Shining Safely

The UAH Cycling team had a very unique race today. The Kappa Delta Sorority hosted a 5k race in honor of Sarah Chapman. Most of you will recall that Sarah was killed in a tragic collision with a car last September. The race was held to raise money for a new scholarship in her name.

This provided a rare and special opportunity for the team. Team member Davis Yarbrough was Sarah's boyfriend, and the entire team was affected by the tragedy. It also gave the UAH Team an opportunity to showcase their talent and promote the team's presence on campus. Most unique is that since the race was not sanctioned, all UAH riders got to race together.

All those factors made this a very important race. From the moment we knew of the race, we knew we wanted to deliver Davis the win. To do that, we had to successfully execute a solid team strategy, something we have never had the manpower to be able to do. At every race so far, we have been so spread across categories we have not been able to implement teamwork. We had a significant numbers advantage this time, bringing 8 UAH Riders to the line.

As we lined up, we knew the first goal would be separating our elite group from the rest of the field. There were a few riders we knew we would have to get rid of. Namely, an older gentleman from the SCCC, and a few others on road bikes. Originally we thought it would only take a decent 20-22 mph pace to distance ourselves. In reality, it was a good bit faster.

Decent to note that I was blatantly ignoring doctors orders not to ride...I had shoulder surgery in September and haven't been cleared to ride outdoors yet.

Off the line, Joe and I bolted, and that immediate burst is what we needed to make most of the selection. The riders that were strong enough would catch up, and the non-competitors would never get the benefit of the draft. Hunter had trouble clipping in and would have to fight for almost a mile and a half to catch up.

The immediate group was Me, Joe, Barrett, Davis, and the SCCC guy. SCCC was pretty strong, and we were not able to immediately drop him. It was not until we employed some deceptive tactics that we got rid of him. After I took a long pull, I waved him through, and he accelerated. Joe grabbed his wheel, and let him take a long pull off the front. After a minute or so (if that), i got Davis on my wheel, and led the train back up to Joe and the SCCC guy, then proceeded to pass him after a high speed downhill. I stayed on the front for a little bit, then pulled off and put myself between Davis and the SCCC rider. Even if he managed to hang on through the 2nd half of the race, there wasn't a chance he was getting around me. Barrett took over for me and kept the pace high. When I looked back, I could see the SCCC rider struggling. He hadn't quite lost contact yet, but when Hunter took control and when we hit the final hill, he cracked. This was just under a mile to go. Joe took over with a half mile to go. We kept the pace high until the final stop sign, about a quarter mile to the finish. Then we eased off , Davis took a great sprint and the rest of the team rolled across.

The plan was executed well, and we attained our intended result. This is a great indicator for the season!

NATIONALS

You can probably judge by the immense delay in reporting that Nationals did not go as well as I had hoped.

Be it fatigue, be it altitude, be it course difficulty, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, this Cat 3 cannot hope to content with the Professional and Cat 1/2 riders who dominate the ranks of the peleton at Nationals.

The road race, I thought, would play out strategically and practically. Instead, It became a slugfest, with riders and teams simply trying to put each other out of competition, as opposed to trying to beat them. The first 7 miles were innocent. A few stupid attacks off the front that simply resulted in those riders being caught on the first slight rises. The course was a rolling enclosure, so we had the whole road to use. This meant moving through the pack was fairly easy, and I made my first mistake by not making sure I was on the front when we hit the big climb. Instead I was just chilling, anticipating an entirely different scenario than what would play out. Air Force took the first swing, sending a few guys up front and DRILLING the false flat leading up the the 3 minute, 12% climb that everyone knew would likely dictate the elite group for the rest of the race. I knew the climb would be tough, but I had felt great on it the day before. The problem was that the pace was ramped up so much before we even hit the climb, that I was confused on my gearing when I actually hit it. We were still pushing 23-25 mph up the 4% grade before the serious kick. I kept moving from big ring to small ring, desperately trying to find a gear to make that pace easier to maintain. Then we hit the hill, and all hell broke loose. I dug as hard as I could, seeing my place in the pack slip back. I yelled at myself, refusing to let my race end this early. I took a huge effort, moved back up a bit, refusing to be dropped. Then I saw what was happening. I, and all 7 guys around me were all getting dropped. The grupetto was getting its first victims. I got into a more reasonale rhythm and started to pick up guys along the way. The problem was, I would pass them but they would not join my pace. I was still in front of the "end of caravan" car, and technically still in contention with the field only a minute ahead. I didn't want to slow for the grupetto. If they couldnt maintain my pace, they weren't worth working with. I continued like that for another 4 or 5 miles, catching and passing several conference rivals (cough, cumberland, cough), and starting to feel better about myself. I ended up with 3 guys who were riding pretty well, a kid from Union and some other guy. But then they decided to take a dangerous descent full speed, something I was not willing to do if not in contention. A this point the race was way out of reach, and i was racing for survival. I made the decision to ride to the feed zone, where my grandpa waited, and pull to save legs for the crit. I soloed for another 15-18 miles, up over some epic climbs, passing a rider here and there, trying to keep my pace up. On the Masonville loop, the first half was slightly downhill with the wind, and I was in my 53x11 spinning out. No word on top speed bc the garmin quit, but best bet looked to be about 36-40mph on the faster stretches. Then I turned into the wind and I knew the day was done. I just wanted to hit the feed zone without getting caught by the leaders. The wind was insane, and I was riding between 15-16mph in zone 4/5 on a relatively flat road. An air force guy caught up and we chatted for a bit. He was the guy who drove the pace that killed me, and I was sure to thank him for it in good fun. he did a hell of a job, no question, and put his teammate into a position to take 3rd on the day. I hit the feed zone and withdrew. We then headed to the finish to await the results. The field exploded. 1-9th finished by themselves, attacking each other to the point of implosion in the final 5 miles. 10-20th was a pack finish. 20-50th were all solo or in groups of 2s. 25mph winds dominated the masonville circuits, and tired legs hitting the climbs back to the finish just trashed everyone. The course is incredibly difficult, not because of the climbs, which actually were less of a factor than the wind, but because of how technical the descents were and how demanding the wind made the flats. We would see similar results in the D1 mens race and D1 womens race, with only the D2 women finishing as a pack.

I had felt good about the crit, despite not having the race wheels. I felt relaxed, motivated and strong. I got a good spot on the line, against the barrier, and clipped in and held myself up with the barrier, thus removing the 1-5 second delay I always deal with clipping in. And I started well too, riding mid-upper pack for the first several laps, biding my time. But then 2 things happened at the same time to end my day early. First, there were a few guys in the pack who could not corner or accelerate for shit. I kept getting stuck behind them and losing speed/momentum/place. At the same time, The front of the pack were attacking each other, and our average speed rose from 26 to close to 30. The pack started to string out, and I was still stuck behind the yahoos. Soon though, my legs had no jump, and I was fighting to remain on the last wheel. I held for a few laps before getting popped. I rode a few more laps solo before the official pulled me as I was about to be lapped. I rode off the course, straight to the car, packed up, and left. Getting home sounded better than sitting around. SECCC peeps brought the noise though, with Thacker Reeves of Cumberland getting 2nd and Thomas Brown of Emory getting 3rd. Amazing job by those guys.

So that concludes the 2009 Road Race season. 33 Top 10, 16 top 5, 6th in the season omnium, Curtis Grace - 21st in the A season omnium (19th B), Joe Bray - 15th in the B omnium (7th in C), Barrett Eubanks - 13th in the C omnium, Clinton Wann - 42 in the C omnium. Curtis won the Alabama omnium, Team UAH won the team Alabama omnium. Keep checking the website and this blog, as I anticipate some major updates in the coming months before Mountain Biking and school starts

Arrived in Colorado!

Hey everyone,

The final road event of 2009 is quickly drawing upon us. Nationals is this weekend! I am already in Fort Collins, Colorado adapting to the altitude and getting some incredibly advantageous time on the road race course.

Race Reports will be posted on Friday and Saturday Nights, hopefully.

If you are interestd in following my day to day preparations this week, feel free to check out my personal blog:

http://curtisgoestonationals.blogspot.com

RideStrong!

