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One doesn't expect to see cyclists use breaks near the finish line, but Scott Kuppersmith and Will Fyfe couldn't decide which should win Sunday's Cheaha Challenge.
Fyfe was the last to yield, which made newfound riding partner Kuppersmith first to cross the finish line — albeit reluctantly — ahead of a record field of 653 riders.
“He kind of helped pull me back through the head wind the last 15 miles,” Kuppersmith, who runs a cycling shop in Mobile, said of Huntsville's Fyfe. “We traded pulls, but he did more than I did.”
The 30-year-old Kuppersmith won in four hours, 57 minutes and 36 seconds — one second ahead of the 28-year-old Fyfe, the 2005 winner. Both were well off Chandler Weeks' record time of 4:40.
Anniston's Brooke Henderson was the first female to finish the full 102-mile ride, returning to the start/finish line at the Piedmont Civic Center in 6:12.08.
The Challenge closed out the area's annual cycling bonanza, which included Saturday's Sunny King Criterium races in downtown Anniston. The criterium races anchor the annual Noble Street Festival.
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“I found out the Decatur race did not offer a four or five men's field,” he said, referring to competitive categories. “That's a lot of what we get here (in the Cheaha Challenge), more of the intermediate racer types. Since they weren't offering a four or five field, then we knew all of those people would stay over, and I saw some three guys out there today that didn't go to Decatur.”
Poe also credited favorable weather for helping the field surge past the 2004 record 530. Rain impacted turnout in 2005 and 2006.
Kuppersmith made his second Cheaha Challenge, having raced here in 2005. He also ran in the men's 2-3 criterium Saturday in Anniston.
He and Herring Gas Cycling teammates broke away early in Sunday's race, averaging about 26 miles per hour. Kuppersmith led for about the first 20 miles.
“He and a couple of guys he rides with were stringing it out the whole time until we hit the parkway,” Fyfe said. “After we got on the parkway for about two miles, we put together a front group of about eight of us.
“After Horse Block, he went up the front, and I bridged to him on the descent of Horse Block, and I rode on his wheel for about the next 30 miles, and we started trading pulls.”
Kuppersmith fought off leg cramps to stay in position to share the load with Fyfe.
Two state police motorcycles, with lights and sirens on, led the pair down the final stretch to the finish line. The motorcycles rumbled across the finish line, but Kuppersmith and Fyfe hesitated.
“It was a good effort on both of us, but I didn't really want it,” Kuppersmith said. “There shouldn't be a first or second, really.”
Henderson, 27, also found a buddy on the course to help pull her through, and the two have a connection. Henderson, a veterinarian for Anniston Animal Medical Center, went to veterinary school at Auburn. Her new buddy, Mike Hogan, also attended Auburn.
“I was fortunate to have my friend Mike, who's an ex-professional cyclist from Auburn, to pull me back,” she said. “It's always nice to have help from other people.”
Henderson has been in cycling nine years, starting with a mountain-biking club team while an undergraduate student at LSU. She made her first Cheaha Challenge on Sunday and finished fifth in Saturday's women's 3-4 criterium in Anniston.
She's come a long way.
“My first mountain-bike race, I had to stop like three times and vomit,” she said. “It was hot. It was horrible, and I said I'm never going to mountain-bike race again. This is horrible. Now, look at me.
“Bike racing is kind of addictive. You meet great people who help you stay in shape, and you get to be outside in nature.”
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