Off Season

I haven't written here in a while, about two months. Some things have changed since then. I won that race in Ocala but didn't write about it. Ivan Franco, Paul Kavan, and I lapped the field about halfway through the 80 minute race. Ivan and I worked together till about two laps to go. Then we just let it come down to a field sprint. Jason Snow won the sprint and I took second, meaning I won the race. I finished school about a week ago. I won't be going back in the spring though because I am going to race pro for AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork cycling team. I am pretty excited about this. I hope some good things come out of next year. At the moment I am in Roswell Georgia at a friend's house. I drive to the mountains in Dahlonega to train in the mountains most days. I need to work on that for next year . It is nice weather here at the moment- in the 50s-60s and sunny. That's about it for now.

Atlanta Georgia Cup

This past weekend was the last Georgia Cup race of the year. It took place in Atlanta. Saturday was a circuit race on a 2.5 k rolling circuit with 4 turns. The last turn was about 400 meters from the line. The Pro 1,2 race was 20 laps for a 50 k race. There were a lot of good riders this weekend like Frank Travieso from Aerospace and John Murphy (USA U23 National Team). The Subaru team started Tim Henry, David Guttenplan, Wes Garland, Whit Clifford, and me. There were many attacks throughout this race, but none seemed to really go very far. If a gap did get large it seemed like it would get shut down shortly after it got large. For the first half of the race I got in some of these moves, but after a few attempts I believed no moves would stick and I decided to save myself for the bunch kick. With about ten laps to go David was off the front by himself for a few laps. As soon as David was brought back Tim attacked, and Bobby Sweeting (Nerac- Outdoor Lights) and a Colombian rider followed him. Tim timed his attack perfectly because he instantly got a gap of like 30 seconds and it went up to a minute. These guys worked together and stayed away for the rest of the race. From what I heard Bobby attacked on the hill with half a lap to go, and the Colombian rider brought him back. Tim countered this move and rolled in solo for the win. Coming out of the last turn I was 4th wheel right behind David. David went with about 200 meters out and I followed him. I went about 150 meters out because the sprint was a little uphill and won the field sprint for fourth place. David was 4th in the bunch kick for seventh place. This race goes to show that if you really want a break to stick it can if you work hard enough even if the course doesn’t look like it will let a break work.
Sunday was the big day. The Pro 1,2 race was 60 laps on a tough, 4-cornered course that was about 900 meters long. It was uphill from the start line through turn 2, which was off camber, and still went uphill a little after that. Then it was downhill to another off-camber turn three. It was flat and a headwind from turn 3-4 and an uphill drag to the line. The prize list was $10,000 about 30 deep. The winner would get $1250, so our tactic for the day was to attack a lot and try to get away. This race was really fast from the gun. It was so hard I wanted to quit 15 laps in but just kept ticking away. Tim, David, and I followed many attacks, but none seemed to last very long early on. Then Frank Travieso (Aerospace) attacked with about 32 to go. I chased him down and Bobby Sweeting (Nerac- Outdoor Lights) came with me. We worked very well together and got a 30 second gap. I was tired at first so didn’t work so much at first, but after a lap or two I found my rhythm and did my share. Then we got brought back by none other than Bobby’s teammates. It was a kind of crazy tactic if you ask me. Then once again there were a bunch of attacks and primes. I set up Tim for two and David also got one. Then after a really hard point with about 13 laps to go I launched a solo attack. After I lap my gap wasn’t large, but I kept the power down and kept chugging along. The gap increased to about 20 seconds the next lap. Then with about 8 to go John Murphy (USA National Team) decided to chase me down. He got within about ten seconds of me and stayed there until about 2 laps to go it looked like 5 seconds or so. I started to cramp about now, but I just put more pressure on the pedals then and didn’t want a repeat of the Lagrange race a few weeks ago. With one lap to go the gap ballooned out to about 20 seconds. I knew I had the race won then. The next lap I crossed the line with my arms in the air for victory. David won the bunch sprint today and got 5th place. This race went to show that if you are mentally tough and use good tactics you can still achieve victory even if you fell physically tired. I am very proud of how this weekend went. The Subaru team rode cohesively, rode very aggressively, and achieved victory both days. I only have two more weekends of racing left this year. Next weekend is a hometown race for me in Ocala, so I hope I can keep running well.

Venice Crit

Yesterday was the downtown Venice crit in Florida. I have always liked this course because it is technical and favors small breakaway groups because there are a lot of tight turns. I also like this course because I won here as a cat three and had a plan of what I wanted to do going into the race. The course is maybe around 1.5 k long. It starts out with a fast 90, then another 90, then there is a curve that takes the group through a sharp 150 to two tight 90s, down about 150 meters to a tight 180/ U-Turn about 50-75 meters before the line. The pro 1,2 race was 90 minutes plus five laps. Usually the first person in this turn wins the race. I had one teammate in David Guttenplan. The race started with attacks from the gun. I got in all the moves that I could until I spent all of my firepower and could only chase stuff down. After I had no snap I would chase groups back, and they would be really mad at me because I brought the whole group. Then David got in one group and I had a chance to rest up a bit. I went with a counter of 4 guys and we started to work. Then I think some guys bridged up to us making us a group of ten. Then Bobby Sweeting (NERAC/ Outdoor Lights), a local kid, attacked our group. Ivan Franco (VisionQuest) bridged up to Bobby. Shortly after this Joel Chavez (Vista Velo) got up with Bobby and Ivan. I just thought uh oh I gotta get up there. After all these attacks my group became 5 guys, and two of them were Vista Velo, so they wouldn't work with us to catch Joel. The gap was 15 seconds now, and I just knew I had to get up the road to that group. So, I started going crazy and taking risks in the turns and got a gap with only one Vista Velo rider on me. He crashed in the 180 when I had about 5 or 6 seconds to the leaders. I felt crappy possibly from my early efforts but knew I would be happy if I got in that group, and I eventually made after about two laps of chasing. Once I got in that group we just rolled through, increasing our lead on the peloton. We got away about 30' into the race, and I knew it was going to be a long day. We all pretty much did equal work, but sometimes Ivan would take a long hard pull. This is more or less all we did the whole time we were away. I felt bad when I first got the group, but as we settled in a rythm I started feeling better and better. Towards the end of the day I realized I was taking the turns better than all the other guys in my group. With five laps to go we had almost lapped the peloton, so we slowed the pace down because we didn't want to get back in the bunch because that would comlicate things. Going into the last lap I decided that I wanted last wheel. I jumped with all I had for the 150, just like I did when I won the race in cat 3, but Ivan saw me and also jumped beating me there. He took the next 90 too fast and ended up on the outhside of the cones separating the course. I just kept it going hard through the next 90. I sprinted for the 180 as I was catching the peloton. I saw a hole on the inside of the turn. I figured the people in the peloton could act as blockers for my breakaway companions. Ijumped in the hole as I skidded my back wheel through the 180, not panicking at all. I managed to keep it upright through the 180. (I guess my goof off rides on dirt roads and mountain bike trails paid off today!) I gased it through to the line and won. I am very happy because this was my first pro 1,2 race win, and I hope I can keep improving from now on.