Curtis Grace Qualifies for Nationals!

I thought about doing a normal press release, but hey, its still me writing these things, and Im tired of making this announcement in the 3rd person.

I received word today from USA Cycling that I have earned an invitation to Collegiate Nationals. I get a bid for the Road Race and the Criterium, to be held on May 8th and 9th in Fort Collins, CO.

Its going to be one heck of a journey, so to follow my progress in preparation, the 20 hour drive out there, and for less-than-professional race reports and feedback from the races, check out my nationals blog: http://curtisgoestonationals.blogspot.com

And of course when its all said and done I will put up a nice professional race report up here for all to see!

Conference Championships

UAH Cycling Race Report
Conference Championships
Brevard, NC

We brought 5 guys to the Conference Championships in Brevard, NC, our 2nd largest turnout for a race so far this year. Me, Joe Bray, Clinton Wann, Barrett Eubanks, and Daniel Carter all rolled with. Daniel and Clinton were plagued with mechanical problems, and I was battling a cold going into the weekend. The hills of North Carolina beckoned…


Saturday April 18th: Road Race

Instead of tackling the Team Time Trial, we decided to get a few extra hours of sleep and hit the Road Race at a much more agreeable 1:00 PM. Hopefully the team doesn’t get used to this, as next year the TTT’s and ITT’s will be hit every weekend.
We got a lot of conflicting intelligence on the road course. The Brevard flyer SAID the major hill was only ½ mile long, but the Brevard flyers course profile suggested a monster was on hand. Our coach, Stuart Lamp, told us the hill would hurt but would not be a factor in the race. We should have trusted the course profile. The hill was about 1/5 miles long and climbed about 700 feet of elevation. The last 400meters were about 20-21% grade with no reprieve.
In the C’s race, a UNC Asheville rider soloed off the front early, leaving death and destruction in his wake. Thanks to the AWESOME chip timing system, we were able to see that the UNCA rider was pulling lap times within 20 seconds of the A PACK. This kid was definitely in the wrong category. The climb annihilated most of the C field, but put Barrett into a good position in the closing miles. He sprinted for a ROCKING 3rd place finish in the road race, with Clinton not far behind in 9th.

In the B’s race, a group of 6 got away on the first climb, holding within it a healthy assembly of teams. On the 2nd lap that breakaway caught a lone A rider on the climb (cough cough), and not much after the climb, the main group caught the same rider. An FSU rider fell off the breakaway and sat in no mans land for most of the race. Joe did his best to inspire the pack to chase the breakaway, including taking some pulls at the front himself. A Georgia State rider seemed willing to work with Joe, but everytime momentum got going, the Lees McRae riders would take over and make sure the breakaway (which had a Lees McRae rider in the mix) stayed away. In the closing miles, the FSU rider got caught, but still managed to finish well.

The A race started out innocently enough, cruising along easily as most of the field wondered where this supposed big climb was. We got our first hint of the climb in its gradual leadup, which averaged around 5% grade, nothing serious. We rounded a bend and it kicked up a bit more, touching 7-9%, but the pace stayed the same and it was painful but manageable Coming around another bend , and all hell breaks loose. A Brevard rider hits the gas to try and make a break on the hill, and everyone follows. The attack was not much, but it was enough to see this heavy A rider start to slide backwards in the pack. In the interest of coserving energy, I sat down. Bad idea. I did not have enough gears to sit down when the grade hit 20-21%. I lost the pack, never to see it again. I ended up on the caboose with a Lees McRae rider, and we chased for while, picking up a Brevard rider as we tried to catch a Florida and Georgia rider, currently about a minute up the road. We picked up another LMC rider and dropped the Brevard rider, then kept going. When we hit the hill the 2nd time, the LMC riders decided they would rather wait for the B field to pull them up to the A groupetto. I kept at my tempo, dropping them on the climb. I could see about 10-12 A riders in a group about 20 seconds ahead of me on the climb. I pushed as hard as I could up the climb, but never made connection with the group. Instead, the B breakaway passed me. And about 6 minutes later, the B field passed, and I hopped in with them for another lap. The LMC A riders were hanging out with me at the back of the B pack, and we just chilled and chatted for a while. When we hit the hill the 3rd time, it was the B field’s last lap, and we had no interest in hammering the hill when we had to do it a 4th time. I tempoed up, and one of the LMC guys decided to gun it for a bit. Again, it ended up just me and Went (short for Wentworth I think). Zach Arnold (Clemson) started to drift backwards, and I could tell he was hurting on the climb. We have all been there, suffering uncontrollably on the last lap, every reasonable notion says you should say “Screw it” and give up. Bicycling sounds like the worst idea ever conceived. You doubt yourself, you want to give up the sport. If you could choose between being on the bike on that hill that day and being in a 4 hour lecture on stack theory, you would gladly trade the narrow carbon fiber saddle for a lecture hall folding chair. So I coached Zach up the hill, giving him intervals to do to keep his legs moving, talking to him to keep his mind off quitting. Looking back, Im not sure why I did it. But in the end, collegiate cycling is just as much about the camaraderie as it is the competition, a trait that USAC races sadly do not share. Long story short, Zach made it up the hill, and we rode with him until the finish line was in sight. We then embarked on our final lap…by ourselves. A 15mph lap never hurt so much. The last place I wanted to be was on a bike. I was cramping, I was sore, I was tired. I hadn’t drank or ate enough since I was just by myself and not in contention. After a hard fought lap, we finished, and that was that.
All in all, EXCELLENT results by the team. 3rd for Barrett, 9th for Clinton, 8th for Joe. While I cannot say much for my recent results, the team rode very well.


Sunday April 19th: Criterium
The C race started with a bang. A group of 4 including Alabama’s own Austin Starnes got off on the first lap and was never seen again. Daniel had chain problems and fell off the pace, but held on as best he could. Clinton and Barrett sat in the main group, utilizing teamwork to stay safe and keep the pace aggressive. Thanks to their aggressive riding, the pack of about 12 riders slowly dwindled to almost nothing. On the last lap it was the lead group of 4 followed by a lone Georgia State rider, a lone Georgia rider, and a pack of 3 containing Barrett, Clinton, and a Clemson rider. As he hit the line on the last lap, Clinton accidentally dropped his chain into the small ring, and Barrett and Clemson rode away. Clinton regained composure fast though and chased back. The finish was hotly contested, with Austins Starnes (Alabama) almost taking the win, losing by half a wheel to take 2nd. Not 40 seconds later saw Barrett outsprinting the Clemson rider for 7th, and right behind was Clinton, Mr. Consistent, pulling in yet another 9th place finish.

The B race started a bit more innocently and took a while to get rolling. Lees McRae had a clear strategy. They had 6 or 7 guys, and every lap they tried to send one off the front. About 6 laps in a break of 2 LMC riders and Stephen Leotis (Georgia Tech) got off the front and it looked like the break of the day. But it was not to be. The break was caught quickly, and the next lap, another LMC rider was off the front. It wasn’t until with 4 to go that a break finally stuck. A LMC rider just launched off the front, putting 16 seconds on the field. The field tried to catch, but simply couldn’t make the gap, mainly because LMC did its best to control the pace. Joe was really sapped from the road race the day before, and a lot of the LMC riders had not even started the road race the day before and were fresh. Both Joe and Preston (Alabama) finished mid pack. When we asked them how bad it was, they were not optimistic. The crit course had an uphill finish, and right after the start finish was a 15-20 second hill that was just brutal.

The A race played out about how I expected it to, especially after I got to ride the course. The front stretch is about a 4-6% gradual uphill grade, followed by a very steep short rise, which leads into a long descent and a flat 4th leg. I sat pretty comfortably on the first 3 or 4 laps, but soon the pack got interested, and when it did, it was on the gradual front stretch. I made some ground back on the steep riser (this would be the theme of the day), but I was popped off the back. It was the last race of the year, I was not about to pull out of the race. I settled into a zone and dug in. Everything else in the race was fairly arbitrary. I got lapped a bunch, and I spent a few laps in the main field as a lapped rider before getting disinterested and decided to just go my own pace. I continued to pick up lapped riders along the way. Despite being off the back I continued to motor at a fairly decent pace, just without the animal aggression required to stay in the packs. I finished, and I was happy for that.

