U23 Road Race Redemption Kind of

With my flat tire slowing me down to a disappointing 13th in the TT, the road race was my last chance to get a result at nationals, and pressure was on for the team to back up Eric's result in the crit. The course was 120 miles long, and basically went back and forth along a highway, with two medium-length, gradual climbs on each lap. We started the race at 10 AM, so heat and distance were the biggest factors.

We rode a smart race, tactically. Our two sprinters, Jamey and Eric, decided to hold back with Josh in case everything stayed together for a sprint. Toby and Alister volunteered to race early, and my job was to wait until the end, or watch the big players and make sure I didn't miss the move. Sure enough, a break went literally from the gun, and aggressive riding brought it up to 20 or so riders, some of them fairly dangerous. In perfect execution, Toby and Alister were there, leaving the responsibility for the chase to Waste Management and Rock Racing, as the only major teams to miss it. 

That move came back about 30 miles in, and I found myself covering a well-represented counter of 25 riders, including almost all the major players. Amazingly for a group of that size, the "break" stayed organized, so we quickly built a lead on the peleton. It was clear that this was the race, and once the gap grew to just over three minutes, the field was pulled in a controversial decision, leaving only 30 riders or so on the course and taking the rest of the team out of contention.

With the move established, Slipstream didn't waste any time taking advantage of their numbers (they had 6 or 7 in the break), and Tom Peterson attacked with Nick Frey up one of the longer climbs. The group hesitated, so I jumped across with Peter Stetina on my wheel. The four of us worked well, and quickly gained a minute advantage after less than a lap. I liked the move because my odds were decent against just three riders, and it put Waste Management under pressure again in the case group. The move looked promising until Stetina flatted, forcing us to wait since Peterson wouldn't go without him, and allowing the chase to claw its way back.

This was when Slipstream really took control. Kirk Carlsen attacked alone, and no one felt like getting organized to chase and letting the rest of the Slipstream riders sit on, so there were constant attacks and counters, as the non-Slipstream riders chased each other down. Soon, Walker Savidge went, putting a second solo Slipstream rider up the road. At this point, I went to each rider in the group that wasn't wearing Argyle, and convinced them that we all need to work together against Slipstream. They got the point, and soon there were 8 of us constantly attacking. Slipstream didn't want to to chase at first, since they had two guys up the road, but when Ben King slipped away with Scott Jackson, I sat at the front of the group with Nick Frey, and we happily announced that we had "two teammates up the road." Walker was soon caught and dropped, and my two teammates were sure to catch one rider in 50 miles, so Slipstream had to start working. I'd like to give props to all my teammates in the break yesterday (Ben, Scott, Nick, Carter, Taylor, Kiel, Alex, Tyler, and Ryan). It's hard to let other guys go up the road, but we had to race against Slipstream, and it takes classy guys and good bike racers to make it work when you're that outmanned. Any of them could have been in the move that stuck.

It took them a few minutes, but Slipstream brought Ben and Scott back while Kirk was still up the road, and I soon countered, with Stetina on my wheel. With a teammate up the road, he naturally sat on. It sucked for me, but there are no hard feelings. I know how it works. After 20 minutes of dragging him around, I was gaining time on Carlsen, but not fast enough, so it was clear that Carlsen wasn't cracking. I figured that if Stetina and I did ever catch him, Kirk would be strong enough to stay with us, and I'd get third, so I told Peter I'd let them take the top 2 spots if he'd help me out. That was a good decision. I took long pulls, but Stetina rode like he had a motor, and we started putting serious time on the chase group.

Going through the start/finish with 1 lap to go, we were 2 minutes behind Carlsen, and 1 minute ahead of the chase. This was when my legs started to give out. I'd been in the wind and heat too long. I took two bottles on every lap, but I'd finished both about 1/3 of the way through the last lap, as well as my Clif shots. Going up the first climb, Stetina pulled away from me, and I couldn't convince him to wait. He put some time on me by the first turnaround at the top of the hill, where I also saw Tom Peterson gaining on me from behind, with the chase no too far back. Bad news all around. After frying in the wind for a few minutes, Stetina came up behind me (I thought I was seeing things), apparently led off and back on the course, with Peterson close behind. They decided to get rid of me. Sensing the inevitability or staying with those guys for another 15 miles, I let them go.

No water, no food, 105 miles already completed, and stuck in no man's land, with three Slipstreams guys ahead of me, and 8 chasers behind, all gaining time. With no other options, I put my head down and settled in for a long, slow time trial. Tom and Peter caught their teammate, and the three of them cross the line together in an impressive display. The biggest team with the strongest riders rode a perfect race, and made the rest of us look silly. I ground my way up the finishing hill 2:30 minutes later, with enough gap on the chasers that I didn't have to kill myself on the climb. As the brave and defeated underdog, I got tons of cheering from the crowd, and it was also good to see Ryan Baumann come through 5th, 9 seconds down. 

So, I rode the best race I could have. I still think I had podium legs in the TT, but I'll never know, and this almost makes up for it, so I'm happy with my nationals.

Finally, congrats to David Reich and Thomas Tran--two of the UF guys I've been coaching this summer--for winning their races back home. Alright, I have to get on a plane.