Lots of Missed Time

So this post (and the several to follow) are long overdue. I have left out way too many things that have happened in my life. A quick recap is as follows:

1) Got a serious girlfriend
2) Study for boards examination
3) Took my CSCS examination
4) Graduated Physical Therapy School with my Doctorate
5) Took my boards exam for my PT License
6) Had to switch my PT License to the state of Georgia from Tennessee
7) Went on vacation
8) Took the Georgia Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination
9) Went to Colombia, South America for 32 days and volunteered at a school for disabled children
10) Moved to Georgia
11) Moved within Georgia because my first place was uninhabitable
12) Started my career with PT Solutions
13) Began the residency program with PT Solutions
14) Got up to speed on how to treat patients
15) Moved to our Chatsworth clinic with PT Solutions
16) Got promoted to clinic director with PT Solutions
17) Business boomed with the clinic
18) Racing boomed with my new team as a Cat 3
19) I crashed in a very cold and rainy race
20) I raced again and won a very big race at Sunny King
21) I crashed again when someone made a mistake and took me out
22) I'm learning to walk again after that crash tore multiple ligaments in my left knee
23) I've hired 2 new clinicians to come on and help me at my new position
24) I'm waiting on and MRI and discussions on possible surgery and the route we might be able to take without surgery.

I think that very quickly gets everyone up to speed without any real details. I will be writing again (right now) on explaining things in more details and bringing the blog back up to speed. Wanted to get this out there though.

Collegiate Track Nationals: Getting There

As soon as I got through the security at the airport in Chattanooga, I got a voicemail and an email telling me my original flight had been cancelled/delayed 50 minutes. My original layover in Atlanta was only supposed to be 45 minutes. I called Delta and spoke with their rep. My scheduled flight from Atlanta to Denver at 7:15 was the last one for the night. He told me I could chance it, or wait and start again Wednesday morning. I decided to chance it. We ended up boarding in Chattanooga at 5:50, only 15 minutes later than the original departure time. But then we had to sit on the plane for 25 minutes before we finally took off around 6:25. The scheduled landing time was 7:08 in terminal D. My Denver flight was leaving terminal A at 7:15. We got to the gate in Atlanta at 6:55. I was off and running by 7:00. I haven't ran in a long time, and when you throw jeans and a big bag in each hand into the mix, it became fairly difficult. I was feeling the soreness in my anterior shins from that run for the next 3 days. My gate was at the very end of the A terminal too, but as I turned that corner, the door was still open and the attendant was still accepting passengers. I had made it! That was all I was asking for since I had found out about the initial delay. I was happy.

However, the good vibes started fading. My recent sinus issues continued to grow as the plane climbed higher. I was getting a very intense sinus headache and couldn't breath out of my nose: something that had started when I woke up Sunday morning. I landed in Denver with no relief. I proceeded to baggage claim to get my stuff. You know what happened next. My bag didn't make it. I knew it was a possibility so I wasn't too upset when I found out they would just deliver it to me the next day in Colorado Springs. I had packed all the things I needed to ride in either my carry-on or my bike box that had been shipped prior. I would just go without vitamins, underwear, shorts, and shirts for the first day. I was fine with that until the next morning when I was building my bike in the garage and I remembered that I mistakenly put my saddle in that checked bag. Crap! No riding for me until the airline got around to delivering my bag on Wednesday. I had wanted to get to open track when it first started at noon so I could hopefully have more space and avoid the crashes I've heard about on warm-up days. That wouldn't be happening. The scheduled delivery of my bag no later than 4:30 showed up around 7:15 Wednesday night. Thankfully, I had heard from a friend that I could borrow a saddle from the rental bikes at the track. So, I ended up getting my ride time in anyway even if the saddle height was way off.

As I was about to wrap it up on the track on Wednesday, I noticed Matt Baranoski had just started riding. I sped back up to ride along side him. (Baranoski is the two time reigning national champion in the elite and collegiate divisions for both the kilo time trial and the match sprint. He also won the keirin and team sprint national titles a few weeks ago.) We got to chat while we cruised for about 25 laps around the track. He even took me through a run of the 200 meter line on the track. Pretty cool time.

I had my numbers pinned to my new custom VOmax skinsuit and my gear bag packed and ready for racing to start the next morning. Flying 200 meter time trials were up first.

View of Pike's Peak from the backyard of where I was staying.

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.

Race Report: State XC Championship

I was unsure how this race would go. I hadn't been feeling too good on the bike the past few weeks, unable to put out consistent power, and I haven't mountain biked much at all this year. I think the race was actually only the 6th time I've ridden my mountain bike all year. My roots are in mountain biking, but I haven't watered those roots since my devastating mechanicals in the ITU Cross Tri World Championships last May. Nevertheless, I pressed on and decided to do the race since it was in my backyard. The race would cap off my 6 week stay in Memphis this summer for an acute care rehab rotation for PT school.