After all was said and done, it was time to review the conference standings and see who would be getting a coveted bid to the National Championships. The Division 1 standings were quite up in the air going into the weekend, with Florida being the only team with a lock on their bid. Division 2 standings were essentially locked down except for the 3rd place team. In the end, Florida, Georgia and Lees McRae got Division 1 bids. Cumberland, Furman, and Mars Hill got Division 2 bids. The individual qualifications wont be announced till this week, but at first glance it looks like Ben Zawacki and Tyler Hawes (both of Clemson) will get bids in Division 1, and it looks like Thomas Brown and Curtis Grace (hey wait, that’s me!) will get bids for Division 2. Of course we will post an update once that is confirmed, but the individual results seemed to be fairly locked. Updates on that later.

So this is the last race report from the Southeast Conference Road Season for 2009. UAH Cycling pulled in 33 top 10 finishes, 16 top 5 finishes, 5 top 3 finishes, and 5 2nd place finishes. We raced in 5 states, covering a total distance of 5,600 miles. 6 guys raced. 2 riders upgraded. All in all, I would consider this an extremely successful first season of racing for UAH.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the community for supporting this from the beginning, the University for supporting us, and most of all the riders who stepped up to make this dream a reality. In particular I want to thank Joe Bray for being a trooper and attending EVERY SINGLE RACE with me. I would also like to thank our sponsors Trailhead, Velo Vie, Vetta, Rudy Project, Bray Family, Adtran, UAHuntsville, and everyone else who donated their time and money to help make this team a reality. Because of what the team has accomplished this spring, we are set up for even more success for Mountain Biking and Track in the fall, and more seasons to come. Hopefully the success of the team this season and in seasons to come will set the stage for Cycling to become a major sport at UAH in the future.

Barber Motorsports Circuit Race Report

Ride To Live Race Report

With a mediocre (aka, terrible) weekend in Lees McRae, and Conference Championships coming up this weekend, I wanted to get some race in my legs and tune myself with a comparable field. Fortunately the Ride to Live circuit race was going on, and it was a Pro/1/2/3 field, exactly how the Collegiate race would be run, and with a bigger field.

There were of course a few major differences. The road was a circuit, and it was closed. It was only an hour long (if even that), and while the P/1/2/3 USAC racers were super fast, the collegiate A field seems a bit faster. Regardless, here’s how it played out.

There were definitely some marked men. Tyler Stanfield (Inferno), all of the Team Type 1 guys, the Hincapie guys, Stuart Lamp, and pretty much any member of the local Birmingham teams (Tria, Booko, Tristar/Warp9) were not allowed to get more than a few seconds off the front. In fact, the one time Ty tried to make a break, there were many yells of “Don’t let that go! Grab that wheel!”. A few times a small break would get off the front, and the pack would just let them hang before someone got interested and led the chase.

I found myself riding fairly easily most of the race. A few times the pace would pick up and the field would string out almost single file, but once the catch was made it would accordion back into one bike pack. There was an attack with 2 to go that resulted in a break of about 10 off the front. About 12-20 seconds up the road, not too far. As we approached the end of the 8th lap, no one was chasing up to the group, and considering I had been sitting mid pack most of the race, I figured if I went after the pack no one would go. We hit the hill near the finish and I used it as a launch pad, seemingly effortlessly launching off the front and closing the gap between the peloton and the leaders by half almost instantly. Unfortunately I didn’t make the catch before the front stretch, which at the time was into the wind. (the wind was swirling and inconsistent). I started to die in no mans land. A chase group had formed behind me, composed of brian toone (Tria), Logan Haskew (VeloCity ProCycle) and Stuart Lamp. (Tria) Unfortunately I thought it was the pack chasing and sat up as they made the catch. I missed Stuart’s wheel and missed the chase. Not 10 seconds later the field caught me going into the tight corners. I hung on through the corners but the legs were burnt. When we hit the slight uphill in the first half of the course, I lost contact with the field. With one lap to go, the field wasn’t going to slow. The race was over. I sat up and took an easy spin to the line.

The pace averaged just over 26mph, and to be honest, it never felt nearly as hard as it should have. The attack I made was a classic rookie mistake, one I never should make. However, I feel better having made a move than sitting in the whole time, which would have been much easier. On the plus side, it was nice to finally ride with all the Alabama riders instead of all the Collegiate teams. Nice change of scenery, and while the racing was more even and less aggressive, the riders were MUCH more predictable, stable and had better handling skills. Only once did I almost see pavement because of another rider, and hopefully I didn’t almost take anyone out either. Everyone stayed rubber side down, and who could have asked for a better place to race!

Lees McRae Race Weekend

After 8 weeks of racing every single weekend, nothing is more intimidating than a race weekend dominated by North Carolina mountains. We spent our spring break in those mountains, riding 26 hours up and down 38,000 feet of elevation.

On Saturday was the Individual UPHILL Time Trial, starting in tiny Valle Crucis and climbing to the city limit of mighty Banner Elk. The 5.2 mile course featured a generally gradual climb with many super steep sections. The course was perfectly suited to Joe's strengths, and uniquely designed to exploit all my weaknesses.

As expected, Joe tore it up on the climb, finishing 3rd in the B's. He caught a few people on the way too. I did a little worse than expected, fighting back cramps and a lack of fitness after a unplanned recovery week following last weeks crash. I didn't have the legs, and halfway through I just sat up and spun up the climb. Most of the Brevard team caught and passed me, offering encouragement along the way. Class act by those guys, they were super strong too. I finished quite pathetically in last place, but not terribly concerned about it except for the fact I expected to do a LITTLE better.

Sunday was the road race, and Stuart had given me a specific strategy which seemed logical and likely to put me into a top 10 position. Unfortunately Chris Butler and an over-zealous field destroyed that strategy when they attacked the first hill full speed, shattering the field into a million pieces on the first lap. I got into a groove with Sam approaching the 2nd hill (and going up it), until about halfway up i had the same back cramps/spasms but much worse. (Turned out that my seat was about an inch and a half too low...oops). I had to pull out after a measly effort. Sam stayed in, hooked up with a chase of 6 guys and finished 12th on the day.

Joe's B field played it a little more conservative on the first lap, sticking together until the climb on the 2nd lap. From there it started to break up. A small break got off the front of the B's while Joe hung with the main pack. Since I was sitting out I had a good opportunity to watch the B race develop. Every time they came around that pack had diminished until it was just Joe and a few other guys. And on the last lap, it was just Joe, who had apparently attacked his field (which had narrowed to 2) on the climb and stayed away until the finish for an 8th place finish.

Joe added another top 10 and a top 5 finish to the resume, and while I raced terribly, I still had a blast on the weekend.

Sadly, there only remains one more race weekend to blog about. Conference Championships is APril 18th and 19th in Brevard, North Carolina. We will be offering Twitter updates as they come, as well as updating the blog Saturday night to reflect the Road Race results.

Tour de Tuscaloosa Race Report

Failure is usually not very exciting to read or write about, but in rare cases, the failed efforts to win a race can be more exciting than the races result.

Tarantino style, we'll get back to that later.

Saturday night was the crit. Joe was gonna do that Cat 4 race at 6:00, and I was slated to start the Cat 3 race at 7:00. Sunset was at 7:08, so it was a certainty that Sam and I would be rocking the 3's race in the lights. Joe sat in for most of the crit, we saw him on the front of it a few times, never doing any work. It seems we are all still gassed from our training camp, because when it came to the sprint, Joe had no legs and sat in.

The 3 race was just as boring. With stiff headwinds and hills on most of the course, the likelihood of a break getting away in the races was very slim. So I didn't plan to try. From the line it was doomed. I missed clipping in and went from first to 30th in a metter of seconds. As it got darker, things got sketchier. The TdT organizers apparently did not plan for the lack of lighting on the bottom part of the course, under the bridge, and it was essentially blind for most of the end of the race. A Frazier cycling rider got way off the front for a bit, but we slowly brought him in without rushing. My legs were shot the whole time, and I was having difficulty moving through the pack. There were a couple close calls, but thankfully no one crashed. with 3 to go it spread out a bit more and on the sprint I managed an amazing 19th place finish...woot.

