Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 1

Stage 1 was a 122km stage on a 17km circuit in Xining. There were a ton of fans at the start taking pictures. Those fans were lining the entire 17km circuit. There were also drones and a helicopter taking video of the race. We did 7 laps. The circuit was wide open and flat, which made for a very fast race. The racing was aggressive from the gun. After a couple laps we put Thomas and Nick in a break and the rest of the team just sat near the front of the peloton while other teams chased. The break was caught with about 20km to go and we set pace at the front. Evan came in 10th on the stage and Thomas and Nick are sitting in 6th and 7th on GC by picking up time bonuses while in the breakaway. It was an awesome first stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake for Lupus Racing Team. Tomorrow's stage is a flat 188km stage.

https://www.strava.com/activities/339418866

Labor Day Omnium

This past weekend was the Labor Day Omnium in Anderson South Carolina. It consisted of a 4.5 mile tt on a winding and rolling course, a rolling 4 corner crit, and a 70 mile circuit race on the tt course.

The tt was the first event and was pretty straight forward. Crush it full gas the whole way and take the turns as fast as possible. I never really felt like I was going that great and suffered the whole time. I still came in 9th place, which is my best finish at an NRC race this year. So I was pretty happy with that result.

The crit was 80 minutes on a 4 corner course that had a hill in it before turn 3. I did not feel that great for the crit either. A dangerous move went about 20 minutes in with most of the people who did well in the tt, so I went with it. I was pretty tired for the rest of the race and just sat in and finished 21.

The circuit race was on the same course as the tt and I was hoping to have good legs for it. Like at the beginning of the crit a dangerous move went and I got in it. I did not feel great, so I did as little work as possible in this move. The move got brought back and counters followed. My legs still felt bad and never came around. With about 30 miles to go I couldn’t take it anymore and got dropped. Maybe if I didn’t go with that early move I would have been able to stay in the race and make it into a good group at the end of the race. But I am happy that I participated in the crit and the circuit race. I also had the best tt at an NRC race that I have ever had, so I should be happy with this weekend.

Nocatee Stage Race

This past weekend my Team Globalbike teammate Shawn Gravois and I took part in the Great Nocatee Stage Race in Ponte Vedra, FL. This race consisted of a flat 60 mile road race, flat 5 mile tt, and a 60 minute crit.

For the road race we wanted to get in a break and a good position. We followed lots of early attacks and after a little more than a lap a group of about ten formed off the front. People were tired in the break from the heat and wind. I was feeling strong. With 25 miles to go I made the race hard and let 3 riders get up the road. I jumped up to them and the winning move was formed. This move included Derek Schanze (Gearlink), Shane Braley (Chemstar), Pedro Medina (ASV), and myself. At this point the race was very tough and we were all tired. We mostly worked together until the finish. I tried a few attacks, but they were unsuccessful. Derek attacked about a mile to go but we were on him like glue. The sprint was into a headwind, so we all just looked at each other to jump. I jumped around 200 meters to 150 meters to go and Pedro passed me for the win and Shane nipped me at the line, so I got third. Shawn soloed in for 5th place.

I looked forward to the TT because I won it last year. I was hoping I would go well. I went out at a tough pace and kept making myself suffer until the finish. I ended up with the win with a time of 9:53. Ken Vida (Florida Velo) came in second and Shawn came in third.

We went into the crit with the intent to race hard and go for the win. The best situation would have been to get Shawn and I both in a group of 4 or 5. The race started with a hard attack from Jos Chalmers (Zmotion) and Ken Vida (Florida Velo). The race was very tough because people would attack and get brought back. It was never really slow. A couple breaks would get a decent advantage and we would just peg them back. At one point it was apparent that no breaks would stick, so Shawn did a lot of time on the front helping me keep the race together. I ended up leading out the sprint because there were a lot of turns at the end and I figured if I could get into them first that was my best chance to win. The finish was about 150 meters from the last turn. Ken Vida (Florida Velo), Jos Chalmers (Zmotion), and Karel Sumbal (Gearlink) all passed me in the finishing straight, so I came in fourth and ended up winning the stage race. It was a pretty good weekend. Shawn helped me very much with this win this weekend.