Keeping it together at u23 State championships

The blog post for this race is going to be on the team blog. It is a really good write up in my opinion and I recommend everyone to take the time to check it out.

***HERE***

But I will now post it here in honor of Shane's retirement (temporary) from cycling

When I woke up at 5 a.m. for the age based state road race championships, I had no idea how I was going to feel. The previous day, at the skill based state championship, I was blown out of the water and only able to complete one of the three, 33-mile laps. (A big disappointment, considering I finished fourth in the skill based race the year prior, and my teammate finished second.)

I looked at my phone, and the weather looked terrible. It was going to be wet, cold, and windy. All things I did not want to wake up to.

Then, it occurred to me that I am the defending under-23 Texas state champion. I did not want to just give away the jersey due to not showing up. I knew for the respect of the title I had to show up and give it my all. I reminded myself that I tend to do well in the wet, and have even been anointed Super Squadra’s specialist of inclement weather. There were no excuses for me.

As I packed all my equipment, I realized my helmet had gone missing. I looked all over the place and could not find it. No excuses I told myself. I grabbed a silver women’s specific helmet sitting in the far corner of the room, with the label “pony tail port” on the back of it. I threw it in my backpack and chuckled to myself, with the latest innovation of super ugly aero road helmets I was almost certain no one would ask me any questions regarding my choice of head protection.

On the hour and a half drive to Ft Hood from Austin the rain was coming down harder and harder. I was very careful with my driving…I barely made it to the rain soaked parking lot of the race, hydroplaning three separate times and missing a turn on the way made getting to the race a test in its own for me. As I pulled up to the parking lot I got a text from Shane: “I don’t wanna,” it said. I laughed to myself. I looked around the parking lot and saw everyone was already sinking in the mud. As I put on my kit, embrocation, arm warmers, cycling cap, and sunglasses on, I realized that this is going to be the last time I would pin a number to my jersey for a Texas cup race this season.

I made it to the starting line and found Shane. The two of us exchanged some words about the plan for the day. Our tactics ranged from trying to keep it together for a sprint, to faking a double flat and riding home to avoid a long cold day of racing.

Soon, the race was underway and there were attacks going off the line. I was following wheels and just trying to stay near the front. The under-23 state championship is an open race with a variety of categories and age ranges. This mixes cat 1s all the way down to cat 5s who may be doing this as their first race ever. The attacks and the counters were coming thick and quick from many racers. The fact that the 23-29 age range also started with us made things a little more complicated in terms of keeping track of who was up the road.

After a few counters Shane found himself going up the road in an early two man move. As he pulled away I was watching for any bridge attempt to him. Sure enough Caleb and Grant put in a hard attack and started to bridge up to Shane. I was able to follow the wheels and get a free ride 3/4s of the way across to my teammate before I put in a big punch at the front to catch the leaders. I got Shane’s attention at the base of the first of the two major climbs on the course. We went over the climb in a group of four and started to work smoothly together to try to open the gap on the field.

However the idea of letting two Squadra guys up the road may have been a little too much for that early in the race. I looked behind once we got down the decent and could see a fast charging peloton. We were absorbed by the pack on the small rollers that followed the climb. There were a few counters, but at that point nothing was getting away just yet. I was sitting second wheel when I suddenly noticed the all too familiar feeling of a soft tire. I quickly lifted my front wheel up and pushed down on it to feel the rim hitting the asphalt. I quickly faded back where Shane was.

“I have a front flat,” I said.

Shane took a moment to look at my wheel, “Do you want my front?” he said back.

“I don’t know man, how are you feeling?”

“I don’t really know… do you want my wheel?”

I looked at the pack and saw a downhill coming up. As I turned back to him I said, “lets change wheels at the crest of the next hill!” The two of us quickly descended side by side. My front wheel was starting to become unstable but I knew that if I was going to chase I needed to get over that next rise. I was able to carry my momentum over the crest of the next hill. The two of us locked up our brakes and came to halt. We dismounted and started our wheel switch. In the middle of this wheel switch the follow vehicle flew by both of us without even an offer of help.

I knew that Shane was going to have to wait in the rain for the next field to come by for their follow vehicle to pick him up. I mounted my bike and Shane started to push me “Thank you,” I said, “I am not going to promise anything.” With that I sprinted away from my teammate into full chase mode. I could see the field was not attacking itself which was a relief for me. After several minutes of chasing I was finally able to catch back onto the tail end of the group. I looked up the road and saw that there was only one solo rider up the road, ThinkFinance strongman Caleb Fuchs. As the attacks and counters started up again I made sure to stay as protected as possible.