I felt much better Sunday morning. Did a lot of carbo loading the night before, and Sam and I worked out a daring strategy to take the road race by storm. Since we were familiar with the course, and the field was unfamiliar with us, our best bet for a win was to break away early. And about 3 miles into the race, we took off. For some reason I had no trouble moving through the pack today. Sam attacked, I followed, and the pack let us go just as we expected. We pounded it up the first small steep hill and then went into full on TT mode for the next 5 miles. The motorbike told us we had 2 minutes at the sharp right hand turn. We kept pushing it until the long climb, at which point we decided to tempo up it instead of pushing the pace. The 3 field proved to be mediocre climbers the day before, so we figured the fact we were out of sight would aid us in staying away. We got up the hill well away from the pack, but we had lost a lot of our time advantage, which was only 37 seconds when we crossed the start finish. When we hit the short steep hill again, the pack was on us. A chase jumped up to us, and I tried to counterattack, but the field wouldn't let me away again. After 12 miles away, our breakaway was over

This is the part when failure gets interesting. Sam, for some reason, decided to roll up next to me and have a chat about making another move. The guy on his right decided to swerve into him. HE was leaning on Sam, Sam was leaning on me. After about 30 seconds of back and forth, trying to stay vertical, Sam hit my handlebars after a final lean from the other guy, and I was diving for the asphalt. I have a shoulder that likes to dislocate spontaneously, so I immediately moved to protect it, even before I hit the ground. I knew I was going to get hit, I was in 5th or 6th place when I went down. And sure enough, bodies, bikes and pieces of bikes were slamming into me. I waited for the crashing and grinding to stop, then immediately checked the damage. Shoulder in place, all limbs movable. Once I untangled from the carnage and walked it off, I surveyed the bike. Front tire, torn off the rim and ripped. Front wheel, solid. Rear brake lost its pads. Handlebars crooked. Front brake loose, and hoods both bent in. Some allen wrenches and hammering made the bike rideable, and a borrowed wheel from Jacob of Tria got me to the finish line. The pain would wait a few hours to rear its ugly head. Sam stuck it out, and finished out with the pack. In the sprint, he took it up a notch and rocked to a 4th place finish, taking home a hundred bucks for his work!

Joe was sitting in the Cat 4 field at the time. When I saw him come around the first time, the pack was split in 3. A main group, a tiny chase group, and a tail group. Joe was in the main group. When they came around to finish, Joe was mid pack, and the downhill finish definitely didn't suit his strenghts. He finished in the pack.

While Sam and my break was a good idea, no one joining us doomed it. Sketchy riders ruined my day, week, and probably my chances of a good results next week too. Next week we travel to Banner Elk for the Lees McRae races!

UGA Race Weekend

UAH Cycling – UGA Race Weekend Race Report
3/21/2009 – Road Race

Well before we even left Banner Elk for Athens, we decided we weren’t going to do the Time Trial. I had decided after our TTT in Clemson I wasn’t going to bother with them anymore. I need my legs for the other races, and waking up later is pretty nice. Especially after our 340 mile, 36,000 foot, 22 hour week, doing 11 miles in zone 5 was just not appealing, particularly at 9:00 AM. Our laziness apparently also is contagious, as Clinton ended up skipping the Time Trial as well. So instead of rolling off at 9AM we started racing at 2PM. Hey, this IS COLLEGIATE racing….waking up early is not our thing
So anyway, there was definitely a lot of doubt in our minds as to how well we could actually hold on. Joe had a 44 mile race ahead of him in the B’s, I had 66 in the A’s, and Clinton had 33 in the C’s although he was really confident he would be able to finish strong. He didn’t do the training camp and was relatively fresh.
I rolled off first, and thankfully the pace was manageable. Cumberland not being there really helped keep the pace more consistent. We stayed together pretty much the whole first lap. About 6 miles into each lap is a wicked quarter mile climb on which we attacked HARD each time. On the 2nd lap a group of 4 got off the front, and it contained 2 Lees McRae riders, so it got a decent gap. We almost caught it on the climb the 2nd time around, but LMC got back on the front after the climb and slowed the pace so their boys could get further ahead. A GA Tech rider made an attack, but we all knew he wouldn’t hold it by himself, so no one chased him. I spent most of the time after the 2nd climb in the top 5 just chilling. As we went past the start/finish I pulled through and picked the pace up from 22 to about 26/27. I ripped through the first corner and kept it for a bit longer then tried to pull off. Whoever the GA kid marking me was, he wouldn’t let me pull off, he just followed my wheel. Someone made a weak attack, which I followed and then proceeded to TT again, halving the gap between us and the GT rider without even trying. A strong attack went up the road, which I covered, then sat back in around 6th place. Around another corner the same 2 riders tried to attack again, I let the pack cover the attack and hopped in around 10th place. When we approached the hill the 3rd time, I decided to be more conservative on the climb instead of pounding up it like I had the last 2 times. That was a bad decision. The field effectively split in half and myself and Ben Grier (Clemson) got stuck in no mans land. Unlike the previous 2 laps, the field did not ease up after the climb, in fact they attacked. Ben and I pacelined TTT style towards the pack, closing withing about 30 feet before losing ground again. Just before the start/finish, Ben pulled out, leaving me by myself. I DNF’d both races last weekend, I was not about to quit a race in 65 degree beautiful weather. I kept hammering at a decent pace. I was not really all that worn out, I just wasn’t fast enough to bridge back to the attacking peleton. I continued to maintain about 22mph per lap. I caught a Georgia Southern C rider, who I allowed to draft off me for a lap and a half until he finished. He still owes me a beer… At the end of the 4th lap, he pulled off to finish, and to my surprise Kyle (UFL) and a UGA rider came by me at a decent pace. I hopped on the train, relieved to finally have some people to share the work with. We rolled easily for a lap, then picked up another UGA rider who was about to DNF but decided to hop on the train and get a finish instead. He had apparently burnt himself out chasing a LMC breakaway up the road. He helped us get around the last lap at a good tick, thanks Parker. On the last lap, however, the corner marshals and police all left after the A peleton passed through, and we were unprotected at all the corners, still racing. When we hit the finish, I took a couple extra pedal strokes to beat our group of 4 to get top 15 or something, who knows. The official was informed of the absence of marshals, which was quite dangerous and unacceptable. Fortunately we are big boys and know how to look both ways ;) Anywho, I finished, got points for the team (big whoop), and added 70 miles to my week, still averaging about 22.5.
Joe’s day was even moreso ruined by ignorant police. A cop pointed Joe’s chase group the wrong way , and when the main group saw them go the wrong way, they dropped the hammer. Joe and the group, mostly LMC’s top B riders, pulled out at the finish line, quite livid about the mess.
Clinton sat in the C field very easily. All of the C field studs have moved up to the B’s, so the field is now truly a beginner field, as opposed to 5 or 6 sandbaggers (cough, Joe, cough) and a bunch of beginners. Andy from UA took the sprint for the W and Clinton held on for a top 10 (7th or 8th we think). AWESOME result for Clinton in his 3rd race weekend, and only 2 weeks after epicly crashing out of the Clemson 500.
We raced pretty much exactly as our coach planned for us to, although I can personally say the training camp has done wonders, not only to our riding style and efficiency but also mentally, as we are much more confident. Sam and I rode much more of the A race near the front, and less hanging onto the back. We weren’t supposed to have any legs for these races after a 400 mile week, so we were happy just to get some race training in.

