Early Racing 2015

I was nervous and skeptical about racing this year despite all the plans of a quick upgrade to Cat 2. I hadn't raced in a long time and as I began the season, I realized it was not going to be as easy of a feat to win and upgrade quickly as it was to upgrade to Cat 3.

Racing on 5-6 hours of training a week with minimal base mileage was pretty different from racing on 12-14 hours of training a week with a solid 6 day a week base mileage to roll off of in the early part of the season.

I was finding out quickly that I couldn't just show up to the race and expect to walk away with a win like I could in 2013 as a Cat 4. The team dynamics played a much bigger aspect to the racing now. The teams were stronger and smarter than ever before.

After finishing 8th and 5th in my first two road classified races of the 2015 season, I was feeling pretty discouraged and wondering if I was wasting my time with so little of it to commit to training. Then I showed up to Sunny King, a race that had been favorable to me in years past. It is a typical crit with a four corner course without any steep inclines or wicked nasty corners.

I barely made it on time and without much of a warm up (about 10 minutes on the trainer). I started at the back of the pack and stayed there for the first part of the race. The first 15 minutes felt like crap. It was extremely hard and I felt like I was about to pop off the back at any given moment. The horrible thought of getting dropped from the field and pulled from the race even crept into my head. It was hard.

But then all of a sudden, things began to change. Maybe we slowed down or maybe I was just finally warming up. It didn't seem quite as hard. My legs weren't quite as dead. I made some moves to edge myself up the group to make sure I didn't get separated from the field. Then I found the group counting down from 5 laps to go with me in the top 1/4 of the racers.

The laps continued to count down and I made sure I knew who's wheel I was on and tried to keep my position so people didn't swarm the field and shoot me way down the pack.

Video of the race can be seen here: http://www.annistoncycling.com/videos/
Starting at 3:20:00 and the finish is at 4:01:00.

On the final lap I knew the race was mine to lose. I was in perfect position for my skill set. The only thing I needed was for us to not get swarmed by riders heading into corner 3 of the last lap. To prevent that I pulled off onto Croome's wheel as he gave a little acceleration into the corner when feeling the peloton coming up the inside. Once I had that matched, I was able to roll through and into the last corner of the race in about 5th wheel position.

Once we straightened up out of the corner, I laid down the power and went for the line. I opened up the gap but still stayed strong on the pedals for fear of anyone creeping up on me at the line. Once I had it secured I set up to celebrate for the first time since TN State Crit in 2013. It was an amazing feeling and for it to be at Sunny King and the first race my girlfriend got to see me race in made it all the more special.

A great day in Alabama.

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.