I had already used up a lot of energy having to chase the field down, and there was still over three quarters of the race to continue on. We finally started our final approach to the KOM climb. I was in a small group of three just a few seconds in-front of the peloton. As we started climbing Bissell’s Nicolai Broechner started putting pressure at the front. I held his wheel as we quickly started to approach the top of the climb. I knew that if I was going to get a top result in this race, I would have to play defense for as long as I could.

Once we crested the back of the group caught us. We were down to a group of about ten riders or so. All ten of us started a rotating paceline to bring back the lone leader. As we were rotating I looked over my shoulder and could see another group of about 10 riders rotating behind us about 30 seconds back. We kept the rotation smooth and consistent for the next 10 miles until we took the turn onto the final 2.5 km to the finish line. The rotation ceased and the winds were coming strong from the right. I looked back and could see the chase group starting to make a lot ground on us. I turned to Nicolai and told him that we should rotate in the gutter. He shrugged and took a bite out of an energy bar.

Once we got to the exposed part of the course I put in a small acceleration and moved to the left. Tony Baca and a racer from Voodoo racing got on my wheel. “Keep it to the left and tight” I told them. We started to open a gap on the field who seemed uninterested in this small move. We quickly caught Caleb who was solo for what seemed like the hundredth time this race. The four of us kept it smooth and started opening some serious time on the field. I glanced back and could see Nicolai bridging across solo to my rotation.

Once he made it there the gas was on. I could see a lack of chase from the peloton. Probably due to the surprise that a move was pulling away in what was an easy part of the course terrain wise, as well as the fact that the group of ten that had been chasing since the KOM finally caught onto the back of the group. I knew that it was going to be hard to form a chase in a cross wind. (Many Texas racers seem to forget how to form an echelon these days). As we crossed the start finish line to begin our last lap we had close to 45 seconds.

We turned into the headwind and kept the pace going. In my head I knew that if we just made it over the major climb and into the cross winds with just 20 seconds over the chasers we were going to stay away till the finish.

As we approached the climb the chasers brought down the gap to 30 seconds, all five of us put in a strong pull over the crest and decent. Once we got onto the cross winds the chaser’s momentum was shattered. We had two chasers 50 seconds back and the peloton was now at 90 seconds. At that point I knew I played my cards right in the cross winds close to 20 minutes earlier. I had secured a top 5.

We kept the rotation smooth, turning into the tail wind. As the KOM climb slowly approached us I knew what was going to happen. Nicolai was going to attack and try to get away. At the base he put in a big acceleration, which I was able to match, he let up as we hit the flatter middle part of the climb…then put in a second huge attack on the second part of the climb. I gave it everything I had to follow is acceleration over the crest. I looked back and saw that Tony was the only one that could follow. We were down to three.

The three of us rotated smoothly together, the strong tailwind and slight down hill for the next 20 km made the miles tick away. In my head my biggest race was against Tony. Although Nicolai is an under-23, he is not a resident of Texas and is not eligible for the championship jersey. As we approached the final big climb of the race about 4 km out I knew Nicolai was going to put in a large dig. He did just that.

I sprinted onto his wheel and tried to hold it as long as possible. But I opened a gap and started to lose ground. Nicolai turned and saw the distance between us. He got into time trial made and started to open the gap. I turned over my shoulder and saw that I had an equally large gap on Tony after  trying to follow that acceleration. I got in my aero tuck and gave it everything I had, putting my women’s specific “aero” helmet to good use. The gap between Tony and I stayed consistent for a while, but I slowly started to pull away once we got into the final 2-kilometers.

I was giving it everything I could all the way to the line. I knew that crossing this line would end a very long, and at-times frustrating 2013 season. Crossing that line would mean I would defend my under-23 title, but most importantly it meant that I did not let Shane down for sacrificing his opportunity at a result to give me a chance to defend my title. I was able to cross the line in second place, which was good enough for me to hold onto my state championship jersey.

Finishing this race felt like one of the biggest reliefs I have had during a long season. I was able to finish the year with a top result and on a positive note. I could not be more thankful for my team being there for constant support, as well as my family and friends for being there throughout the season.