Fayettville Stage Race

This past weekend was a tough way to end a nice and relaxing spring break. This was partly because of the always hard Fayettville Stage Race which consisted of a four lap 65 miles road race on Saturday followed by a 6.6 mile time trial, and a 6 lap 95 mile road race early on Sunday. With teams coming from many different states the racing was sure to be extremely tough, but I was nothing short of ecstatic when I took my first P12 victory in the time trial.

Saturday Road Race
My main goal for this stage was to conserve energy, so that I would still have some gas left in the tank for the later races. I moved up to the front early on in the race and just tried to stay there for the majority of the race. I was never really put into difficulty and was able to stay up there. I saw a few friends that I haven't seen lately, such as next month's Jr. National Team Member, Alex Battles-Wood, and "gossiped" a little. With about one to go a group of five including, Steven Wheeler (Super Squadra), Carlos Vargas and Robbie Robinette (both Team Hotel San Jose), Chad Haga (A&M), and John Korioth (Team Six). I didn't see them roll of the front until it was too late. With Texas Tough not represented in the break, Stefan Rothe got to the front and set a steady tempo to try and limit the losses to the break, while I sat towards the front to keep safe. With about one kilometer to go the break had gotten about 40 seconds up the road and there was no hope of catching them. I tried hard to position myself towards the front for the sprint and with about 500 meters to go I found myself pretty far back in about the top 20. When the sprint opened up with about 200 meters to go I found myself being able to pass many riders on the left hand side and finished sixth in the field sprint (later moved to 5th) for 11th on the stage (later moved to 10th). During the sprint, about halfway through the pack a gap had opened up which left everyone in the group seven seconds behind. Steven "18-Wheeler" Wheeler ended up winning the stage ahead of Carlos Vargas and John Korioth.

Saturday TT
The course was a fairly challenging course with rolling hills for the first half with a headwind and then a crosswind before you turn right on a flat road with a tailwind with about four or so kilometers to go. I definitely excited for the TT mostly because it would be my first TT on my one week old Cervelo P3C (thanks again mom and dad!!). With a headwind on the way out and a tailwind on the way back I knew that I could start hard and still be able to finish fast. This is exactly what I did and I came through the finish with a time of 14:08, two seconds shy of the course record set by two years ago Tejay Van Garderen, at an average speed of 28.6 mph (unfortunately my SRM wasn't calibrated properly and my power was incorrect). With still a lot more strong riders still coming in I was hoping it would be good enough for a top three finish. It was. I ended up taking the win which catapulted me into fourth place in the GC.

Sunday RR
All I can say is "Ouch!" With my longest race I had ever done I was expecting it to hurt like no other, but still...It's a day after and I was having trouble walking all day during school. The race didn't start out to hard, which I was thankful of, and I just sat towards the front trying to conserve energy. With about 40 miles left in the race a group of eight containing David Wenger and Ian Dille (both Super Squadra), Stefan Rothe (Texas Tough), Heath Blackgrove (Team Hotel San Jose), Joshua Carter (ABD Cycle Club), Micthell Comardo (Bike Barn), and Kolt Bates and Joseph Schmalz (both Mercy Cycling Team). With most of the major teams (major teams!!! Only Alan will get this...) represented in the break the pack was happy to let them go and they quickly opened up a four minute gap. About 60 miles into the race I was really hurting. I found myself in the very back almost crying in pain with fellow juniors, Alan Ting and Alex Battles-Wood. I then just tried to recover and hang on so that I could finish in the pack. With one lap to go, about 17 or so miles, I got a second wind and was able to move back to the front. I covered a few moves to try and salvage a top 20 placing, but was unable to go with the move that stuck which involved John Korioth, 18-Wheeler, and Pat McCarty (Ouch-Maxxis), and three others. With about 10 miles to go, another group of about six rolled off the front. I missed this move and was force to chase by myself. With about five or so miles the group had gotten about 20 seconds when I decided to put in a solo attack. I quickly opened up a pretty big gap on the field and started to close the gap on the group in front of me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fully close the gap down by the finish, and was finished about 10 seconds behind that group, but I was able to hold the pack off by another 10 seconds. I ended up 22nd on the stage which dropped me down to 16th overall. I was definitely happy with my performances this weekend, especially since it shows I have good fitness for my first European trip coming up on March 31st to April 14th. Well, until next time!