3/22/09
UGA Crit
Sam and a bunch of other schools talked a lot of crap about the UGA crit course, but I actually really liked it. It is a .8 mile race which is uphill on the finishing stretch and downhill on the back stretch. The hill was pretty steep, but after the descent to the bottom of it, getting up it was quite easy.
Since I didn’t race until 11:45 and Joe raced at 9:45, Joe rode over to the race with Preston (Alabama), while Sam rolled over with me after sleeping in and getting breakfast. Again, collegiate racing.
While we were away, Clinton sat in for a pack finish in the C’s, just happy to finish the crit after his last crit experience.
We caught the end of Joe’s race, which was dominated by a lone attack by a Lees McRae rider who sat about 30 seconds, or ¼ of a lap, off the front. A 2nd LMC rider tried to break too, but the pack ate him up. At the field sprint, Joe’s dead legs said No, and he sat in the field
I wasn’t sure how I would feel, but I figured I could hang on if it came down to a sprint finish. The course is fairly friendly to a smart breakaway, which is ironically not the breakaway that goes uphill. Since the hill is so short and the descent so fast, any break made on the hill was usually caught at the bottom of it. The money spot was attacking just after the hill, on the gradual section by the start finish. Many tried, but it wasn’t until about 45 minutes in that a break finally got away. I had no interest in breaking away, nor was I in a position to do so anyway. The break got away, and I sat in. Most of the race, I again sat near the front, did no work, and made sure to follow fast wheels. After the break got a good lead, LMC backed off the gas. Ben Grier got on front and tried to drive the pace a little bit to make sure the leaders didn’t lap us, but not fast enough to advance on them since Tyler from Clemson was in the break. A chase group attacked, lightning fast off our right and got a 10-20 second gap almost immediately. We let it sit up there for 2 laps. I got frisky and decided to bridge up to the break, which at the time was not so far away. I attacked and got free almost immediately. I am not a threat to anyone, nor did anyone really consider me a factor in the race…because I wasn’t. I caught within 10 feet of the chase when the field roared past me. I took a breather and went to the back, knowing a counter attack would come. It did. Another chase group with 3 riders got up the road. I was not bridging again. Ben did though, and caught them fast. With 3 to go it was a lead group of 5, Ben’s group of 4, then us. I pissed off a few guys in the pack by not covering attacks or pulling through, but I had no reason to. I was just sitting in, the pack wasn’t going to let 2 random guys just ride away. Almost on cue, some LMC guys filled the gap, problem solved. I sat up towards the finish, took last in the field sprint, and beat a few stragglers. Avg speed was 24.5, and we had shedded a few riders, so I still wasn’t “last”.
Next week, it will be up to Clinton to write up the race reports. Joe and I are racing the Tour of Tuscaloosa instead of the Auburn races. And at Lees McRae I will try and get everyone to write their own reports so that its not a little bit about everyone else and a page about me…

Thanks for the support!

Final Days of Training Camp

Sorry to all that I did not update last night. Yesterday was a particularly rough day, and after 2 Steaks, tons of chocolate milk, and bad Sci-Fi movies, we retired early. So we shall start with yesterdays report from Boone, NC.

Stuart has a sick sense of humor and awesome routes for 3 college kids who want nothing more than to punish their bodies for long term gain. after our 105 mile, 9500+ foot day on Wednesday, he assigned us a 95 mile, 10k+ foot ride which culminated in the climb up epic Beech Mountain. Unlike the ride Wednesday though, all of the climbing was contained within 4 major climbs, the first of which was about 4 miles at a 7% average grade, the second being non-memorable. The 3rd major climb of the day took us from 3300 feet in elevation all the way up to 5500 feet. It started at mile 55 and ended at mile 60. Fortunately we found an awesome grocery store at mile 55, ate lunch and replenished before tackling Iron Mountain/Carters Gap. Not only did the elevation change as we headed up the mountain, but the long awaited cold front rolled in as we headed up the mountain. When we started the climb it was about 50 degrees at the bottom and the wind was picking up. At the top of the climb it was at best 40 degrees with 15-20mph winds at the top. The descent was epic, almost 9 miles straight down into the bitter headwind. At the end of that descent we began our leadup to Beech Mountain. For about 6 miles we gradually went uphill before hitting Beech Mountain. For the majority of the day, with random exceptions, it was Joe, Me, and Sam finishing the mountains in that order. Be it a lack of nutrition attention on my part or mental fatigue, the moment I hit Beech Mountain my legs disappeared from under me. For 2 miles the grade never dipped below 10%, and heading into and out of every switchback (as well as the 1/2 mile leadup to the 1st switchback) we saw 17-20%. I let Sam and Joe go and focused on establishing a rhythm. Hitting a 4 mile climb (with an average grade of 11%) at mile 86 hurts, and I had no legs for it. To make it better, it was raining at the top (about 5200 feet where we turned around). We spun around, Sam and Joe bombed down the descent (Sam hit 51mph!) while I spun easy. Apparently it snowed something special in Banner Elk last week and the roads are still caked with salt and sand. I prefer not to crash in training rides, so I took almost every descent this week pretty casual (with the exception of the rocking descent on the LMC race course....I felt I needed to know that pretty well). So, as I mentioned before, after 94 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing and 6 hours on the bike, we showered, cooked up 2 steaks each and passed out. Our "recovery" ride waited for us...

Apparently we are ensuring we hit such a ridiculous high mileage this week that we will feel like failures if we dont at least match HALF of it every week this year. Our recovery ride was 47 miles with 5500 feet of climbing, While our descent elevation was more than our ascent, our uphill distance was VASTLY more than our descent distance. We spent at least 2/3 of our ride going uphill, and on most of our downhills it was gentle and short. We got 2 dive bombing descents, the first one only 3 miles into the route (although dropping 2000 feet in 8 miles was amazing...Joe caught a car on the way down). We kept to our recovery pace, though, and rolled up to the cars easy and ready for our drive to Athens. After our epic Monday/Tuesday rides (3 mechanicals, 2 crashes), we experienced much smoother riding. I personally felt terrible today, and made a vow to stay in zone 1 and 2, a vow I broke only on the first climb, and maybe a little bit on the last climb. I take my rest days very seriously, and when it got vertical, I did my best to spin easy.

So, in summary:

Joe was definitely the stud of the week. If it was uphill, he attacked almost every time. If I or Sam decided to follow his pace, he made sure to make us feel it. I found the best strategy to staying on his wheel was to ride a fast tempo up to him, allow him to make mini attacks, and stay far enough behind him that he couldnt use my presence as a motivator. When i did that, I usually finished about 10-15 feet behind him.

Sam definitely rode smarter than all of us. He picked his battles well. Both of the long days, he saved his best efforts for the last climbs, Zone 2 on the rest. When Sam decided to push the pedals, it was up to us to follow, Joe being no exception. Before losing sight of them on Beech, I saw SAM put a gap on JOE for a brief period. To my knowledge it did not last particularly long.

I wont pat myself on the back, I did ok. Rode my own pace up pretty much every climb. Sometimes that was with Joe, usually it was between Joe and Sam, and towards the end of the week it was more behind them than anything. Hopefully the week did the job it needed to, and after my coming recovery week, I will be ready to steal some money from the Cat 3's at Tour of Tuscaloosa.

I currently blog to you from a MASSIVE hotel room in Athens, GA. Thats right, after racing last weekend, 350 miles in 5 days, we return to racing tommorrow at the University of Georgia race weekend. Clinton has joined us, and tommorrow he will be participating in the ITT and Road Race in the C's (Cat 5/4). Joe and I are skipping the ITT (As is Sam....but now that Training Camp is over, no more updates on the competition ;O ). I have 66 miles in the A's (Pro/1/2/3) and Joe has 44 in the B's (3/4). Fortunately the road race is at 2pm, the high is in the mid 60's and sunny with 0% chance of rain. Hopefully we have time enough to recover...

Updates tommorrow! Wish us luck!

Training Camp Day 2 - Blood, Sweat and Gears

Today we embarked on a 105-mile ride through the hilliest sections of the Boone, NC area. The course is the Blood Sweat and Gears Century route, with the apex of the route ending at the road peak of Snake Mountain at mile 64.

Our target was 15mph for an average, but to make ourselves feel better we "raced" a virtual partner traveling at 12.5 mph. He beat us the first hour...

The majority of the climbs, however, were fairly gradual and long, allowing us to tempo up them fairly easily and conserve energy for Snake Mountain. The Boone area is either up or down, and this route was no different.

As usual, Joe "Mountain" Bray dropped us on almost every climb he wanted to. Sometimes he chilled with the mortals, but if he wanted to ride away, he did.

