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Will
Fyfe of Huntsville maintains a steady lead over eventual
third-place
finisher John Bland of Lebanon, Tenn., in Sunday’s 102-mile
Cheaha Challenge bicycle race. Photo: Kevin Qualls/The Anniston
Star
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PIEDMONT — Will Fyfe did not start Sunday's
Cheaha Challenge expecting to win the 102-mile cycling trek, but the
spokes literally broke his way.
Women's
winner
Caroline Sandow just wanted to get back to Gainesville, Fla., ASAP to
finish homework for her master's degree program.
Everything worked out for the two big winners in the 13th annual
Cheaha Challenge.
Fyfe was the top finisher among men who completed the 102 miles
from
the Piedmont Civic Center to Cheaha State Park and back, crossing the
finish line in four hours, 58 minutes.
Sandow led
women
who completed the full course, posting a time of 6:12.
Throw in a record field of 518 registered riders who completed at
least part of the course plus sunny and mild weather to make up for
last
year's foggy, windy and cold mess, and the day could not have gone
much
better.
"I was just going out there to goof off and kind of hang out
with
my buddies today," Fyfe said. "I ended up just kind of
keeping
in good groups in front and just kind of went from there."
Fyfe, a 26-year-old Trussville native who lives in Huntsville, had
gone seven months without racing before last weekend. He sustained a
broken collarbone in an October, 2004 mountain-bike race in
Charlotte,
N.C. He also had to focus on finishing his aerospace-engineering
course
work at Auburn in December and moving to Huntsville for his job in
defense acquisitions for Science Applications International
Corporation.
He raced in Saturday’s Sunny King Criteriums in downtown
Anniston, finishing 15th in the men’s category 2-3 race. He
didn’t figure to have enough left to cover 102 miles at his
best.
But there he was Sunday among the top three riders in the final
miles.
Then, he caught a break.
Pensacola, Fla., product Donald Davis appeared to be the strongest
rider and on his way to victory when eight spokes broke on his rear
wheel.
The mishap forced him to try several stopgap measures over the
final
25 miles. He wrapped the broken spokes around adjacent spokes and
eventually had to remove his break pad.
"The last 25 miles were pretty hard," he said.
Davis led the race from the first climb until his spokes broke and
still managed to finish second. Fyfe acknowledged the impact
Davis’
bad luck had on the race.
"Donald would have been right there. He probably would have
won
it," Fyfe said.
Whereas Davis looked strong before his spokes broke, Fyfe labored
at
the end.
"About 96 (miles), I finally just blew up and ran out of
everything and suffered to get in, but it was fun," he said.
"
... My legs are fried right now."
Davis, who rode in last year’s Challenge, seemed to take
this
year’s mishap in stride.
"It’s just a century (100-plus-mile) ride. It’s
not
race," he said. "There was no prize money, was there?"
No, there was not.
"I mean, it would be nice if my name was at the top of the
list,
but it’s not all that important," he said. "Not being
conceited, but I was the strong man out there. Will knew that."
Sandow had
bigger
things on her mind.
Immediately
after
finishing her run, she pedaled on to her SUV. The 41-year-old native
of
New York City had to get back home to finish home work related to her
master’s program in information systems management at the
University of Florida.
She said she
nearly skipped this weekend’s races because of her schoolwork
load.
"I’ve
gotta, like, fly back there," she said laughing.
"I’ve
got homework to do. I brought half of it with me, and I’m
sitting
at the race last night doing my homework."
She said her
career choice works well with cycling.
"Software
people are good cyclists, because they generally can get into a mode
where it’s just like, ‘I don’t want the world
around
me,’" she said. "I just want to focus on
technique."
Sunday,
Sandow
focused on reaching the turnaround point in three hours, which she
did.
"I knew,
if
I hit the end in three hours, I had a good chance of getting close to
six
and a half," she said. "I didn’t expect 6:12, so that
was
good."
It got her
and
earlier start on the trip home.
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