Lago Vista Day 1

La Primavera at Lago Vista is probably Texas' top race. This year's edition attracted the Kelly Benefits professional cycling team. This year was my first time racing Lago with the P12's for 80 miles (both days) and my only goal was to finish both days. The course at Lago is pretty much all climbing on the way out on stair-stepping climbs, then it's straight down with a downhill capable of hitting 60 mph. The race on Saturday was extremely tough with only 37 finishers out of 110-120 starters, and I was one of them. For the race on Saturday, I unfortunately got a terrible starting position way in the back. This meant that the first few miles of the race would be focused on moving up. Fortunately, I was able to find a lot of holes in the pack and found myself up at the front in no time. I tried my hardest to stay up there as much as I could and even felt strong enough to put in an attack at one time. With about five laps to go the pack had really shrunken. I started to become a little more aggressive and attacked a few more times. When I realized that there was no way for me to get off and stay off I just sat in towards the front of the pack trying to conserve energy. By the time we had one lap to go (about 5.5 miles) a few people had slipped off the front including Heath Blackgrove (Team Hotel San Jose) and Stefan Rothe (Texas Tough). On the first half of that lap with all the climbing I probably had the best wheel. I was sitting in second behind a Texas Tough guy that was setting a tempo for the up-hill, crosswind section. But, when we did the U-turn to start the extremely fast downhill section of the course I lost a lot of places due to my junior gears. I made a few of them back up on the next small hill, but lost them all again on the downhill right before the finish line hill. I ended up 32nd out of the 37 finishers, but I was definitely happy with my performance especially since the average speed for the last minute of the race was over 40 mph. I'll try and have day 2 up soon.

Rules, Rules, Rules

I've recently been submitting monthly articles for Texas' top cylcing magazine, The Racing Post. Here is the article for this months issue. I am currently working on the Lago Vista race report where I succesfully finished both days...

Rules, Rules, Rules

A couple of weekends ago, at the Alsation Country Omnium, there was a fair amount of frustration and disillusionment when the results came out showing that a number of riders had been relegated in the P1/2 Road Race. I fully agree with the decisions that the officials made and also think all the racers that crossed the yellow line, myself included, during the race should have been relegated as well.
Before the start of the race when the officials were calling out the rules, they stated more than once that if anyone crossed over the yellow line and advanced positions that their day was over. They also forewarned of the heavy cross winds and if you were already in an echelon and straddling the yellow line then to start a second or a third echelon.
For the first two laps of the race everyone was doing a good job on staying on the right hand side of the road, but at the beginning of the third lap a few of the strong riders got to the front during the cross wind section and really ramped up the pace. This move shattered the field into numerous groups leaving the lead group with about 20 or so racers in it. Before long, a few guys started to venture on to the left hand side of the road, and the next thing you know about 95% of the field was on the wrong side of the road. In fear of being shelled off the back I too made the wrong decision to take shelter from the wind on the wrong side of the road. The blatant abuse of the yellow line rule caused the follow vehicle to stop the group, allowing all the dropped racers to catch back on. I’m not saying I was ecstatic when the officials stopped us, but looking back I agree 100% with what the officials did.
These kinds of rules are made for the safety of the racers. We are not Pros, at least most of us aren’t, and don’t have the privilege of having the entire highway shut down for us to race on. The officials should have relegated everyone that crossed the yellow line during the race, no matter who they are or what place they got.
As a junior racer in the P1/2’s there are a lot of people that I look up to as role models and guides, and when I see some of them crossing over to the “dark side” I automatically think that it’s OK to follow suit. After the race finished and I had talked to my dad about what happened, I realized how dangerous our actions were. What if as we were cresting the top of a hill a car was driving on the correct side of the road? Most of Texas’ top racers would have been immediately hospitalized or worse and then where would all the role models for the junior racers be? The officials had every right to disqualify us and send us home, but were very generous with only relegations. This was an excellent lesson for an early season race to remind us of what is at stake out there, why there are rules, and what we need to do in the future.