I decided to not make the same mistakes I made in the first race of the season at the Pick Your Poison XC here in Chattanooga. The guy that beat me at that race would also be on the start line in Memphis, along with good friend and former co-worker Matt McCulley and one more racer.

We started hard from the gun, but I made sure not to be the first one to hit the trail, I did not want to lead everyone. I fell in behind Matt for second wheel. Taking an alternate route on a steep downhill section, I fell back one place and was now sitting 3rd wheel. A few miles later, I heard the guy riding in 4th crash. After a few miles of him not catching back on, I figured we had dropped him and he would no longer be in contention for the race. The 3 of us rode through the start/finish to start lap two. Matt attacked hard through the technical section of trail and stayed away for a few minutes. We caught back on after the steep section and continued to pedal on in our 3 man formation. The two lead riders gap'ed me a few times and Matt was even out of sight once or twice. I keep pushing on calmly and usually made up the ground when the trail went up.

In tight 3 man configuration.

About mile 6 into lap two, the rider in 2nd wheel attacked in an open section. Matt, who had been leading the entire race, sat up. He asked me if I was going to chase it down. I then realized Matt had no intention of chasing the rider breaking away. I had to jump. I closed the gap down pretty quickly and was on the lead rider's wheel by the time we dropped back into the tougher trail section. The pace had picked up. The trail was more fun and dangerous now. The two of us rode together through the start/finish again and started lap 3 together.

Railing a corner.

I had noticed this rider wasn't racing with a camelbak, but using one water bottle. I also noticed he hadn't been drinking much and he actually dropped his bottle at about mile 10 of lap two. I was expecting him to fad before the end of the third lap, especially if we kept up the pace we were setting. And this is exactly what happened. This is where I must credit and thank the people at BRL Sports for their awesome drink ENDURAFUEL. It kept me moving, hydrated, and fueled with amino acids and complex carbs in the hot and muggy woods of Nesbit Park. There was no fading or cramping for me. Anyway, riding through the steep section at the beginning of the 3rd lap, this rider went off course a bit and barely caught himself before crashing. I slowed up a bit and waited for him to get his feet back in the pedals and moving on the trail. Instead, he told me to go on, that his "leg had locked up." So I took off. I shifted up and darted down the trail trying to get as far out of sight as possible in case he was only sidelined for a few seconds. I rode the rest of that lap solo, getting to push myself as hard as I wanted and really enjoy the whole trail. I took a few more risks, and then would back off a bit. My riding was getting a little sloppy and I knew the most important thing was not crashing, not having a mechanical, and most importantly not flatting. I railed corners and hopped over roots praying not to hear that hissing sound that can and has deflated my heart in the past.

Up and Over.

Closing in on the finish, I finally felt comfortable about my position around mile 9.5. I settled in and railed the last downhill section and cruised across the bridge into the finish for the solo victory. It felt great to come away with the mountain bike state championship, something I wanted to achieve but hadn't fully committed to. Goal #5 check. And it also puts me in the lead for goal #1. A good showing in Memphis for the Chattanooga based road and cyclocross HUB Endurance Cycling Team. BTW, Matt came back to catch the 2nd place rider 50 meters from the finish and beat him for 2nd place in an awesome sprint finish with a bike throw. Awesome job and congratulations to Matt McCulley. Oh, and unfortunately I think somewhere along the race course I might have cracked my Niner Air 9 Carbon frame around the seatpost. Haven't heard anything back from them yet, but hopefully they work with me on this.

The next big challenge will be the State Road Race Championship. Thankfully my performance has been coming back over the past week and a half with some good power numbers for the times I think it will take to complete the climbs on the course. With 5 mid race climbs, it will still be a hard and challenging race. May the best rider win. I must admit that my real focus has already moved away from the road and is centered on the track. I've been enjoying my time in Atlanta and have a few big races and a training camp lined up for the rest of the season. I'll say bye to long endurance rides and pick up on all intervals of 5 minutes and less.

Race Reports: Rockabilly Gran Prix Omnium

Road Race:

Starting the race under omnious skies. 

