Jim Clevenger drank special coffee on the morning of August 10, giving him delusions of grandeur or possibly giving him enough giddiness to think he could stay in a breakaway for 67 miles to earn a podium finish. Clevenger saw an opportunity to exploit a gap about five miles into the 72-mile road race. Five racers got clear, including two time trial specialists along with Clevenger.

After a short while, one of the breakaway racers was shot off the back and swallowed up by the peloton, leaving the breakaway with four racers. As this was occurring, Joe Kleidosty and Greg Vaught were working well with Jay Hawkins, who also had a team mate in the breakaway, to disrupt the chase and any organization efforts in the peloton. At one point, the gap was approaching one minute. Kleidosty was optimistic that Clevenger and his breakaway could take it to the finish, but a stiff headwind from the north was too much for the 4-person breakaway to handle.

The peloton caught the breakaway around the 53-mile mark of the race. Clevenger did not get a podium finish, but his breakaway efforts put pressure on the main leaders in the peloton to do a lot of work to catch the breakaway. It also pulled the wheel vehicle up to the breakaway, leaving one of the lead cyclists in the peloton without a spare wheel when he got a flat tire well into the race. Kudos to Clevenger for putting in such a strong effort to change the dynamics of the race up.

Kleidosty came up short by half a wheel length out of a top five finish, coming in sixth overall. Clevenger placed third in Masters 50+ category, while Greg Vaught battled some difficult cramping issues to place sixth in Masters 50+. Doug Young unfortunately flatted out in the first lap.

Special thanks to Roger Harrison of Lanterne Rouge for providing the images for this story. See more of his images on his Flickr site.