Duluth, Ga. – Team Type 1’s Dan Holt finished second in Thursday’s Gwinnett Center Criterium but it was good enough for him to climb into the overall lead at the third Annual Gwinnett Bike Fest.

 

The six-races-in-five-days event in Georgia features more than 600 local, regional, national and international competitors.

 

With the help of teammate and Team Type 1 co-founder Joe Eldridge, Holt bridged a gap to a group of six riders who eventually lapped the field in the 90-minute race.

 

“I was pretty happy I made it across the gap,” Holt said. “They (the six in the lead) were pretty far gone. I wasn’t sure I could get across, but I thought I had better try.”

 

With about 15 minutes to go, Holt was on his own when Eldridge’s blood sugar began to drop. Eldridge is one of four riders with Type 1 diabetes on the Team Type 1 men’s professional team.

 

“I was having trouble holding the wheel in the easy sections and went straight into survival mode,” he said. “I took in about 60 grams of carbohydrates to no avail. The blood sugar had dropped too low for me to help out and I had to pull the plug to get more food.”

 

Eldridge said it was the first time in recent memory that his blood sugar has gone low during a race.

 

“I reviewed what I did and realized I had not taken in nearly enough carbs,” he said.

 

Despite a lack of teammates, Holt still managed to finish runner-up in the sprint to Alessandro Bazzana (Fly V Australia). In Wednesday’s 50-mile Road Atlanta Circuit Race, Holt was part of an 11-man breakaway on the way to a fourth-place finish.

 

With only Eldridge to help him, Holt said he will do his best to hang onto the overall lead in today’s 85-mile Subaru Gwinnett Road Race in Dacula, Ga. There are two stages Saturday: the six-mile Addictive Cycles Time Trial in Buford, Ga., and a downtown criterium in Norcross, Ga., in the afternoon. Sunday’s final race is the Events Response Circuit Race in Lawrenceville, Ga.

 

“There’s a little bit of pressure,” Holt said. “Fly V Australia has four guys, so they are probably going to try and stick it to us. But I have a great teammate in Joe. We’ll see what happens.”

 

— TT1 —