National Road Championships

#notASmile. This race gave me very few moments
of happiness.

Very few races are as important as the National Championships in my mind. Ever since my first National Championship race in 2008 as a 14-year-old Junior, I knew that this was a big deal. Winning this championship is more then just a title; it also means that I would be able to wear my country's colors in races for an entire year. This is a great honor that I witnessed first-hand in 2012 as a wingman for my coach, David Wenger, who wore the stars and bars proudly as the 2011 Elite National Criterium Champion. 

The closest I had ever gotten to wearing the stars and stripes was in 2012 as I finished 8^th in the u23 National Road Race. I crossed the finish line as the first amateur, while 6 of the 7 racers that rolled in before me ended up racing in the World Championships. This was a defining moment in my cycling career, and one that I will not soon forget. Since then I have raced hungry, eager to better myself, and out to prove to my competition that was not a fluke result.

Two years later, I am competing in my first National Championship as a professional cyclist. Heading to Nationals felt very different this time around. With almost two straight months on the road as part of the successful Astellas crit squad, it would be a challenge getting a result in the Road Race.

 The 2012 Road Race in Augusta, Georgia was 105 miles in 100 degree heat with high humidity across the course. It was equivalent to the Chapple Hill Classic, a race in Texas that I know well. Power climbs and heat were the name of the game, and I have spent months leading up to the race preparing myself for just that.

This year in Madison, the Road Race was 80 miles on a loop that consisted of a very large climb at the end of each lap followed by an impressive downhill. With an entire season of generally flat crits under my legs, I knew getting to the top of that hill each lap was going to be tough. Additionally, fellow racers present had an entire season of European style road races while others were beating top-level pros at the Tour of California.

Race conditions were not in my favor. Instead of an evening twilight crit, the road race had a 7AM start.  With cooler temps, wearing out the competition hailing from Colorado and California was out of the equation. I was thrown out of my element. 

The team plan was simple: ride near the front on the climb and sit in until the last lap. It’s a plan that I hate to use because it takes a lot of the fun and surprise out of road racing. The finishing climb is the only climb that matters since the descent afterwards is too long to allow a break to stick. The last time up is where the bread is won.

I started at the back of the road race to avoid the cluster that happening at the front. The 160 racers consisted of pros, cat 1s, and cat 2s. Narrow roads, and a neutral downhill start was a recipe for disaster. When the officials dropped the flag and told us we were no longer neutral the pace quickened. This being my first big road race of my season outside of the small regional races that I did early in the spring, I did not really know what to expect, nor did I know how my legs would react.

 I slowly made my way towards the front. To my surprise, officials honked and hollered at the field for crossing the yellow line on one of the highways. It was odd that they enforced a no-crossing the yellow line rule for such a large and important event. I quickly tried to get in my zone and ignore the background noise going on around me for that climb was going to take all my focus.

Six laps meant that there were six chances that the field would shatter. Although things were stretched out on the climbs, I knew nothing was going to stay away with the descent so I wasn't too worried during the first half of the race. 

Everything was going exactly as I predicted during the first few laps. I was aggressive with positioning as I went into the climb. I hit base of it towards the front, knowing that I would fall behind on the slopes. Each time around I crested the hill with the second group and caught the leaders on the descent. This pattern continued on for many laps until the final lap.

 The approach to the climb on the last lap was very fast as many teams were putting their trains on the front to keep their team captains out of trouble. With this boost in speed, I was pushed me down the side of the group. I ended up near the back of the lead group when the elevation started to increase.

I slowly passed chunks of riders as I rode up the slopes in at my own pace. I struggled to get into any sort of rhythm to keep up with the leaders that were riding away into the sun.  After what felt like an eternity, I finally made it to the top of the climb, and rolled across the line to finish.

 I was a little disappointed with the way things went for me in the road race, but the outcome was exactly how it pictured it would be.  My time to shine would come a few days later at the National Criterium Championships around the capital. A season of crits against the fastest racers in the world at the discipline has sharpened my skills and I was eager to flex my legs for my teammates.