USPro Crit

Yesterday the Lupus Racing Team raced the USPro Criterium Championships on a 1km, 8 turn course in downtown Greenville, SC. For me this was a very exciting race because a national championship was held only a 15 minute bike ride from my house. I trained hard in the the two weeks between Sunny King/McClellan and the USPro Crit and was eager to see the fruits of my labor. We fielded a 5 rider squad of Jonah Mead Van Cort, Nolan Tankersley, Evan Murphy, Oliver Flautt, and myself. The course was very tight, so I made sure to get a start near the front. It would have been difficult to move up on such a tight course if I started near the back. The pace started off fast from the gun with Rally sending riders off the front immediately. I wanted to be careful with my matchbook because I learned last year that a 2 hour crit takes forever. For the first 20 minutes I stayed near the front but did not cover anything. My teammate Evan Murphy covered a good early move, but the fast pace of the field brought this move back. After Evan's move was caught I began to cover. Around 40 minutes into the race I got into a move with Danny Pate and a UHC rider, but they were not working well together. As soon as our move was brought back a counter went, but I had to sit in to recover. It isn't possible to jump into every move as that may cause you to blow up and DNF. I didn't want that to happen to me, so I sat in. Oliver jumped off the front and tried to bridge to that counter, but that move was also brought back. Then a group of around 10 riders went roughly one hour and 10 minutes into the race, and Daniel Holloway set a vicious pace in an attempt to bring the move back. When he seemed to tire I jumped across to that 10 rider move and sat on as UHC had 3 riders in the move. About one lap later a UHC rider attacked, so I attacked with Joe Schmalz to try to bridge. Our move was short lived as the field was breathing down our necks. We got 15 laps to go shortly after, and UHC started to set pace with Jesse Anthony and Tom Solladay of Rally both off the front. UHC caught the duo with roughly 8 laps to go, but in the end Brad Huff of Rally ended up overtaking the UHC train to take the win. Evan was our best rider in 11th place. I am happy with my race because I felt strong the entire race, was able to ride aggressively in such a strong field, and was never in any real difficulty. It was also fun that we were able to put multiple riders in breakaway groups and work well as a team. I look forward to racing the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, AR that starts on Thursday.