Fortunately, no mechanicals or crashes, just 9900 feet of climbing. Around mile 82 I decided to drop the hammer on a rare flat section, maintaining 22-23 for several miles until we hit an awesome climb with 6 switchbacks. I dropped the gas a little bit towards the end, but once mile 90 hit we went into survival mode and took it easy up all the climbs.

At the end of the day we had 9900 feet of climbing in 6 hrs 43 minutes for a 15.6 mph average...not terribly impressive average, but for the course difficulty we were happy with it

Wont lie, Im too tired from the ride to talk about it much....and tommorrow we have 95 miles which includes Beech Mtn and Iron Mountain. Heres the ride tommorrow:

http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=869123738356149939

MOre updates tommorrow!

UAH Training Camp Day 1

Today was technically day 2 of our training camp, but it is Day 1 in Boone/Banner Elk North Carolina. Yesterday we rode in Maryville, TN in Joe's backyard. Here's a recap of that ride:

We trekked from Joe's house up to the base of a climb called Butterfly gap. It was me, Joe, Sam, and Joe's dad. We knew the climb would be hard and long, but none of us had ever climbed it except Joe and his dad. When we hit the base of the climb, Joe took off with Sam, I kept tempo and Joe's dad took it nice and easy. Joe soon rode away from Sam, while I tempoed past Sam about 1/2 way up the climb. Joe definitely knew what he was doing, and all 130 pounds of him disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, I stood up on a 23% grade (Thank you Garmin!) and my left calf seized. I had to dismount and stretch before resuming on the grade while Joe's dad rode past. We regrouped at the top and continued up the gradual top of the climb to the parkway, looking forward to a long descent back to Maryville. Sam stood up in his big ring to attack the downhill and his chain snapped. His new chain had failed, strangely. 10 minutes later and thanks to Joe's chain tool, Sam was back up and running and we were screaming downhilll. The speed was affected by a heavy fog which didnt let us see more than 30 feet in front of us, and when the fog cleared, we dropped the hammer again. I floored it the last mile or so, topping out arond 42 mph and stopping at the bottom. Apparently I hit a nail on the descent and discovered it at the bottom. After I fixed the flat, we hopped on the homestretch in the pouring rain back to Joe's house. The days stats: 38 miles, 3650 feet of climbing with an average of 17.5 mph. Joe's dad is a baller rider, he was pusing us hard on the flats. Elevation profile:

Annnnd after that ridiculousness we drove to Boone, NC. The good news is our room is pretty awesome, we have a kitchenette and 18 steaks for 3 guys over 4 days. You do the math. Were eating a lot of steak.

Today we wanted to get 2 rides in with a target of 4 hours. We wanted to incorporate the Lees-McRae Road Race course as much as possible, as it is decidedly the most difficult course of the year. It has 1500 feet of climbing per 10 mile lap, most of it climbing. We rode from the hotel to the course in 46 degree sunny weather and when we got onto the course it was closer to 50 degrees, and it would only continue to get warmer. The arm warmers came off as we hit the first climb, about 2 miles long. It then hits a fast windy descent made worse by sand and salt in the roads (Banner Elk got 8 inches of snow last week). Sam and Joe were balls and took it full speed. I dont like crashing, so I took it slow and caught them on the very small flat. That flat then turns into a 3+ mile climb. We rocked the ascent, but at the top Joe noticed my tire was low. My tube had a slow leak. I replaced it, again, and we moved on. Lap 2, after the screaming descent, Sam decided to joke around and cut Joe off on accident. They collided, Sam stayed up and Joe hit the ground lightly. We finished the lap without further incident and rolled back to the hotel up yet another 2+ mile climb. In Boone, its either up or down.

At long last we got to cook up the steaks. We ate like Kings, watched Leprechaun 4: In Space (a 2 hour long cliche...) then geared up for part 2. This time we drove to the LMC course. The route to the course from the hotel is a busy highway, and we decided to just haul the 5 miles in the car. This time around, we were all a bit more confident, and I hit the ascent with Joe. We waited for Sam, then hit the descent hard. Sam was ahead of me, and Joe a good bit behind. I took the descent very fast with Sam, while Joe took it a bit easier. We hit the flat a good bit before him, and took the sketchy right onto the long climb. The corner had a lot of sand and debris in it. We took it slow, but Joe tried a fast line through it to catch up and went down hard. We heard him crash and turned back. He played it off, but we soon found it was a bit worse than he let on. He tore up his leg with some epic road rash (although nothing compared to Clinton's battle scars from Clemson). We hit the long climb, while I kept tempo with Joe and Sam took his own pace up. I could tell Joe was hurting a bit, but figured he was just feeling the 3rd time up the hill. Turns out his leg was hurting more than he thought. At the end of the lap Joe left to get bandages and ointment while Sam and I took the lap easy , hammering a decent pace up the climb. We debated doing a 3rd lap, but decided to save something for tommorrow, which we had tentatively planned to do a 102 mile century. The elevation profiles from the 2 rides:

Georgia Tech Race Weekend Race Report

Georgia Tech Race Weekend
Race Report
Saturday March 14th 2009 – Road Race

Going into this weekend we knew the weather was going to be miserable. 90% chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday, with highs expected in the high 40’s during race times. We made a quick stop at Trailhead to load up on rain gear we might need before heading out of town, which ended up being a wise investment. This weekend was just Joe and I, as we were leaving straight from the race to embark on a weeklong training camp in the mountains near Boone, NC.

The Saturday road race dynamics were changed by the arrival of multiple schools, most notably conference powerhouse and multiple nation champions Lees McRae. The centrality of the race to most of the conference enticed what would likely be the best turnout next to the Championships (April 18th-19th). Brevard, Cumberland, Auburn, Alabama, UAH, West Virginia (out of conference), Clemson, Florida, USF, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee were all represented as were many others. (Mars Hill, forgot that one). The A field was stacked with talented riders, and almost 40 strong. We had 62 miles over a very rolling and challenging course ahead of us, with the guaranteed prospect of rain. While warmer than the hellish NGCSU race 2 weeks ago, there were certainly no comments about the great weather… With Lees McRae, it’s a totally different bike race. From the gun, all 8 of their guys were on the front and driving. I was on the back, even though I swore I would not be there. From the back I watched 3 guys roll up the road and we never saw them again. Unlike other A races though, the racing did not stop. Cumberland, Clemson, Georgia all tried to drive the field up to the breakaway, with LMC covering every move, executing teamwork as its supposed to be done. They had 2 riders in the breakaway. Meanwhile, I found I did not have legs. One massive attack by Clemson and Georgia strung out all 35+ riders single file for about a mile or two at 30+ mph. The pace was blistering, and it took all I had to hold on. I rubber banded off the back but pulled back on once the attack seized. That effort did me in though, and 2 laps later the rubber band snapped. After 5 laps of racing, I made the typical bike racer decision to pack it in and hope for the best tomorrow.

Joe, however, was playing it safe and tactical in his first ever B race. A fairly large field, a hilly course, and a more challenging team structure were against him, but Joe had the legs and the smarts to play the game right. He slowly moved from the back of the pack into the top 5 by halfway through, and remained close to the front, never taking a pull. Several breaks got up the road, but courageous “Ricky Bobby” from Cumberland drove the B field back up to every break. When it came time for the sprint, an uphill sprint, Joe moved his way into perfect position and launched himself up the 100yd roller, just barely getting nipped by a Clemson rider for 3rd place. Clearly Joe established he was deserving of moving into the B’s, and with more results like that he could easily find his way into the A’s by conference.

Sunday March 15th 2009
Road Race #2

Georgia Tech had 3 races this weekend, and ITT and 2 road races. We passed on the ITT for energy saving, and based on the hassle of dragging Curtis’ TT bike around North Carolina for a week. Oh, and ITT was at 9am and the road race was at 1PM. So we slept in Saturday. NO such luck Sunday though, as our road races started at 10AM.

