Well this weekend was a total roller coaster for me. I opened the short road season for me this past weekend at Tour de Husker. As of a week ago yesterday, I wasn't planning to race at all. After talking with Mike Miles about the crit and surveying it on Google Earth I decided that the intensity of the crit on sunday would be good for some top-end training heading into XC racing season so that was a go however I still wasn't planning to do the road race. I have a very love-hate relationship (most people do) with the course at Branched Oak. In 2011, stomach cramps and tough winds on the first lap led to me DNF'ing only 40 minutes into the race. Last Thursday with ideal conditions for racing I decided to go all in for the weekend.
Saturday (Road Race):
Saturday there's not a lot to say. The usual suspects tried to make something happen in the road race. Flatwater guys did some attacks. Couple of others as well. Nothing was really sticking. Typical Cat 4 kinda stuff. Couple of sketchy things going on (sorry but some guys need to work on bike handling). As Lap 3 came to an end and Lap 4 began it became apparent this was going to be a sprint finish. With a group of 20ish guys it was going to be a free for all. Yay (note sarcasm)
Realizing it was going to be a sprint finish, I started plannin on lap 4 my strategy. Now, while I can sprint ok, I prefer a sprint thats slightly longer, almost more of an attacking kind of style. The s/f straight is a slight downhill bend thats rather long and is decievingly long. Just before it are a series of short hills after you've made the turn back into Liebers Point and headed past the entry station. My plan was to attack on the last hill and drill it to the s/f. I felt pretty confident I could hold a very hard effort for a couple of minutes and make it work.
As we made the turn and went up and over the first series of hills, I was following Greg Hagele and a junior whilest sitting 3rd wheel. They pulled through decently hard and as I looked over my shoulder to see what was going on (assuming some guys starting to jockey for position) I realized we'd gapped the field a bit. Seeing this I decided to lift the pace a bit and pulled through thinking a little rotation would help isolate the slower riders and make the attack i was going to do a little easier if everyone is on the rivet. As I pulled through apparently I gapped the field and when I looked back I was 20 or so feet in front. With that I figured I was all in and started to go all out. I pulled out a reasonable gap. For the next couple of hills I kept the pace up. As I looked back I saw Chris Hansen and others trying to real me back in (Chris stated the next day that he was trying to get across to me).
Somewhere, also at this point, unbeknownst to me, my teammate Mike Miles was run off the road. He managed to keep it upright return to the road and chase back for a 10th place finish.
Alas, I went about 0.5K too early and the group caught me on the final short hill as I was beginning to fade. I think had I went just a little later it could have been perfect. Ah well, its early in the season. I sat at the car after pissed at myself for the bonehead move and definitely wanting redemption.
Sunday (crit):
On Sunday Mike and I rolled in two hours early walked the course and took our time getting ready. The long warm up was good as my legs were feeling heavy at first from the previous day. I wasn't really certain of how it would go. I realized on the back stretch with the head cross wind would be the perfect place to attack with a tight series of corners which could play to the advantage of a solo attack at the end of the race. My strategy at this point was to test it on a couple of preme laps then go from there.
At race start, I got a front row position. I had struggled all last season with my clip-ins and race starts. So today I focused on clipping in smoothly and getting up to speed quick. It worked and I was immediately on 3rd wheel. 2nd or 3rd lap they called preme lap. I made my move on the back stretch and sure enough opened a gap, Rich Anderson followed but I pretty easily took the sprint for the preme. We sat up, the field caught us and I worked for the next lap on the front.
I sat in for a couple of laps after working for the first couple and having launched the attack.
Team mate Mike Miles took the 2nd preme lap in a heads up sprint a couple laps later.
Again on the third preme lap about 10-12 laps into our 25 lap race I attacked on the back stretch and this time drew out Greg Hagele. I took the preme again. As I started to sit up, Greg yelled he had a good gap keep going. So for the next half to 3/4 lap I drilled it to try and increase the gap. Greg and I began a steady rotation and worked pretty solidly the next couple of laps with about a 10 second gap.
Back in the pack, Mike was helping us out by chasing down anyone who tried to get across and controlling the field.
At this point a crash in the main field on turn 1-2 resulted in a neutralized race. After a short stop we got going again. Greg and I continued to drill it. With only short recoveries for each of us it was pretty hard effort.
For the next 8 or so laps we worked well together and I started to hatch my plan for the finish. On the final lap, I followed Greg's wheel on the backstretch knowing a good jump out of turn 5 would get me the upper hand on the final corner. As we came out of turn 5 I jumped around hard and didn't look back. I opened a large enough gap, and a little sprint after turn 6 then time to celebrate the win.
I gotta thank Miles for the hard work and sacrifice in the field to help us stay away. I know wins come along rarely and you gotta savor them when they happen. I've been chasing a road win for a while and its awesome to get one.
All in all, it was up and down for the weekend, I went from being angry at myself to totally elated. I didn't expect to initiate a breakaway, it wasn't part of the plan at all. It worked, surprisingly.
Anyways, I'm probably skipping Twin Bing due to some other things so the next road race may not be until Mayish...for now its all about dirt with the Psycowpath opener this next weekend.
Cheers for now.
J
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