The course was mostly flat, so I was feeling good about my chances and was looking to put on a show for my parents that got to come to this race. My Dad has never seen me do a bike race in person before and my Mom hasn't seen one since my crit win at River Gorge in 2011. We hit some patches of rain on the drive to the race that morning, so I was expecting some showers during the race. I wasn't expecting for it to get as bad as it did though. The rain really started during lap 2 of the 4 lap race. At the beginning of lap 2 I had made my way to the front so I could ride around all the pot holes and rough spots in the first half mile of the course; maybe the best decision of the weekend. Maybe a minute into lap two, I heard lots of loud clanging and crashing, carbon smacking the ground. I looked over one shoulder and saw some guys were/had gone down. I looked again over the other shoulder and realized it was a huge portion of the field that was crashing or behind the crash. I turned back around and punched it. I was moving away and only one guy was reacting and trying to come after me. I let him catch on and he immediately sat up and did no work once he pulled around me. We made the first corner and I slowly made my way up the first hill as I waited for the other 8-10 people that made it safely through the crash. We formed a decent paceline and started working to pull away. One "difficult to race with rider" jumped out of the saddle for an attack once it came around to his turn to pull in the paceline. That screwed things up for a while as no one wanted to pull hard after that. We eventually got back going, only for that same rider to attack again in the same fashion before dropping out of the back of the paceline to rest for a bit before trying the same attack as it came his turn to pull. This type of racing will make you a bunch of enemies pretty quick in the group.

We all stayed together though and came through to start lap 3 with more and more rain coming down. I actually slid my rear tire out about 6 inches in a hard right turn during lap two. I saved it but my bike felt weird for a little bit after that. It felt like I had flatted. I got a very sick feeling and worried there for bit thinking I had just blown this opportunity; it all worked out though. As our breakaway group moved through lap 3, the storm really started pouring down on us. It got hard to see due to such heavy rain and every turn had to be taken with extreme caution. About 6 miles from the finish, the race lead car pulled alongside us. They told us this would be our last lap. We would finish on 3 instead of 4. Once they pulled away, the attacks started and they didn't stop until we went under the 1K to go mark. Racing got very hard in those last 6 miles, chasing attacks, making breaks, all to get pulled back together. I had no perception of where we were on the course. I wouldn't have been worried or responded as quickly as I did to some of the attacks if I had.

As we closed in on the 1K to go mark, I was sitting second wheel feeling really good about my position and the run in to the finish. Around 500 meters to go, the race lead car had pulled alongside us again. All I could make out from him was that we were not supposed to sprint. I figured it was a safety thing and they didn't want our group standing up and throwing our bikes in a sprint that would likely cause a mass crash like before. What the lead car didn't see was the approaching truck in the same lane as the lead car. Our lead car sped up and quickly pulled back in front of our group, but not in time. The cars clipped each other as I heard clanging metal and plastic for the second time in that race. Adrenaline surged as I could imagine the cars hitting and coming to halt with me plowing into the back of the race car. A very frightening moment.

After that, I surged in the saddle as we came up to the start finish because I wasn't sure if we were still finishing or not. I came across first, but knew we were done at that point. There were no officials anywhere in sight at the line. The road race would not be scored and ended up just getting cancelled altogether. Apparently, there were tornado warnings in the area and the sheriff made the race director pull all riders off the course. Why did they let us race the last 6 miles and then cancel our race 500 meters from the line? I'm not sure, but it sure was a lot of work and effort to race for no outcome.


Time Trial:
The weather started behaving shortly after the road race course was evacuated and all riders departed the area. The time trial was set to go off as planned. Due to some unforeseen complications, I didn't make it back to the race area in time for a warm-up. I started out setting up my bike as if I would, but had to bail as I knew it was getting too close to time and it was more important to show up on time to my start than to ensure a thorough warm-up. I got in just over 3 minutes of warm-up for the 5 mile TT.

I was the last Cat 4 to go so I should have had lots of guys out in front of me to try chasing down; however, a lot of the guys were missing due to the storms and a few were even in the hospital from that morning's crash in the road race.

I started out of the gate hard, standing and putting full force into the pedals to get moving. I was going to pay for that effort about 3 minutes down the road when I was fighting with myself to back off the pace. I tried to keep pushing on, staying as aero as possible. I periodically took peeks at my computer to see where my watts were. I was putting out a stellar average so far and not sure if I would really be able to keep it up. Ideally, I thought I could average 400w if I were feeling good. Well I dug in and pushed hard through the line once I could see the finish. I clocked 11 minutes at 411 average watts on my computer: a great showing, better than I could have anticipated. I cooled down on the ride back to the start/registration area to later find out I won the TT with an official time of 10:55 with second place coming in at 11:02. I would have placed 4th in the Cat 3's. Happy to get this win as now the omnium would be decided by only the TT and Crit placing with the money from the RR being split between the TT and Crit payouts already scheduled.


Crit:
Then came the crit. We drove back to Jackson for the second day of racing with both my parents and my grandmother so all could enjoy the race. My grandmother has never seen a bike race before. Now I needed to impress with my family at the race for the first time in 2 years.