I didn’t feel fantastic at the start, but I typically ride better the day after a hard workout, so I was optimistic. I tried a new strategy this time, starting in the front for the neutral rollout and making sure to keep on the leaders’ wheels. In this case, I wanted to remain on Lees McRae riders’ wheels. And it was working great. One of their guys got up the road, but we really didn’t care. Either Cumberland or Clemson or whoever would move up and drive the train. Many attacks ensued, and I quickly found out riding in the front is much more efficient. I could immediately respond to the attacks and be done with the counterattack much sooner, using less energy by hanging on faster wheels. I was riding in the top 10 comfortably, doing no work and being sure to stay right on LMC wheels. Then I made a fatal error. There was a 2-man break about 30 seconds up, and then a lone Florida rider 15 seconds up the road. I felt like I had good legs, and the pack was cruising. I attacked. I made it up to the Florida rider pretty quick and looked back. The pack wasn’t following. The UFL rider, who was dying, jumped on my wheel. I rode for a while, continuing to tempo towards the breakaway. I looked back and the field was completely disinterested. I moved aside for the UFL rider to pull through and he did nothing. I sat up. I wasn’t going to drag him up the road to the break, uphill, without help. He had no guy in the breakaway, and no reason not to pull. I had better chances hanging in the pack and letting the big guns take over. As soon as the pack caught me though, they attacked, and fast. I popped into the middle of the pack and held for a bit, then ANOTHER attack was launched after the 2 riders up the road. A small gap became a big gap, and before I knew it I was sliding back. I pulled out of the pack so the riders behind could bridge up easier and tried to stick close to the field to get some draft and pull on the very back for some needed rest. The attack continued up the hill. Kyle McElhaney from Florida yelled some words of encouragement ,but in a split second I was dropped for good. In my weakest moment, the pack made its strongest move. I continued to tempo for a few miles, hoping the pack would ease up and I could move up, but soon they were out of sight, and I went from hoping to catch the pack, to hoping the pack would break up and I could pick up stragglers. Not much later, I caught up to Sam Barr (Alabama), my virtual teammate in the pack, who had also been spit out the back after an attack up a long hill. We teamed up and decided to finish the race and try to snipe everyone who got kicked off or quit, praying for a top 20 finish by attrition. After 20 miles though, those sentiments faded. It was 45 degrees and absolutely pouring rain, and with no protection from the pack, and no possibility of catching it, we decided to pack it in. The weekend had already been a mess for us (Sam got dropped 1.5 laps from the finish Saturday….but finished), and 40 solo miles in the cold rain sounded lame. We packed up and waited for Joe to finish.

Perseverance was the name of the game in the rain. The C field absolutely self destructed, finishing in pieces. The B field remained a bit more cohesive, with an early break of 5 guys getting up the road. Joe says it was 5 and that 3 of them got caught, leaving 2 up the road. Sam and I counted 3 at least up the road from the main field, including a Less McRae B Joe didn’t even know was ahead. Those LMC riders are very sneaky, and strong. Finally, Joe and the B field rounded the corner towards the downhill sprint. With sore legs and no gravitational advantage, Joe held his position through the sprint to finish top 5 in the field sprint. While exact placings may never be known (No one apparently likes to officiate collegiate races…so the same person is at every one, which we certainly appreciate), it looks like a definite top 10 for Joe, amounting to a very impressive first weekend as a B racer. Depending on how Joe feels about it, we may see him in the A field at Conference. Continuing his dominance of the lower categories is definitely making us look good though…

So now Joe, Sam and I are driving up to Knoxville for the night/tomorrow before rolling on to Boone, NC for the week. Stuart is going to put us through hell, and we are almost certainly facing our toughest week of training all year. Next week we head to Athens for some better weather (hopefully) and with tired legs. Be sure to check the team blog all this week (and twitter of course!) for daily updates from our training camp, as well as pictures and possibly some training data via Sam and Curtis’ Garmins.

Also, we would like to take this chance to thank the community and the school for all your support. The amount of interest and congratulations in our results has been extremely motivating for all involved. Without the support of the local cycling community, UAH Cycling would not be possible, and we hope to become a vital part of the cycling culture in Huntsville for years to come. RideStrong.

Clemson University Race Report

Race Report – Clemson University Race Weekend
Saturday 3/7/09
We brought three racers to Clemson for the weekend; myself, Joe, and Clinton. The forecast looked amazing, and our expectations were high for good racing. The weather and the race lived up to expectations
First off was me and the 30+ strong A field. We had a 60 mile road race in front of us, and with Cumberland, Clemson, Brevard, Furman and Georgia all bringing big teams and big names, it was sure to be a fast and aggressive race. The course has 3 or 4 ½-mile climbs, almost always preceded by sharp turns, and a combined rise of 350 meters per lap. The hills provided the necessary pain, but did little to shake up the field, as the following descents and flats allowed the peleton to easily regroup. We took the first lap neutral, more or less, as everyone wanted to survey the course. Once lap 2 started, so did the attacks. A breakaway of 3 got up the road, and a few other rides attempted to bridge. I raced pretty dumb, and was never in position to join or bridge to a break. At one point I was in good position to jump up to an attempted break that was about 5 seconds up the road and composed of a few teams not in the primary break. I hoped that I could bridge up and ride away with them. Unfortunately the pack decided to catch my wheel and I ended up dragging them to the chase group, and in the process, trashed my legs. It would take a full lap of sitting in to feel comfortable again. Other than that failed move, the race was quite uneventful. I did run over a water bottle though…On the last lap, rolling towards the sharp right before the 300meter final stretch, I found myself in bad sprint position, again. I sprinted hard to break the top 20 (maybe top 15), but essentially took yet another field finish.
I never did get a full report from Joe or Clinton, except that the pack essentially remained together the entire C race. Coming around the final corner, a Georgia Tech rider decided to pass 6 rows by crossing the yellow line. He won the race after an impressive sprint, but was disqualified. Joe, meanwhile, continues his C Category Dominance by adding a 2nd place finish to his resume. Clinton, hung onto the main field, finishing comfortably with them.
After a jaunt down to Firehouse Subs for lunch, we headed back to the race site for our first ever Team Time Trial. The outlook for the race was never fantastic. Since I am an A racer, the team is required to race as an A TTT team. That put us at odds with Furman and Florida, both with top 5 National TTT Teams. Despite the odds, we wanted to do the race. We practiced the discipline, we wanted to at least do one. The course is not fantastic for a TTT, however at only 7.5 miles, it was quite short. We started out fairly well, kept to our planned rotations. The speed was quick, particularly on the flats. As we hit a hill though, Clinton dropped a chain and was unable to shift it back onto the chain ring. We rode easy while he reattached it, hopped on and sprinted up the hill after us. At least a minute and a half, poof, gone. It happens. We got back into a good rhythm, and before we were even ready for it, the race was over. We succeeded in not getting passed by a competitor, kept the tires down, and finished together.
Sunday 3/8/09
The “crit” was very reminiscent of my days at Indiana training for and racing in the Little 500. It was on a 1/2 – mile paved racetrack, with light banking. Joe and I did a little too much socializing the night before, and certainly were not as rested or prepared to race as we should have been. And speaking of which, thanks to Sam Barr (Alabama), I will never enter a moon bounce again. Moving on, Joe and Clinton started their race while I was still sleeping off the previous evenings’ sins in the car. I woke up about mid race, staggered out to the laughs of Stuart and officials, and immediately noticed something was up. The C field was quite small, and a lot of riders were in the pit getting new wheels and having their bikes checked. Looking at the field, I saw Joe, but not Clinton. As an equally groggy Sam found me at the line, we discovered a crash had occurred. We trekked to the other end of the course, passing a bloody Georgia Tech rider on the way, to find Clinton and his poor bicycle. Clinton had touched wheels and gone down, taking 9 or 10 other riders with him. The crash occurred on the backstretch, where the wind was strongly a tailwind. At 25 mph, Clinton got a taste of asphalt. Welcome to bicycle racing, Clinton, you are now an official member. Joe continued to hang on in the pack, which increased in size a bit once healthy riders got repaired and put back in the race. Joe stuck it out in the race to finish top 10 again in the sprint. He had no legs for the sprint, and I wasn’t sure I had legs to even start.
The A field was quite big, with a lot of big engines looking to take a win. Sam and I were looking to survive. While the speed was blistering, averaging about 25 mph each lap (30-35 on the back stretch), we found our legs and sat in. I was suffering, and like Saturday, was a complete failure at moving up in the pack. I spent most of my time on the back as a result. About ½ of the way through the race, 3 riders got off the front and started pulling away. At one point they had over half a lap on us, and we just let them hang there. A couple guys tried to get chase groups up to it, and the pack always caught them, and the breakaway continued to move up. Eventually Clemson and Furman decided to chase the break down. And for 5 laps we hammered so hard the entire field went single file. Once we caught them the pace eased a bit, but still, without fail every lap people would attack into the wind on the font stretch, and almost always get caught on the back stretch. There was some sort of acceleration or attack every lap. With 3 to go the pace started to ramp up, and again, I didn’t position well, or at all. Coming out of the last corner I was sitting around 20th place. I sprinted before the corner ended, caught and passed a whole bunch of people. Apparently I also gave Sam a lead out, which he used to nip me at the line. Legs shaking, I finished and was ready to leave and eat.

