Race Report: State Championship Criterium

Boom goes the dynamite! It was a blast surging up that final hill, braking into the final corner, jumping out of the final corner, kicking one more time, then sitting up to exclaim my excitement for winning the race I've been trying to win for two years. Winning State Crit was one of my goals from 2012. Unfortunately, I was hit by a car in June of 2012 and had to watch the State Crit in Cookeville from the sidelines as I stood in a knee immobilizer and on crutches. That day I watched Will Montgomery win the Cat 4 State Crit and Alan Rothrock win the Cat 3 State Crit. This past Sunday in Murfreesboro, I beat both of them to win my first State Crit Championship in the Cat 3's: my first Cat 3 race.

This is how it went down:

The latest forecast was calling for isolated thunderstorms late in the afternoon around Murfreesboro, like after 3pm. My race was at 12:40. However, about 20 miles from the exit, I ran into a hard downpour of rain. Once I showed up to the race, the course was drenched. I was told stories of the master's riders that started crashing hard as soon as the rain began in their race. Not what I was looking forward to. Knowing my braking is less than optimal with my carbon wheels and that I appreciate them too much to crash them and break them in this race, I made the hard decision to pull the Zipp 404's off my bike, change out the brake pads, and put back on my clunky, aluminum training wheels with a balding and cracking rear tire. I warmed up on the trainer, did a short effort on the back road, one quick lap to see the course and the wet spots, and we were lined up ready to start racing.

Off the Start Line

Like most races go, before I knew it we were starting. And off went the first attack. A VW rider went off the front for about the first 3-4 laps. I stayed calm and just moved my way up the pack, knowing who I needed to watch for. More attacks came and usually hard surges up the back side hill. Feeling like I had been working a bit, I looked down to see how much time we had run off. We were only 10 minutes into the 50 minute race, crap.

Another lap around and another attack went up the hill. We were heading into the last corner, a 90 degree left turn to the finish 100 meters down the road. Well, Will shot up the inside to cut the corner, the line I was set up for. His rear wheel hit mine. I ripped my left foot out of the pedal ready to catch myself, my bike wobbled. I couldn't move out because another rider's rear wheel was also there. Our wheels ground together for several revolutions. Somehow I stayed up and safe. It wasn't intentional to me and he checked back to make sure I was okay after we were through the corner. It was still scary though.

More attacks went off the front, usually attacking from the back side hill leading to the finish line. I watched some go, but made sure I followed and chased all of them down that had the important people in it. I knew who had been winning this year in the cat 3's. I knew who was at the top of the leader board for the Best Area Rider (BAR) classification; the guys that needed to score points. When those guys went, I went. And I was right on every one of the attacks. It pushed me, but I was able to continually respond. I caught some flak later on for not pulling as much, but I feel I did a fair share. Plus, I wasn't racing for anyone else. I had no teammates. I was racing for me. If they wanted the field strung out, if they wanted to set something up, if they wanted to breakaway, then they were welcome to go ahead and do it. I would be right there on their wheel.

See, I did more than one lap on the front.

Matching Attacks

Things had been drying out since I got there and by the time my race started the course was essentially dry. By the halfway mark, I was telling myself, "Man, I really wish I would have put my Zipp's back on. I could be rolling so much faster." And right on cue, it started raining again. It rained hard for maybe 15 minutes. Sitting on wheels became irritating as the water was flung into your face from the rear wheel in front of you, hot from the pavement. The race slowed down, and I took things extra cautious through the corners letting gaps open around most of them. I made sure I stayed up front during all of this. I was determined to not go down. I was scared to go down. Thankfully, not as many attacks were going off the front, discouraged I guess from the rain and the imminent final sprint.

One rider attacked with 2 laps to go. Coming into the first corner of the course, I could hear riders hitting the deck as carbon bounced off the pavement behind me. I was extremely thankful for my top 5 positioning as the crashes were behind me and only bettered my chances at this point, not the first time this has happened this year.