The crit started with an attack from one rider. I didn't want to jump that hard early on, but I was the one to bring him back after a few corners. We stayed together for a lap or two and then another big attack came with an unsuspecting rider taking a little gap on the field for a bit. He got brought back in shortly there after. There were a few more attacks, but nothing big until the rider that attacked off the start line threw another big attack and created a decent gap on the field that took over 2 laps to bring back in. This would have been the time to attack now, but I wasn't feeling that fresh and not sure if I could hold it. We stayed together and a prime was announced for the next lap. The field stretched out a bit, but as we approached the line I found myself sitting 3 abreast and only two wheels back from the lead. Being this close, I just couldn't let the prime go. So, I pulled off to the right and laid down some watts to surge past the leaders and take the prime. Like I said, I wasn't committed to attacking at first and still unsure of myself. I looked at my computer before I moved though and we were about 20 minutes into the 40 minute race which was exactly my plan pre-race. I kept my head down and continued to push over the flat and through corner one. Out of corner one, I was able to look back at the field and realized I had already created a sizable gap. It was now or never. Time to go! I tucked and buried it trying to get away from the field. It hurt. I was suffering out there for the next 4-5 laps second guessing myself and backing off now and then to make sure that if they caught me, I wouldn't fall off the back of the group. I tried getting a time split from the finish line officials, but instead got the 5 laps to go sign. It was the encouragement I needed. I was able to start counting down and out of corner 5 and corner 1 I could still glance back and see no one coming for me. The breakaway win was becoming more and more real with each passing lap. If I was caught now, it was over. I had to give it all I had. I pushed more. I made it to two laps to go and finally felt comfortable, but still never let up.

Crit Finish

Before the race even started, we had heard about how difficult the last corner could be with many of the earlier races having crashes there on the last lap, usually taking out the leaders. So I knew this would be a tricky point in the race every time we came through, especially as we closed in on those finals laps. How do you avoid the possibility of a crash and eliminate the need to chase down attacks throughout the race? You attack solo off the front and only have to worry about yourself. It was definitely a much harder way to win a race though. Waiting, covering, and out-sprinting everyone else at the end is much easier, but more stressful.

Crit Podium

So my family didn't get to see an exciting sprint finish all weekend, but I think they got some solid viewing time of me on and off the front. With the crit and time trial win, I secured the overall omnium and collected my biggest payout to date and earned a new champions jersey. Great rewards for solid, tough racing. 

Overall Podium

Race Report: Berry Peddler RR & TT

If you're wondering where the race report for State TT is, it's pretty simple. It was raining. It was cold. I had to sit up and check through all 16 turns in the 19 mile race. I pushed and did what I could on that given day. It worked out for me and I won the State Time Trial Championship by almost a 1 minute margin. Nothing too exciting, it's a time trial. As soon as it was over I had to load up my car and head for Memphis to start my first rotation of the summer the next morning at 8 am.

It does feel really good to get one of these jerseys.

I viewed the time trial as the first big test of my fitness. I was going to be able to compare my times against all the cat 3's and see how well I would actually be doing if I upgraded. The next test to my fitness would come the following weekend at the Berry Peddler Road Race. This race includes a 4.6 mile cat 2 climb at 6 miles in. Last year I got dropped from the lead group with about one mile left in the climb. I then solo'ed for 17 miles on top of the mountain before catching two guys in front of me and grouping with 3 guys from behind. Anyway, I'm a big guy and I don't climb well, so this race was going to tell me how much I have actually improved.

The race started off calm as I figured. I made my way up to the front and out of trouble within the first few miles. Then the climb started. It pretty much started hurting right from the bottom. I was climbing with the top 5-6 guys for a while. We started going through the switchbacks which really hurt. By this time it was starting to rain a little bit and wheels were losing traction and spinning out in the turns. One guy spun out and dropped his chain or something because he fell over and made another guy turn horizontal and come to a stop. I had to weave way out into the other lane to get around them. I'm not saying that really caused the separation between me and the front guys, but it didn't help. Once Michaelee attacked midway up, I was pretty much on the ropes for the rest of the climb. I thought I was keeping everyone within a safe distance that I could quickly make up once we topped out, but I didn't realize when we topped out. I was watching my computer and was expecting another mile of climbing. The lead up to the climb must have been subtle and considered part of the climb. As we crested, I saw the lead guys start moving away and leaving me behind: just like last year. I tried pulling through and forming a chase group. I had 6-7 guys on my wheel, none of which were willing to help the first 6 minutes of riding on top of the mountain. I finally got some to move through and offer some help. We could still see the lead guys so I knew we should be able to bring them back. Then I found out what I was working with. One guy jumped off the front of our group. One guy was a really strong junior (he made the climb with us), but just could keep up the pace once we were on flat ground. The others were just overall disorganized, letting gaps open, and not strong enough. After about 3 miles, I dropped everyone but two VW guys. We were still holding the lead group to only a 20 second gap, but it never seemed to come down close enough. I drug these guys around the top of the mountain doing about 65% of the work in our group. I kept battling with myself if I should just drop everyone and go for the lead group or depend on them to help and relieve me every once in a while. Well, I made the wrong decision. I continued to doubt myself and continued to let the lead group stay away knowing every minute they were up the road it would be getting harder and less likely for me to pull it back. I know I have the power and should have just stood up and buried myself for 2 minutes as soon as we peaked on top of the climb and bridged to the front group. But it never happened. It was just not my race.