Pace Bend

Where to start? Should it be the pain constantly shooting through my legs even before the race has even started, the extremely fast 5 mile rolling course, or the 140 man field that started the race? We'll start with the legs. Even after trying to spend most of the previous day off my legs and massaging the cramps out of them from the death defying effort that I put in the day before, I was still hurting like a dog. The few hours before the race was spent waddling around the camp ground frantically getting ready for the race. The course was an extremely fast 5 mile course filled with rolling hills. The average for the race ended up being 25.7 mph, the fastest road race average I've ever had. Due to the fact that we were staying at the park where the race was and it started at 12:30, I was given a chance to get some well-wanted hours of extra sleep. I woke up around 10:00 for some breakfast. At around 11:00 I made the two mile trek to the start line to pick up my number and meet with some friends before the race of pain. I then rolled back to our camper to get ready for the race. After rolling back up to the start line, almost eating the pavement a few times because I was carrying my spare wheels with me, I settled down near the front of the 140 man field for the start with Alan. With another 20 or so minutes to spare before the start, Alan and I started our pre-race rituals including kicking each others wheels, slapping the seats, slamming our fist down on each others helmets, injecting our imaginary "EPO" from a syringe that goes all the way around the world, and who knows what else we do (don't even try to understand the complexity of our friendship). By the end of all that the race was only a few minutes away from starting. The officials called out the rules and off we went. I only had two goals for this race: finish and try and stay as close to the front as possible. Surprisingly, I felt pretty strong today despite the previous day's efforts. I was able to stay up in the top 15-20 riders for most of the race, felt strong enough to attack once or twice, and was still able to see shoot Alan the "What Up?" sign whenever our paths crossed (again, don't try to understand...). An early break got away and stayed off the front for about 8 of the 14 laps we were doing. When the break was caught there were immediately some counter-attacks, but due to the extreme size of the field none stayed away. The last three laps where perhaps some of the fastest laps I've ever done. Everyone was fighting to stay up at the front and attacks were going like free candy. I resigned to try and stay up in the front as much as I could and try to conserve as much energy as I could. Unfortunately, a group of about 20 had broken away from the rest of the field with a little over one lap to go. I then went on an attack with three others to try and bridge up to the lead group. The three of us were pulling all out until we finally caught the group. I then looked around hoping to see a gap to the rest of the pack, but found them just catching up to us. Hanging my head in despair, I fell back to about the middle of the pack thinking my day was done. With about a half a lap to go I got a second wind and was able to move pretty far up in the pack. Going into the final sharp turn before the 250 meter finish line climb, I was sitting in the top 15. Unfortunately, I was cut-off going around the turn and lost a ton of places. After that I just sat up and rolled up the climb to finish a dismal 60th out of probably more than 100 finishers. Phil Wikoff won the race ahead of Josh Carter and Steve Tilford. I was definitely excited about the weekend's performances and am looking forward to Texas' biggest race of the season next weekend, La Primavera at Lago Vista.

EPIC

As some of the hardest races of the year have come and gone, I still find myself screaming out loud and reaching down to my legs to try and soothe out the cramps that are forced onto my aching legs even a day later. With the EPIC Walburg/Pace Bend weekend of racing behind you, it's known to be expected.

Once again, the Walburg Classic blessed us with unpredictable weather and some real tough racing. For the first time in years it looked as though the weather at Walburg would be perfect for a long day in the saddle. I rolled out of the parking lot with the rest of the Cat 2's (the Pro 1's were racing by themselves today) at around 8:00 AM with the temperature at around 60-65, the sun peeking through the clouds, and no wind at all. It was going to be a good day. By the time we had rolled ten minutes out of town it was raining steadily and the winds had picked up to about 20+ mph with gusts over 25. It was not going to be a good day. For the first lap I just sat in the pack to try and conserve as much energy as possible, and watched as small groups of about 2-3 riders roll up the road to create a dangerous move of about 10-15 riders off the front. With a little less than two laps to go, of the 24 mile course, I saw an attack go with some of the strongest Cat 2's in it. I quickly jumped on to the back of the train and found myself in a group of about 10 with a large gap back to the field. The ten of us worked well together and coming up the 800 meter finish line hill with one to go we had a minute and a half deficit on the leaders. Near the same spot that I had gone on the attack the previous lap I attacked again. No one from the break reacted and I found myself riding by myself for the next mile or so until Erick Benz, Dan Opdyke, and John David Coppin bridged up to me. Over the next seven or so miles, the four of us worked evenly until Coppin suddenly cramped up. This was a huge setback to us, seeing that he was an extremely strong rider and the chance of catching up to the lead group without him was very slim. After another mile or so Brian Jones bridged up to us as we got onto the 20 mph tailwind section. With my junior gears I just tried to stay on and keep the same pace when I pulled through at over 30 mph and 110 rpms. By the time we had pulled onto the smooth highway with a pretty strong tail/cross wind the gap had gone down to around a minute. The four of us worked extremely hard until we caught a group of four about 2 miles before the finish. With huge cross winds by this point, Benz got to the front an really drove the pace, putting me deep in the pain cave. By the bottom of the hill, I was really hurting, and by the time the sprint opened up I cramped really badly. The gap between the group and me widened very quickly, and I just started focusing on getting up the finish hill still conscious. I completed my goal, and came across the finish line 12th while puking no less than six times (including one spew that narrowly missed P1 4th place finisher, Travis Burandt). I then collapsed on the ground for about 10 more minutes before heading to the car for my chocolate milk. Mitch Comrado ended up winning the race from a two man break ahead of Chad Haga with Joseph Schmalz taking third. Heath Blackgrove ended up taking the win in the P1's ahead of Bill Stolte and Dave Wenger

I'm working on the Pace Bend race report and should have it up in a few hours.

