men race. Zane Ray won the Sport Men race. Scott Tyson won the Beginner Men event. Kelly Mandrell won the Womens.
     Saturday night around 5:30 pm in downtown Athens in front of a crowd that slowly grew to about 30,000 spectators - the different road criteriums, handcycle race, inline skating, running and fat tire criterium got underway. The fat tire crit was between the Women's Pro road crit and the main event - the Men's Pro road crit with world class competition in which Gord Fraser - Mercury headed up a four man break that actually lapped the whole field!
     Just as it was turning dark the fat tire crit got underway with the 50 top time trialist competing for $1000 split among the top 15 finishers. There were several warnings about the width of the tires having to be 1 1/2 inches minimum but no one actually checked them at the start line. Things were a little too hectic. No one made any sustained breaks in the very fast race with several racers jockeying for position in the last turn for the final sprint.  The yellow jerseys of Porterfield Tire remained at the front the whole race.
     Bill Hurley- Porterfield Tire was lead out by his team mate Julian Hine and cut through the field at the end delivering his second knock out blow in front of 30,000 fans and caught off-guard competitors. All is fair in love and war and fat tire crits!
     The final showdown in two days of fierce competition was Sunday morning at 10:00 am at Oconee Heritage Park. The course was a mix of open fields mild climbs and fast, tight, twisty single-track. It was a 200 to 400 yard or so dash into the first bit of single-track - then after about a half a mile it broke into a couple of hundred yards of open fire road with room to pass before going into a tricky, tight, bumpy downhill single-track run with a sharp turn at the bottom - then a creek crossing and into the main single-track section of the course. There were dips and tough little sections - no big climbs but somehow it seemed like you were climbing on mild grades more than was possible. The last part of the five mile loop was going through an open field making a big circle around the field and then heading into the finish. Pro men did 5 laps (25 miles) and the Women Pros did 4 laps (20 miles).

     Bill Hurley - Porterfield Tire delivered his third and final knockout blow for the weekend. Jumping out front at the very start he remained virtually unchallenged throughout the race.
     At one point I was taking pictures and was near an uphill windy single-track section and saw the World Masters Champion actually catch up to the motorcycle that was supposed to be clearing the way. He was choking on the fumes and was yelling at the top of his lungs (on the uphill) for the motorcycle to get moving. He later mentioned after prodding from me that he had to come to a complete stop at another point as the motorcycle was carrying an injured rider off course. He attacked in the first and fifth lap - and sat on for half a lap at the end conserving enough energy to carry away his hefty check which included winning the prime for the first lap. Who invited these Canadians anyway?      After limited training due to working hard to get his new team van ready for Big Bear Andy Johnston - CDH / Marin showed he is a force to be reckoned with as he was worked hard by the Porterfield Tire team but still managed to place second - just 34 seconds back. 
     Julian Hine - Porterfield Tire after capping off a 20 hour training week rode four very strong laps and helped his team mate Bill Hurley secure the lead position. He tried to hang onto second place but after a high volume training week and racing hard all weekend the last couple of weeks - lost his legs a little on the fifth lap. He was still less than a minute down from second place capturing third.
     Paul Bell - Cane Creek rode with a friend early in the race before realizing that it was time to set his own pace and bridge the gap to the lead pack. Having limited sleep he realized too late that he was stronger than he thought and should have gone harder. He also lost some serious time getting around a couple of rude riders who wouldn't yield the line in the single-track. This all around racer did very well under the circumstances placing fourth.
     Willow Koerber - Cane Creek proved unstoppable winning the Women's Pro race by a solid 8 minutes. This after writing three college papers the day before and getting up at 5:00am to drive from North Carolina Sunday morning. She also chose too narrow of a tire for the course and crashed hard on the second lap. It's really not that much of a disadvantage for her to go to school while racing as she usually has plenty of extra time during a race in case she wants to bring a book. It's too bad for her competition that she'll be graduating in three days.
     Eric Keim - K2 / New Sun went out hard in order to help out team mate Jeremiah Bishop (who unfortunately crashed into a tree and bonked later in the race after hanging with the lead pack). Eric dropped back in the second and third laps but recovered well and pushed hard in the 4th and 5th laps taking 1st Place Expert and 5th Place Pro - causing Paul Bell - Cane Creek extra headaches at the end as Eric was a mere 6 seconds back from this experienced Semi-Pro at the finish line.
     Linda Murphy - Trek Southeast took 1st Place 30+ Expert/Pro Women and was 2nd Place OVERALL Women Pro. She too has had reduced training the last few weeks but showed her toughness keeping Carrete Cariza Munoz - Turbo at bay. Carrete - 1:44:04 finished less than a minute back from Linda capturing 3rd Place OVERALL Women Pro/Expert.
     Due to limited staff I apologize for rather weak reporting on the Sport and Beginner races. As we go public with this site we will be able to do a better job covering events in the future. We will at least list the winners when results become available. An online interview form will soon be available for Sport and Beginner #1 winners to fill out online. Thank you for your patience.