The lead group of 6 shelled one guy somewhere along the way. As he dropped back to us, I told him to hop on and help us bring it back. He didn't have anything left just like the other guys though. Around 7 miles left in the race, we finally gave up as I could see my average power from the chase start to drop to the low end of zone 4. At the 10k to go mark, I was on the front and would drive it in from there. No one would come around and take a pull at that point. It was pretty crappy, but smart racing on their part. I was obviously the strongest rider there and there was no reason to help me and lessen their chances of a good placing. However, as we went under the 500 meter to go mark and I could see the guys starting to spread out behind me getting ready to attack me at the line, I was a little upset. Pretty unsportsmanlike to let me drag you along for the last 20 miles and then try to sprint past me at the line. But if I was really worried, then I wouldn't have led the last 10k. As riders started to come up on each side of me and we closed in on about 150 meters to go, I stood up and laid down some strokes to create a separation so I could cruise in for 6th place. Very hard fought race and not exactly smartly executed. Props to those lead guys, especially Michaelee, for doing exactly what they needed to do to get away and stay away. They raced a very smart and hard race. I'm happy for Michaelee for taking the win.

I was able to get a little redemption from my subpar road race showing in the time trial later that afternoon. Despite a pounding headache, I think from prolonged high blood pressure, heart rate, and dehydration, I put up a solid effort in the time trial winning the cat 4 division and beating all the cat 3 times. That felt good and made the trip more worthwhile.

The road race also gave me a new 20 minute max avg, 15 minute max avg, 10 minute max avg, 45 minutes in zone 4 on top of the mountain, and followed it all up with a 1,500+ watt spike to create the finish line separation. Now back to training and rebuilding.

Race Report: Athens Twilight

After almost 4 hours in the car Friday evening, I finally made it to Athens. I was welcomed by some really cool fraternity guys yelling at me and chasing my car for turning around in their driveway. Thanks to Paul M. I had a nice place to stay that was close to downtown and both races. Not long after arriving I was settling into the couch for some sleep before the early race the next morning.

I had my breakfast, loaded up the car, and headed out to find the parking area for the first race of the day. Pulling in I saw my teammate Ben which was going to be nice to get ready alongside a familiar face. Since it was wet and still drizzling a bit, I decided to scrap the carbon wheels and just put them back in the trunk. Best decision of the weekend. I changed out my brake pads and put my aluminum wheels on in the parking lot before heading out to registration to pick up my number. This is when I realized I left my wallet in my clothes bag which was back at the house. After the trip to fetch my wallet, I made my way to pick up my number and finally had it pinned on my skinsuit with about 20 minutes to race start. I dressed in a hurry, not evening changing socks due to lack of time leaving me racing in the rain with cotton socks. With 13 minutes til race time, Ben and I departed the cars and headed for the start/finish area. So much for a warm-up before a crit. About this time I was realizing my breakfast was not substantial enough and I was already getting hungry. I also didn't have my coffee or bring an energy gel for the race. Everything was just looking up for me at this point.

We waited on the sidelines as the race before us finished. The official said we had time for one practice lap before the start if we wanted. Not having warmed up or seen the course, I decided to go and ride a lap. I was the only one. Bad decision. When I came back around, I was at the very back of the pack of 50+ racers. Walking my bike, I started to move up close to Ben for a better position when all of a sudden the race had started. I couldn't hear the official up front and had no idea we were about to start. I hopped over my saddle and onto the bike. The rider to my right leaned over into me causing me to rub wheels with the guy in front of me. I saved the fall, but was unclipped and on my feet again. I hopped on my bike again and was off for the race. I looked back and there was only one racer behind me and the motor bike with a lot of ground between me and the peloton. There was going to be a lot of chasing.

I think after two laps, I was finally up into the field. Around this time, there was at least a two man crash in corner 4 as I saw two bikes fly into the air on the inside line of the corner. I was behind the crash and had to come to a standstill before we could navigate around it. I was then chasing the peloton again, this time up the hill to the finish line. Another lap down and I moved all the way up to the front for a one lap pull and to see the best route around the course. I was swarmed and started dropping back again after this, this was the very common in this race. There were definitely some sketchy racing going on and several times I got pinched in corners by some juniors who verbally responded to me announcing my presence with sheer class and safety in mind.