Playing Games

Closing in on 1 lap to go, I could see the breakaway rider was slowing and shouldn't be a threat. Then somehow I got caught on the front of whatever remained of the field. I would be left to lead the field around the last lap of the race and make the final push to bring this breakaway rider in. I still took everything cautiously knowing the real "storm" was about to explode as we approached the backside hill for the last time. I came around the big sweeping 120' turn. I picked up some speed and began watching over my right shoulder as I was close to the left gutter. I heard something back to my left and looked around to see Will attacking up the left side. As he passed by me on the left, a big attack came from the right. It was time to go. I began accelerating knowing we were a long way from the line. For a few seconds both riders stayed in front of me. I worried...for a second. Then my pedals really began to turn. I was off. They dropped out of my periphery as I approached the final turn. I stopped pedaling well before the turn and braked through the first part of the corner, feeling no one close to me through the corner. Once I felt safe from the slick asphalt, I stood up to finish my sprint for the line. In that burst my rear wheel hopped over some pavement. I pushed on and laid down some power. I looked over my shoulder and was finally certain I had just won the race. I gave a Hulk salute to the crowd and screamed with excitement, hands up across the line.

Finishing Straight

"Roaring" Finish

With that win, I finalized the triple crown of cycling winning all three disciplines of cycling on the road: the State Championship time trial, road race, and criterium for 2013. Throw in the State Championship Cross Country race and the BAR Championship I have locked up in the Cat 4's and it's been a very good year for me knocking down several goals. I'm thrilled to be doing so well this year after such a big injury last year. Maybe that's what it took for me to focus down on one sport and get really determined to push myself and make something happen. I thank HUB Endurance and BRL Sports for keeping me equipped and fueled with all the top end products and services. You guys have been great.

Cat 3 State Crit Podium

Race Report: State Championship Road Race

Winning the State Championship Road Race didn't make my list of goals for 2013. It was not a key race for me. I considered it too hard of a course; one that did not suite my strengths, and actually preyed on my weaknesses. Well, first the venue changed and I thought I could place top 5. Next, I started racing really strongly and thought who knows. Then, the finish changed on the course; it would no longer be a hill top finish, but a slightly downhill to flat run into the line. Time to pony up, I thought. I wasn't promising myself anything, but I went in knowing what I needed to do to get to the finish with the lead group. The rest should work its way out.

All the cat 4 head's of state showed up Saturday morning for the 56 miles, 5 climbs + risers course through beautiful Avery Trace outside of Cookeville, TN. I knew who would be attacking early, who would push the pace on the climbs, who would threaten the sprint finish, and overall who I needed to stay with.

The race started out as I had predicted. We started the first climb and one of the junior riders attacked immediately. He was in a bend up the road maybe 6 riders ahead of me when he crashed. That's right, crashed going up the first climb. It appeared he was attacking with too much gusto, lifted his front wheel, the wheel came down a little sideways, and he went over the top (I later heard him say he pulled out of his pedal.) I couldn't help but laugh a little as I road past him (It was okay; he hopped right up and was getting back on the bike.).

That first climb did make me push a decent amount and even then I went back through the peloton a few positions. We descended and shortly after started climb #2. The same junior was back and ready for more. He attacked again and took two more guys with him, I think both juniors as well. We let them go knowing they wouldn't be able to hold it and our group could pull them back whenever we chose. This 2nd climb was a little easier for me as I stayed in the front. It wasn't long after I led the descent down the backside of climb #2 that we were onto climb #3. It's a little fuzzy in my memory, but I believe I stayed up there in the front again, because I'm pretty sure I led the charge down the backside and the first pull on the flats to try to bring in the junior breakaway guys. The rest of the group wasn't as set on bringing in the break yet, so after 2-3 pulls we just chilled and strolled along until we hit climb #4: the most important climb in my race book. We had caught 2 of the 3 breakaway guys, so only the eager junior attacker was still out front as we started climb #4.

Climb #4 started gradual and then picked up, and so did everyone else. I'm assuming the climbers and other top guys in the race all had the same idea: "Drop Matt on this climb." We hit it hard. I started to fade and watch several riders pass me. I could see the head's of state going up the road. That's when I ponied up. I said heck no. I kicked it and accelerated hard. I caught back on a wheel and stayed glued to it. Pleasantly the climb ended shortly after that. The field didn't let up though. They were playing it smart and knew that if they had made any gaps on me, they could capitalize and put me away with a big effort on top of this plateau, as the descent from this mountain would not come until 16 miles down the road. We were hauling on top of this mountain and I was hanging on to the last wheel in a group of guys strung out maybe 15 riders long. The gradient tilted my way a bit and I eased back through these guys and up to the front. I'm not sure, but I'm betting they were shocked to see me. I was at the front again as we started to slow back down and we could see the lone breakaway guy just up the road. Once he turned around and saw us, he sat up and waited to get absorbed.

