Well, I have been in preparation for nationals for a while now and they have finally come and gone- it always seems to happen so fast! I am writing this in the Phoenix Airport with a couple hour layover and I figured it would be a good time to update the blog.
So just over two weeks ago I did the Wenatchee Omnium race with two of my teammates, Jackson and Colby. Wenatchee is a typical 3-event stage race with a tt, crit, and road race. The goal of the race this year for us was pretty much just to get in some good race efforts, followed by lots of recovery and a final block of training to keep the cobwebs out of the legs; all in preparation for nationals.
I headed out to Augusta, GA on Sunday, June 17th for a full day of traveling so I could get to the "deep south" early enough to adjust to the heat and humidity. I had three different planes to get on in order to go from Spokane all the way to Augusta and of course ran into problems on one of the flights with a short layover time. My departing gate seemed to be miles away too, so I was running as fast as a cyclist can with the full on compression socks and backpack, all to get to the gate to be told they gave my seat away. I had to be put on a different flight into Colombia, SC after negotiations with an airline worker. We were staying in Aiken, SC luckily so it was only about a 50 mile drive to the house. I got in about 1am Eastern time so everything turned out to be ok.
The team had three days in Aiken to train and prepare for the races, so we ended up getting in some good but short rides. The heat this year was not nearly as bad as last year, but it was still extremely hot. I'd say the average high temperature was in the mid-90's with a good amount of humidity. My birthday was on Wednesday, the 20th, which was the day before the time trial. This meant we weren't doing much but a short pre-race ride and resting the legs- so a lot of sitting around. This sounds pretty boring but my 4 teammates are quite the jokesters so they made it very fun.
Thursday was the first day of racing with the itt. Our first rider went off at 8:00am so we were up at 5 o'clock and after a small breakfast and out the door at 5:45. This particular time trial course was 18 miles and pretty much rolling hills the whole time; which makes for a pretty long course that can be very hard to find a rhythm on. The time trial isn't really my race but I felt like I had a pretty good performance for me and ended up 54th out of 102 riders. Two of my teammates had extremely good performances in this race. Alex Darville from SB, California ended up in 6th place, and only 2 seconds behind 5th. My good friend and teammate Colby Wait-Molyneux from Vancouver, WA ended up 7th and just 3 seconds behind 5th place. Both of the boys had awesome performances! After races like this, with more events coming soon, a big part of the whole process is recovering right. I do this by wearing the compression socks, taking Hammer Recoverite, Whey, and Recovery Bars immediately after rides and races, and using my EMT System (Electric Muscle Stimulation) before bed, and of course getting good sleep and eating right.
Friday was the criterium, and this race was at 4pm in downtown Augusta; this means huge speeds, fields, and temperatures! It was 101 degrees during our 50km race, which ends up taking just over an hour. Some quick history for you here--I am a pretty good technical rider and I have been pretty lucky and haven't gone down in too many crashes so far, but last year in the crit at nationals I crashed face first and really got messed up and could not finish the race. When you get 140+ young men with adrenaline and testosterone pumping, all wanting the same thing, it can get pretty crazy! These races are like no other race because of this, it's almost its own separate sport! This year, pretty early on in the race I was in good position and feeling good until I was riding on the right side of the road, flying down a straight section of the course at 30+ mph when a rider in front of me moved over a little, I had nowhere to go and it was either smash into the curb or somehow try to avoid hitting him. That is what I tried to do but my front wheel hit his rear skewer and took out a couple of my spokes, throwing me to the ground. If you are a cyclist and have crashed in a race, you know what I'm talking about. When you go down in a crash, everything happens so fast you hardly know what is going on; one second you are just riding along, and then all the sudden you are on the ground. It is pretty amazing how the human body works actually; you really don't feel pain or much of anything for that matter except anger or frustration. I jumped up immediately and was luckily right across from the pit, so I was able to get a spare wheel and have the mechanic fix my bike up in what seemed like only a few seconds before the peloton came around. If you are not familiar with bike racing, in a crit if you crash or have a mechanical, you get a free lap once you get to the pit. The official will then let you get back in the race around where you were before the problem happened and so this way you are back where you started. The only problem is that sometimes a crash can take it out of you a little and it can be hard to recovery from; this is what happened to me and I could never really get back to the good position that I started in. The race went on and we were coming into the last couple of short laps before the mayhem filled sprint took place. At the last corner of two laps to go, there was a huge crash and riders were all over the place, I was behind this crash and luckily was not too close to it so I avoided it but got separated from the leaders. About 300 meters later there was yet another huge crash and riders were all over the road. I did not see this crash until I was just coming up on the crash and my main goal was to try and avoid hitting everyone spread out across the course. I ended up 36th out of 140-some riders, this was a pretty good result for the circumstances, but I would have liked a top 20. My teammate Alex Darvillle, a national team rider and one of the few juniors that have a good shot at making the Worlds team, ended up 2nd and another one of my teammates Jackson Long had a great race finishing up 12th!
We had a rest day Friday so the team went out for a real easy ride to keep the poisons out of the legs and then had another early race on Sunday-- the road race. The race started at 8:00am so it was early enough to keep the heat away for the most part, but the humidity was unreal. This race had the largest field ever in the men's 17-18 U.S. National Championship RR with 151 starters from every state in the union! Our road race was quite short at a little under 100km, or about 60 miles. The race was four laps, covered with just about all rolling hills, adding up to about 4,500 feet of elevation gain. There were quite a few crashes, but I was riding in good position for the majority of the race so I managed to avoid all of them. I felt like I was riding quite well-- staying hydrated with HEED and FIZZ, eating plenty of Hammer bars and gels, riding in good position, watching the gear I was riding, etc., but a lot of things happen with that many riders and coming into the last 10 kilometers or so there was some sort of attack and I got blocked out from the front of the peloton, where you want to be riding near the end of a race. There was a big crash just a few km's from the finish, taking out a lot of riders, including two of my teammates- Jackson and Colby; I was on the other side of the road so I was able to avoid it. We had the entire road for this particular race, but coming up there was an obstacle in the middle of the road that most of the riders go to the right of. I saw the opportunity and swung to the left of the obstruction, following another rider, and then hammered it around him and all the sudden I was in descent position again. At this point we were at about 1.5km from the finish and there was a short, but quite steep hill coming up; this is where the race is made, because if you are in good position at the top of the hill, you only have about 250-300 meters to go. I powered up the climb but the little maneuver I just performed around the obstruction cost me a little energy. At the top of the hill I was just behind the lead group that contained riders sprinting for the stars and stripes jersey, but ahead of a lot of other riders just behind me. I ended up 36th again! I was pleased with how I races, but once again would have liked a top 20, only because I know that is an attainable goal for me. My teammate Alex, or Darville as we call him ended up 12th, after releasing his unbelievably strong sprint just a bit too early; that's racing though.
Overall, I'd say I had a solid nationals. I had some bad luck and mistiming, but who doesn't? Over the trip I learned a lot and had an absolutely great time with my team, and Butch and his wife Rebecca. They put a TON of effort into this trip and I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am of it. None of it would be happening either without my great parents and sponsors- Hammer Nutrition, Giant Bicycles, Bike n Hike, and CMG Racing-- thanks guys!
No comments:
Post a Comment