My CAT3 upgrade was approve the end of June! This was one of my major goals for the year,
so this was a big relief. This allowed
me to take some time off the bike and relax a little. I really needed a mental break as I was
pretty smoked from all the spring road races and then Lumberjack on the
SS. Getting ramped back up was a little
rough, but after a solid week of training while on vacation, I was feeling like
my form was coming back.
Waterford Worlds (7/18)
After coming back from vacation, I headed over to the
Waterford to test my legs in the A race.
I had attempted this once right after Lumberjack, but dropped out as the
legs were dead and my heart wasn’t in it.
This time I was fresh off of a break with a solid training block and
ready to go. There was a pretty large
group and the pace was high from the word go.
I think we passed the B race at about the 15-20min mark and almost
passed them again just before the end of their race an hour in!! I was able to move around and was at the
front of the peloton a few times, but not really a factor in the race. I was feeling good until just after the hour
mark where they called a prime and all hell broke loose! I don’t think there was a peloton for about
3-4 laps, just groups of guys trying to hang on to whatever wheel they could
find. It mostly came back together and I
rolled in with the group for 20th.
The race was fun with an avg speed of 26.5mph… I have work to do! Hopefully by next year I can be more than
just pack fodder.
Le Champion Pave
This race was my first CAT3 race. I didn’t race here last year and didn’t know
what to expect with the rough brick paver section on the main drag in downtown
Flint. Part of the reason for working to
get to CAT3 was to have teammates.
Collin, Josh and I talked and put together some basic guidelines for how
we were going to race. The race started
out pretty mellow outside of me missing my pedal and having to push to get back
to the front of the group. Brian
Wachlarz went solo immediately and we let him dangle. I decided to open up my legs and chase him
down on a prime lap. I didn’t catch him
in time, but pulled him back to the peloton.
Collin then got in a break, so Josh and I covered attacks and slowed the
peloton. They called a prime for the
peloton and Josh hit it hard and won it with ease. About 30min in, Brain Bangma made a hard
attack and I went after him along with John Gracely. This formed a second break of 4 after Chris
Abston bridged up shortly after. Not
wanting the peloton to catch us on the last lap, Brian said he would pull the
back straight if someone would pull the front.
I went to the front and pulled the first half of the lap… then suffered
to hang on the back half. I ended up
finishing 3rd in our break and 8th overall. Collin finished 4th and Josh won
the field sprint for 10th. It was a good
showing for the team!
Waterford Worlds (8/1)
I was feeling pretty good and looking forward to mixing it
up with the fast guys. The start was
hard, but eased up to a comfortable pace.
I really started feeling good near the hour mark, but the B race had a
bad crash at the sprint and they ended up calling our race. It’s never good to see your friends lying on
the ground. There was a lot of road
rash, but everyone seemed to make it out ok except Antonio who went to the
hospital with broken ribs and vertebrae.
It appears as though he is going to make a full recovery, but it was a
reminder to all how dangerous this sport can be.
Waterford Worlds (8/15)
After some races in the dirt, I was back on skinny
tires. I was feeling pretty good after
O2S and looking forward to another sufferfest with the fast guys. This race was different as nobody was letting
the breaks go since the purse was doubled up since the last race was called
prior to the finish. This was also the
last race of the season, so the sprinters teams wanted to give their guys a
chance at the season points win. I was
able to move around and never felt like I was in trouble. I even made a short break or two, but they
didn’t go anywhere. Coming into the
finish I was in a reasonable position, but I was on the outside and the peloton
pushed to the left putting me into the grass.
I could have pushed back, but wasn’t looking to go down. I chalked it up as CX practice and rode up to
the peloton and rolled in to the finish.
Tour de Gaslight
This was my worst race last year as I did the USACycling
race in GR the day before and was spent getting popped the last lap in the CAT4
race. I was hoping for a better finish
this year. Josh, Collin and I lined up with
the same plan as Le Champion Pave… but the rain started to come down as we were
getting ready to start. A lot of guys
dropped their tire pressures, but with my extenders, it wasn’t possible at the
line. I figured how bad could it be…?! Well… the start was ballistic and there was
an immediate split!! I was riding with
the front group, but my back wheel was drifting a lot and I had to ease up on
the turns. About 15 minutes in, the back
wheel went out hard, but I recovered and I had to back it down a little
more. At this point I was tail gunning
and then an East Hills Velo guy hit the pavement in front of me. I chased hard for a lap and then just when
into TT mode. I looked back and saw a
group of 3, so I eased up and rode with them for a bit. When I saw that we were going to get lapped,
I went hard and then latch on to the back of the main pack for a lap and a half
and rolled in for 16th. Josh and Collin both finished in the top 10 at 6th and 10th respectively. I am
not completely disappointed with my performance as a lot of guys dropped out of
the race and I stuck with it. I learned
that I need to be able to drop my tire pressure at the line, so I will be
purchasing extenders that I can easily do this with. I also had just finished a long block of
training and racing, so maybe if I were fresher, I could have held on to the
main pack. This race will definitely be
on the calendar next year…
The road season is pretty much over for me as I will be
focusing on Crank the Shield over the next few weeks. I will be headed to the Birmingham Bikefest
and the Devos Crit on Labor Day, but they will be used more as training. CX is around the corner and I am excited to
mix it up in the B’s and possibly the Masters 35+.
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