Letting down a City at The Houston Grand

Family was in attendance

There have been very few races that have kept me up late at night leaving myself pondering what I could have done to get a better result. My 2013 Houston Grand Criterium Second Place, as well my 2012 u23 national championship RR eighth place. This year I wanted the top step of the podium.

The Houston Grand is the only race in Houston that is of any level of importance to anyone outside of the city. It is also the only race all year that I can sleep “IN” and wake up in my own bed to race that afternoon.

Heading towards the Grand I was able to get there quickly and smoothly, and change from years past where I would end up doing circles all over the city trying to find my way to the race. But this being my 8^th start to the race, meant I sort of knew how to get there now.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived to the race was that it was hot. And by hot, I do not mean Texas hot, I mean it was a lukewarm air that has been long absent for much of the year. I could say that the Houston Grand was going to be the first “warm” race of the year. Usually it is only a few weeks after this race were the Texas furnace really starts to get its momentum.

With the start of the race came a quick surge of aggression from many of the riders there. I knew that it was going to take the right mix of people to get a group off the front of this race, but with the way the winds were howling on the far side of the course, I had a feeling that the winning move will come sooner then later. As the first couple of laps started to tick by I was keeping tabs on all the top teams that were there. (unlike Coldspring RR with 30 starters, we had close to 80 today).

The first big break I found myself in

Early into the race I few big names were going up the road. I did not hesitate and decided to sprint across to the move. I quickly found myself in an eight person move with EVERYONE in it. Everyone being riders from the largest teams, as well as some of the strongest riders in the race. I quickly started to do some work in the group. I could see that the gap was opening quick. I was 80 percent certain that this was going to be the winning move of the race. Unfortunately we went maybe a tad too early and a few stragglers started to bridge across one or two at a time. Suddenly I could see that there were a few riders tagged onto the back doing no work. I pulled the plug and sat up on the back of the break. We were caught only seconds later. As the counters started to go after we were caught nothing was really getting up the road. In a course like the Houston Grand, which is essentially just a long oval that is 4 lanes wide, you need numbers to stay away from a chasing pack. I was patient with my energy making sure not to waste too much chasing individual riders who were trying to accelerate away. There was a time where I felt the race was starting come unglued and I was able to put in a decent counter attack and go up the road with Matt Stephens. We were able to nap a prime, but I was really hoping that more guys would come across to us in the cross winds on course. That never happened. We were slowly reeled in a few laps later. The big move of the day came after I was caught where Brett Crosby and Heath Blackgrove got up the road in a two man split.

While the chase was on, I kept my cool. I rode near the front and made sure that no one would try to bridge across to the leaders. Judging by the way the gap was with 2 laps to go, I was fairly certain that we were going to catch the leaders. At this point in the race I found myself closer to the front then I wanted to be and was trying to shuffle in the group. I could feel that the sprint groups were coming to the front and could see a lot of new faces I have not seen yet today. By the time we made it to the final 2 miles of the race I found myself a little too far back and trying to get back up towards the front, but the pace was getting really fast and the window to move up was being closed quickly. I was able to make it up to what I think would have been a top 10 position, but when the front of the group started sprinting I was pinned against the curb and had to grab and handful of brakes to keep from crashing. I rolled across the line in  a pack finish, where we did catch the leaders in the final 500 meters.

It was not the race I expected. It was also the first time I have ever seen the Houston Grand P/1/2 race come down to a pack finish in my lifetime. But the race is over, school is over and I fly out Thursday to do my first summer block of racing with the team. I know that there will be some results on the road to be had. Summer is finally here.