I had noticed one rider earlier in the race who's carbon brakes sounded like a kid's animated machine gun fire. Going into corner two, I watched as this racer would brake, front wheel would skid out an inch or two, brake, skid out again. I watched this happen 3 or 4 times in corner two before the apex when my attention was switched to the rider behind him who was now on my inside hip and going down. I could see his front wheel launching into the air and "pedal faster, pedal faster" screamed in my brain because I knew he was sliding out and would soon hit me if I didn't get out of the way quick. I made it out safely, but like any smart peloton, the front group was attacking again with a crash occurring behind them. Time to chase again.

I think with 2 laps to go I had made my way to the front again trying to make sure I was ready for the sprint. However, it didn't last long. More bunching and swarming and I was down the line again. I was really starting to count myself out of this race. I was never able to hold position up front and always got strung out in the corners. I had been having a mental fight with myself all race. On the back straight of the last lap, I told myself, "Well, this is where you find out how good you really are at finishing a race." The group was starting to spread across the entire road and I was surrounded by racers. Coming into corner 3 on the last lap, I was sitting outside top 10 but under top 15. I figured that was it for me. Every time we had come through corner 4, the race got strung out. I would have been 20 meters back from the lead rider this time with where I was sitting. That's a lot of ground to overcome, especially on the uphill finish. But, as they had done almost every time coming out of corner 4, the group went to the right side of the road. The road had a slight left curve to it 10 meters out of the corner. The left line was the shorter and better line. The line I had taken in my warm-up lap and when I led the field earlier. So, coming out of corner 4 sitting 8-10 wheels back, out of desperation I pulled off the group and darted to the left line and started spinning with all I could. Being so far back, going from the corner, at least 200 meters out, was my only option. At this point, I still wasn't thinking this was a winning move, but a move that would place me close to the leaders to make a last ditch effort as we neared the line if I still had anything left. For a minute there in the race, I was questioning whether I would make top 10 and advance to amateur finals or not. But as I launched up the left side of the road, I had at least an 8' side-to-side separation between me and field which limited their vision and their ability to grab my wheel as I came by. And I came by with force. I tried to watch out of my periphery if anyone responded and jumped out of the line as I came by. I didn't see anything. As we came up to the last rise in the road, I passed the lead guy still 75 meters or so to the finish. I started fading once the road flattened out 20 meters from the line. I was praying I was going to hang on, but still expected to see flashes of color out of my right eye. Had the finish been much longer, I would have been toast. But it wasn't. I beat all the odds that day and came away with a win. It was one crazy race.

On to the big show: Twilight Amateur Finals

This is the race I've been looking forward to all year and been afraid of for the past week and a half. When you combine the predicted rain, field of 100+, $2,000 payout, elite talent, and screaming speeds in front of 20,000 spectators, things are bound to get very intense and risky.

I lined up super early since all the advice I had been given was get there early: start position won't win you the race, but it will definitely end it in a hurry. After sitting at the line for almost 40 minutes, I found out they were going to be doing call-ups and I could have been hanging out wherever I wanted for the last hour as I was going to be recognized as a morning race winner and be given a spot on the front line (See picture above and below).

The race started and it was a sprint for corner 1. So fast. I did a pretty good job of holding my line and keeping up with the pace the first 3 laps sitting in top 6-7 wheels. At 9 minutes in, I was starting to fall down through the pack and it always seemed to be on the back side hill. I was trying to stay in the saddle, but that was the wrong move. You had to get out of the saddle and sprint up that hill if you wanted to stay with everyone. I found that out too late and was only able to implement that on my last lap with the group. I actually advanced a position on the hill when I got out of the saddle. I remember one time heading into corner 2 I flinched and was immediately scolded and made a new enemy.

Tons of screaming, fast paced racing came to an abrupt halt when around 16 minutes in a huge crash occurred in the field. It was on the front straight mid way between the Sram neutral support and corner 1. Being in the back half of the group at this time, I saw something happening in the field and soon realized it was people going over other people. I grabbed my brakes for all they were worth and still came screaming into the pile. For one quick second, the crazy thought of "Can I jump this or ride over the top of this," entered my head. Then I was flying over the handlebars crashing into half the field laying on the ground. I rolled out the far side of the pile of people and frantically started looking for my bike. In the mix of bodies and bikes it took me probably 10 seconds to find my bike. Think about that for a minute. I hopped back over the pile and pulled my bike out from under someone. I checked the rear brake and put the chain back on making sure it would spin. I hopped on the saddle and took a few pedal strokes when I saw that everyone else was running back to the pit and neutral service. So I pedaled back that way and soon found out my saddle was crooked. I got a mechanic to mostly straighten it out and I was lined back up on the edge waiting for the field to come around so I could re-enter the race. It took me a second to get going since I was behind other racers. The field was already around corner one by the time my bike was moving and I was out on course. I tried chasing back on and encouraged some other riders falling off the back to get on my wheel so we could work together, but after 2-3 more laps I was pulled. I just couldn't ever make it back on the group. That race really puts some perspective on what crit racing is like at the next level. I now have something to work for.