Alsation Country Omnium

This past weekend marked the second edition of the Alsation Country Omnium in Castroville, TX, but more importantly the start of my jam packed road season. The race opened with a flattish ten mile time trial in the morning on Saturday, a 60 minute crit later on that day, and ended with a demanding 75 mile road race. After arriving late on Friday, we set up our pop-up camper and went to bed at around 11:00, so that I could get a good enough sleep to wake up for my TT start at 11:08 the next day. I woke up at around 8 to drink a banana smoothie and eat a bagel. After just chilling in the pop-up for a while reading the latest ProCycling magazine we drove over to the TT course so that I could get a warm-up in. The course was an out-and-back course with HUGE winds. On the way out I averaged about 33 mph spinning in my junior gears for an average of 114 rpm's, while on the way back I averaged only 23 mph. I ended up with a time of 21:19 which was good enough for ninth in the P12's, a whole minute behind the winner, Dave Wenger. This gave me four points for overall omnium. I then went back to the pop-up, and killed the next couple of hours watching the crits with Alan Ting (the RV camp that we were staying at was were the crit was). With the race at 4:30, I went back to the pop-up at around 3:30 to get all my gear together. When the Cat 3's finished racing, I rolled onto the course to get a few laps in before the start of my race. After rolling out, I found myself at the very back of the pack knowing full well that I would spend the better part of the race moving up to a good position. The pace was extremely high the whole time with recent addition to pro team OUCH-Maxxis, Pat McCarty, on the front driving the pace. I finally made it to the front and tried to maintain that position as long as possible. With about four laps to go, I tried an attack. No one from the pack reacted for a while and I was able to get about a 5-7 second gap. Unfortunately, I was quickly brought back in by a monster pull on the front of the pack, and the next thing I knew I was being passed by the majority of the pack and found myself back at the back, and that is where I finished behind winner, Ronnie Strange. The road race was one of the hardest races of my life, won by Kevin Kremke. The race started out with a 7.5 mile roll-out of town with a monster tail wind (we almost hit 40 mph on the way out), followed by four 15 mile loops, with a 7.5 mile leg back into town. For the first half of the race I tried to conserve as much energy as possible. With two laps to go, a few got to the front on the yellow line and really upped the pace on one of the cross wind sections. This caused many people to be dropped while the remaining 20 or so of us were hanging on for dear life. After a few miles of this, a few guys broke the rules and crossed over the line to get a better draft. This encouraged others to do the same thing, and next thing you know the entire group except a few where over the yellow line and cars were passing us on the right hand side of the road. Before we turned to get off of the road, the follow vehicle pulled up next to us and stopped the race to talk to us about crossing the yellow line. This allowed all of those who had been dropped to catch back up. For the next lap the pace never really escalated all that much. With one lap to go the same group of guys got back up to front on the same cross wind section, and successfully dropped almost half the pack. Unfortunately, I was one of them. I found myself in the second group on the road with about 10 others. We all took hard pulls on the front before we finally caught back on. I spent the next 10 or so miles trying to recover, so that I could hang on for the cross wind section back into town. When we got onto the route back in town, I found myself in the back trying to pass people getting dropped. After a while my legs just gave up and the pack just rode away from me. I jumped into the next group when they passed me to try and bridge back up to the leaders. By the time I had gotten to the front the gap had been closed down a lot. I took an all out pull, but when I pulled off I couldn't find it in me to jump back in line and found myself riding alone. To say the least, I rode the last five miles by myself to the finish. Although my placings weren't all that high in the crit and road race I still had a great time. It was a great event put on by Andrew Willis, and I can't wait for next year. Special thanks to my parents for supporting me and driving me there and back, and Daniel Walker for letting me use his skinsuit.

NHS

Just thought I'd announce it to the world that I was recently inducted into the Cypress Springs National Honor Society. I'll try and have a report on the Super Squadra Scouting Camp up in a bit.