We continued on pretty easily for the next few miles; no one wanted to do any work. I remember taking pulls on the front and letting my mind wander as I gazed at the beautiful landscape around me. We strolled up to the feed zone where I was able to get a nice cold bottle of water thanks to awesome volunteers out there in the heat giving up their Saturday. Somewhere over the next 2-4 miles, I guess I was dazed with the countryside and not paying attention to the race, as were most other riders. One rider got off the front and out of sight. Most of us (only the breakaway rider's head of state teammate and one more guy knew) had no idea there was a rider off the front. And the lackadaisical riding continued once we passed the feedzone. So, we were cruising around at 17 and 18 mph through the valley with one rider riding away with the State Road Race victory. Somehow we all came to that realization with about 8 miles to go. The pace picked up and attacks started going off the front. We were back to racing. The eager junior also made another appearance with a big attack when I was leading the group. No one responded, so it was up to me to drag this guy back in. Starting slowly I reeled him shutting down the attack by myself. We made a 90' left hand turn and started up a decent sized hill. There was the lead rider. We could see him 3/4's up the climb. He was within reach and we would not be racing for second place (that's always a crappy feeling). As we got to the top of the climb, the race officials told us to pull over and stop riding. We were being neutralized. The reason and tragedy was then explained to us on the side of the road. The Master's 40+ race that had started before our race had a crash at the finish line, a very bad crash. The official told us there were bodies laying on the asphalt and an ambulance at the finish. We were being stopped so they could fly a helicopter in to pick up the rider that had crashed so badly. Now that things have settled, we know he was flown to Vanderbilt and taken off the ventilator later Saturday night. I'm told he will be okay now suffering a broken jaw, broken teeth, heavily lacerated tongue, and severe facial contusions. Another rider in the same crash was better off and only had a broken collar bone and transported via ambulance to a local hospital.

Now that we got some perspective and let our legs go cold from standing on the side of the road for 25 minutes, they were going to restart our race. The officials determined the lead rider had a 53 second gap on the field at the turn at the bottom of the hill, but since we were closing in on him, they were only going to give him 45 seconds when we restarted. They let him go and the clock started. I lined up in front next to Michaelee, teammate of the lead rider, so that I could get a jump and start the chase. We told each other best of luck and to make sure to ride safely. At this point we were all happy to still be upright on our bikes. At 45 seconds the official let us go. The five mile man hunt was on. I took a big first pull knowing I wouldn't be getting any help from Michaelee and his other teammates. Thankfully, there were still a few other guys that wanted to work and race for 1st, not 2nd. Once we had the lead rider in sight again, two guys attacked and bridged up to him, one was a teammate of his. We kept pulling along in the pack. At 2K to go, the road went up again. I had to put in another big effort to stay with everyone as they attacked. Just over this hill we caught the 3 lead riders. Now it was the downhill run into the finish with less than 2K to go. We started charging and were close to top speed by the 1K to go sign. Michaelee was moving up on the left along the center line. I was towards the center/right, but there were still two guys in front of me: one dead center in the road and one to the right along the white line. They were staggered with just a bit of a gap between them. If the center guy had accelerated or the right guy slowed, I would have been trapped and the race would have been over. Thankfully that did not happen; if anything the gap opened slightly as I approached. I saw the hole and jumped through gaining ground to be back alongside Michaelee. About that time, Michaelee stood up and kicked to start his sprint. We were far out, still about 600 meters from the finish. I couldn't wait though. I had to go with him. I jumped too. 500 meters to go and I had moved pass Michaelee and sat back down in the saddle, still no finish line in site. We came around a slight bend in the road and there was the finish line. I took a look over my left shoulder. Michaelee was still close, about 5 bike lengths. I stood to kick again as we passed the 200 meters to go sign. I took another look over my shoulder and could still see Michaelee, but this time I felt comfortable. I sat up just before the line and flew through the finish line crowd, the 2013 Cat 4 TN State Road Race Champion.

I must give credit where credit is due though. Thomas Evans riding for Knox Velo practically adopted me as a teammate for the day. We conversed throughout the race, he agreed to help guide me up the climbs, he worked with me to pull guys back in, he set pace on the front when no one would, he gave great efforts in the final five miles to pull those guys back in. Without Thomas, I'm pretty sure the day would have been very different. Thank you Thomas and I hope you get to read this. If there had been money on the line, it definitely would have been split with you.