On another note, I was asked why I wasn't using my carbon wheels for amateur finals. My response was I like them and wanted to keep them working. I expected it to be a sketchy race. I didn't realize it at the time, but when I was going over my bike Monday, I found out my front wheel had gotten eaten by a chainring. The rim had gouges in it along the brake track. I had to file it down with a drimmel and then smooth it out with some sandpaper. Another reason putting the carbon wheels back in the car was the best decision of the weekend. The second best was not racing Roswell the next day. I was in no shape to race and it was pouring rain.

Race Report: Sunny King

Every race this year so far has brought on nervous anxiety in the days leading up to it. Sunny King was no different. At first I tried to downplay it in my mind. I told myself there are no BAR points on the line and I don't need any upgrade points, so just go have fun, try to make something happen, and don't worry about winning. But the night before and day of the race, pressures started swarming in my mind. People commented about this being a huge race and to win would be a big deal; it's still only Cat 4 though. Anyway, I said my prayer on the start line, knew my rough plan of attack, and we were off.

Like most Cat 4 crits, the first few laps were really fast and definitely got the heart pumping. I was happy to be near the front so I didn't have to do quite so much checking up and braking into every corner. The group was staying together nicely as the first prime was called out about 9 minutes into the race. It was too early so I just let it go. Around 16 minutes in, the next prime lap was announced and just as we had planned two other guys and myself were sitting on the front of the group coming out of corner two. The plan was to attack and not sit up after the line in order to form a break with these other two guys. Well, as the line neared, I decided I really wanted the prime and accelerated hard in the saddle. I took the prime and keep on going screaming into corner one. I was sure I was going down, sliding across the pavement, and slamming into the barriers. I hit the corner so fast with my bike leaned over so far. My rear wheel skidded, jumped, and skidded again I think. I don't know exactly what all happened, but I thank God I was able to keep my bike up and not lose any skin. I'm still amazed at how that worked out. Somewhere during that my chain fell off the outside. Soft pedaling along the barriers, I got it back on the big ring and was making forward progress. The field had still not caught me. Where were my guys that were supposed to break with me? I didn't realize how hard and deep I had gone in that section until later. Looking back, I hit the same max HR in that effort as I did in the sprint finish and almost just as many watts. I kept pedaling around corner two and down the back straight sitting up looking for what happened to the field. I now question whether I should have kept going and tried to solo break or not. I think I made the right decision being solo and the huge effort I had just made. Anyway, the field caught back up with me after corner 4 and we were back into the start/finish straight. It was now time for me to do some recovering if I wanted to be able to go again at the finish.

I drifted back in the back trying to stay out of the wind as much as possible. Things are a lot scarier the further you are back in the pack. You have to do a lot more braking going into the corners, a lot more out of the saddle hammering coming out of the corners, and there are a lot more people surrounding you with questionable bike handling and decision making. Somewhere around 30 minutes in, I heard the announcer call out a 3rd prime lap. There were only supposed to be two primes in the race according to our pre-race start line instructions. The timing of this one could have made it very interesting if I had waited to go for it. But I knew I couldn't. I was still sitting back in the pack trying to make sure I was going to be ready to go hard at the end.

At 6 laps to go I started making my way back up to the front. Four laps to go and I was where I wanted to be, but I could see someone up the road. I wasn't sure who he was or whether he was off the front or off the back. The motorcycle was in between him and the field which only added more confusion as some of the guys in the peloton were saying OTF and others OTB. At 3 laps to go I moved up to the front of the pack and got confirmation that the rider was indeed off the front. We were going to have to do some chasing and in a hurry. My buddy Michaelee was driving the group with about 3 laps to go and me sitting second wheel. With 2 to go, Michaelee pulled off and I took over to bring this guy back. Coming out of corner 2 I pulled off and waited for the next guy to pull through. As I turn to look and yell some harsh words at the field for their lack of help, Michaelee pulls on through again off my wheel and creates a little separation from me, again driving the field. We go through the one to go with the lead guy still off the front. In between corner 1 and 2 of the last lap, we finally brought the lead guy back in. Awesome job by Michaelee by the way.

