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 Time Trial and MOAB Crit

I just got flat out beat in the time trial. Hicks is a strong rider and a very fast time-trialist. However, given better conditions, I think I would have put up a much better fight to make the race closer. I never got into a comfortable position on the bike. Early on my head and shoulders felt very heavy and were a strain on my arms just to hold my body upright. I should have spent more time on the TT bike to make sure I had my position dialed in. I hadn’t been on it for over 20 minutes since preparing for a road tri last April. I also forgot to grease up and the new skinsuit and I did not mesh very well at the saddle interface. Let’s just say I’m a little scabbed over currently. That aside, I’m still disappointed in my legs. I’m not sure if I never recovered from ITU or I was just really having a bad day, but my legs felt like junk for most of the ride. I assessed my form a few times on the course and I couldn’t pin down what my limiting factor was. My legs weren’t burning and screaming at me to stop, but I also wasn’t panting for air. They just didn’t show up ready to go when I hit it at the start line. I finally got into some rhythm over the last 10K. All the hills were gone and I was motoring. I would estimate I averaged 28 mph over those last 6 miles. I’m glad I pushed hard and thought I still had some chance of winning because if not, I would have been way down in the standings incurring no points.

Sunday I’d be given another chance for success. The Cat 4 start time was 12:35. It was going to be a hot day with a course completely in the sun. I did a little warm up on some back roads while the 3’s were still racing and only got one lap in before we were lining up for our start. The field was looking big. A lot bigger than the online registration was showing. I was starting towards the back of the pack and had no buddies in the race with me. I remained calm and new I would be able to make my way up. That ended up being the motto for the whole race: remain calm and wait. I gradually moved forward and was quickly sitting in the top 10 wheels and stayed there for most of the race with a good time spent as 4^th wheel. Harpeth cycling put in a good amount of work and did a good job protecting their rider Will Montgomery. I never could figure out what BPC was trying to do. They would send one guy off the front but never more than 100 meters. And every time we came to the 120° turn before the slight uphill, one of their guys would charge to the front which would lead to us bringing the front guy back on the incline every time. I guess the charging guy might have been trying to get to the front and slow the peloton down, but that sure wasn’t working. We immediately engulfed him and pulled everything back together. Going into 2 laps to go, I decided it was time to shift up to the big ring and get ready to do some work. I edged forward still trying to save as much as I could but by this time we were booking it around the course. 

(So to explain the course, the 120° turn led to 150 meters of flat road before a slight rise in the road 100 meters long, then a 90° left hand turn that bottle necked the riders before the open 100 meter flat straight to the finish.)

Approaching the rise, I was sitting 4^th wheel with two Harpeth guys in front of me. As we reached the top and started through the curve, Will jumped off the front and several others went to the right of me and one guy to my left. I waited until I was completely through the corner before I really started mashing on the pedals. Will’s early jump gave him a big lead once we were in the finish line straight and it didn't seem like I would be able to catch him. I still saw two maybe three guys to my right that were in front of me. I continued my sprint but couldn't really tell where the finish line was with the white lines from the intersection on the ground. I was gaining on the Nashville Cyclist guy and began overtaking him in the last 20 meters. Ten meters out we made contact. I pulled off, gave my last kick, and lunged for the line. Steven, the Nashville Cyclist guy, lost control and crossed the finish line in 3^rd in midair before he slammed into the ground and slid for several meters. As the rest of the group came flying in, Marco didn’t manage to change course and t-boned Steven in the back and flipped over his bike landing on his head. Crazy crashes and finish in Murfreesboro.  

At the line, I think I had pulled Will back to only a bike length from me. I know I am faster than him and I hate that I lost to him again. This is the second time it’s happened because he made the same early move at Aaron Shafer Road Race for the win leaving me with second. I have to trust my legs more, go early, and go hard. I’ll be doing some practice work before the crit state championships. That race is mine. 

Now it's time to rest. Legs need to recover and this upcoming weekend is the only race with an HC (hors categorie, beyond categorization) climb finish on the east coast. The Roan Groan finishes with a 9.5 mile climb at an average 6.4% gradient with 4639 feet of climbing in the race.