Coming out of corner two for the back straight, I was leading the field with Michaelee maybe a bike length in front of me. I scanned my periphery and realized that still no one was willing to come up and pull, take over, or even throw an attack. At that point, I knew this was my run for the finish. I was all in at this point. If anyone had come around leading a train, I don't think I would have been able to pass them back. I dug in and drove it home, trying to keep the pace up to prevent anyone from coming around. Coming out of corner 3, I was back on Michaellee's wheel with a little speed, but I decided to check up and sit on his wheel through corner 4. Coming out of corner 4, I pulled off Michaellee's wheel and tucked my head. I gave another surge once the road started going up. Halfway to the finish line, I was certain I was going to see trains of people that had been sitting on my wheel the last 3 laps coming up on the side of me, but no. No one was there. I lowered my chest to the bar trying to stay as aero as possible, never got out of the saddle, and just kept mashing the pedals. I brought it home. Excited and thrilled to pull off my biggest win to date.

Dan Henry got some awesome shots of the race and the finish that can be viewed here. 

A sample is seen below

The Sunny King website has also posted a replay of the event here that can be viewed by clicking on the "Watch a replay of the Races" tab. The cat 4 race starts at the 2 hour mark if you wanted to skip forward.

Race Report: Aaron Shafer RR

Definitely a pretty drive through rural TN

I was skipping class to make this race, so I knew I needed to make it count. I had decided to not plan any particular attacks, but to simply race the race that unfolds with maybe some gas up the climb just to see what happens.

So about two miles into the race when the first attacks started going, I simply sat in and watched people burn matches for the heck of burning matches. I was sitting further back in the field than I was encouraged, but with the hoopla that was going on in the front, I felt more secure and protected where I was. Oh, and none of the attacks stuck or really ever even formed for more than 30 seconds.

Turning to start the climb, I had moved my way up to the front, knowing that I wanted to be in the top 5 wheels for it. Two other guys and I were working a rotating pace line over the easy rollers up to the climb and when the road started going a little more up, one rider went off the front. Unfortunately for him, he never made it more than 30 meters in front of us and stayed there the entire way. Once we got to the steeper sections, the field was stretching out and two other riders (different from the lower section) and myself knew what we wanted to do: hurt the field and create a gap over the top to start a breakaway. We began rotating nicely. I was about to finish one of my pulls, when all of a sudden teammate James B. came out of nowhere on my left and said he'd march ahead and do all the work. So I sat on his wheel and he pulled the dragging field along to the top steep kicker. At that point, a few riders kicked it up and over. I tailed along and got in a group of 3 with another group of 3 just ahead up the road. They didn't wait for us, so we had to chase them down over the next 1/2 mile. Once we caught them, we all knew what we needed to do and started a nice 6 man rotating paceline breakaway. Unfortunately, our group of 6 did not include a VW rider (assuming that is who chased the break down), so we were chased down and caught about 3 miles down the road. At this point I thought the entire field was together. I was wrong and supposedly we had dropped a good handful of people on the climb.

We continued rolling across the country landscape of farm animals and lush green grass. It was nice to take it in for a few quick seconds. This second part of the race didn't have any of those 3 and 5 second gap attacks like the first 15 miles. We were all rolling together and if someone accelerated, everyone in the front of the group accelerated with them. No one was getting away. I also made sure I stayed closer to the front from here on in, not getting much out of 7 or so wheel.

Once we made the second R hand turn nearing the finish, the group was really picking up speed. I was making my way up a few wheels along the yellow line. I knew soon we would be making the last L bend for the run into the finish. I was sitting somewhere around 3rd or 4th wheel as we made that turn and the finish line banner came into sight. The road was supposed to be open at the 200 m to go mark. Maybe around 300 meters to go, a CBC rider attacked from my left and created a two to 3 bike length gap between him and the field. At this, I pulled out of the line and began to charge, not quite knowing exactly what I wanted to do yet. I decided to bridge to his wheel and sit for maybe 2 seconds. Around 200 meters to go, I jumped off his wheel and went around to the left. It was perfect timing because as I was punching it out of the saddle, I saw riders out of the periphery of my vision on both sides of me going at the same time. I kicked it hard over the blip in the road. About 30 meters to the line, I took a glance over my shoulder and the race was over. I cruised under the banner super pumped and thrilled to have pulled off another win. A road race win!

It was frustrating to have to pack my car up and leave after the road race to get back to school. I had really wanted to do the time trial and defend my only race win from 2012. But life is life. I made back to class in time to discuss some material and complete the graded assignment before the 5 o'clock dismissal.

The very cool mugs they give to the podium. Now I have a set!

All the posters I 'get' to sign after the race

   

 If you look close, you can see me on the start line (top L corner). The picture they used was from last year's Cat 4 RR start. Pretty cool. 

I found some more photos.