So, 2 more top 10’s for the team, Joe has enough races and results to cat up to Cat 4/B. This weekend marked our 5th weekend, we are now past the halfway point. The big races are coming. Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Lees McRae, and Brevard are up now, and the competition will be strong at every race. Keep checking back, the next few weeks will be mission critical for the team.

NGCSU Road Race

Well, much more can be said about Joe's race than mine. Going into this one we knew the weather was going to suck. Forecast was for falling temperatures all day and a very high probability of rain.

I rolled off at 9AM wearing a decent amount of layering for the misty rain. Then the heavens opened up and it was pouring. In 40 minutes the outside temperature dropped into the low 30s. Despite this, the A field, about 30 strong pushed into the first lap at full speed. A few things happened that resulted in the fields, and in particular my, self destruction. The main factor was the almost monthlong absence of 2 schools with varsity programs, Brevard and Cumberland. They brought very respectable fields to the A's, and with only a few races on their schedules, they felt they had to fight for every conference point possible to earn a bid to nationals. The result was these teams continuously attacking every hill in the first 10 miles of the race, repeatedly. They were blowing their own riders off the back in addition to their opponents. Now, granted, there were some studs in the front of that pack. But if the intention was a team result, team points, and nationals qualifications, blowing up your own team is just bad. I can whine because the same efforts eventually blew me off the back on a long climb. I lost contact about 3/4 of the way up, and by the time I got to the top they were halfway down. I chased for the rest of the lap, catching and passing a Cumberland rider that had been blown off, until I saw a group of 5 coming back at me, including 2 Clemson riders. I made a split decision. Chase for another 50 miles in the freezing rain/snow, banking on a breakaway succeeding and the pack slowing for me to catch them, or take a DNF, rest my legs, and complain about it in a blog. Clearly, my choice was obvious. I turned around, joined the quitters, and rode back as the rain continued to pick up. Now, granted, had the weather been good, I still probably would have been blown off the back. The hills were murderous, and the guys came ready to blow up the field. I have a lot of work to do.

As I hit climb after climb with the A group, I remember thinking to myself, "This is perfect for Joe". Our climbing specialist has been dying for a route like this all year. As Joe tells it, the weather, not necessarily the pace, contributed to the thinning of their field. After the first lap 1/2 of the field quit. (As did most of the B's after 2 laps, and at least 15 A's after 2 laps) With just 10 guys, they were left to fight for their spot. We didnt talk much about the specifics of that last lap, but the general word was that Joe felt strong on the climbs, and the competition was weak at best. Unfortunately, Joe's day yesterday fighting FSU had robbed him of some much needed energy, and when it came time for the sprint, the win was not his. He told me after the race that if not for yesterday, he could have easily won today. It seems we both have some work to do, both me on climbing/strength/endurance, and Joe on recovery and his sprints. Despite being tired, Joe definitely was the man of the day. With at least 60% of the riders in all categories pulling out, anyone that stuck it to the finish deserves a points bonus. Joe took 4th in his sprint, another top 5 finish for him, and about time for him to move up to the B's

We have certainly had better weekends, but it is certainly necessary to have bad races. I think Joe would agree we would rather THIS weekend go bad than other important races such as Lees McRae, Brevard, and Clemson, races we have been looking forward to all season. We both hit a rest week this week, and then Clemson next weekend!

All in all,

TopView Classic - USCF Road Race

Instead of doing a pointless ITT in Dahlonega at NGSCU, we trekked past Atlanta over to Duluth (really?) to do a big road race. Big fields were expected, and the big guns were finally able to show up and lay it on the line. Weather when I started was raining, 54 degrees, and miserable. It touched the low 60s and partly sunny when joe rolled, and the roads were drying. Totally lame.

In a twist of Karma, I was the one who had to ride off early at 10:30 AM. 53 miles over 7 laps in a field well represented by 5 teams in particular in the Category 3 field. Aarons Cycling Team, Jittery Joes Development Team, Myogenesis, Reality Bikes, and one more I dont remember. We started with 40+ riders.What essentially happened is on the 2nd lap a breakaway succeeded that had one rider of each team. I was in the back half of the field when the breaks went, and while I could have bridged up to them, I foolishly decided to race a safe strategy in the pack and bank on a sprint. The Aarons riders in particular rode like morons, not riding on the front and controlling the pace, but scattered through the pack and riding slow randomly. Once the breakaways' success was confirmed, all the teams just sat up. We averaged maybe 20mph. It was just ridiculous, not even a race. The hilly sections were perfect for me, I would be able to move up easily for the last few miles of the loop. Unfortunately I timed it wrong, ended up on the back leading to the pack sprint. With 7 riders up the road, we were sprinting for 8th place. I moved from 35th to 15th once the road opened up, and that was it. Dumb dumb dumb racing by me, and non-racing by the pack. Since the pack didnt try after the break got away, we ended up letting them gain 26 minutes. Its safe to say I am furious about the packs attitude, and just have to say the A's better be ready to race tomorrow, because Im going for it and going for it early.

Joe's race was equally frustrating in the Cat 5s. The pack started 20-25 strong, and was best represented by Florida State University, who brought their entire Cat 4/5 contingent. After the first lap, it was only about 10 riders. The FSU guys refused to pull, even at all. They marked Joe's wheel and forced him to do most of the work in the race, and everytime he sat up on the pace they would launch an attack, which he would cover, and then be pulling again. It was dirty tactics, but unfortunately the way a team races against a group of individuals. After 4.5 laps of being the pack's bitch, Joe was spent. An FSU rider launched again, and Joe let him go to race for 2nd place. Unfortunately FSU still put the pressure on Joe, and when the sprint came, he was just completely spent. Joe admits he is finally ready to cat up to the Cat 4's, and hence the B's.

More road racing in Dahlonega tomorrow at NGSCU. Collegiate Racing this time :) Looks to be in the mid 30's, snowing/raining and 15-25 mph winds. Bring the pain! Joe and I have poor performances to make up for

Alabama Race Weekend - Criterium

So I have decided to stop writing these blogs as if they were in 3rd person. Clearly Curtis (Me) is writing them, so I'll forgo the formality and get down to the nitty gritty.

Day 1 was great with 6 guys representing UAH. Everyone got a taste of speed in the Time Trial, and everyone seemed to enjoy the chess game on wheels of the Road Race.

The TRUE test, however, would be how the new guys held up in a criterium, and how I would handle racing as an A.



The C's composed of Joe, Barrett, Clinton, Daniel and Josh rolled off at a brisk 10AM for what would be a 30 minute race. The course was QUITE technical and ridiculous, featuring 2 broad right hand turns, 4 sharp right hand turns, a quick S bend and a ridiculous switchback. In a field composed primarily of beginner races, crashes were certain, as was the eventual nuclear destruction of the "field".




Predictions held true, and the first few laps saw the C field riding single file at a super quick pace. Joe and Barrett sat near the front while Josh, Daniel, and Clinton hovered in the middle and back of the pack. As the pace continued to pick up, people started falling off. First was a group of 3 containing Josh. After the race, Josh commented :"Man, if you lose that pack even for a minute, you are done". Yes, Josh, you are correct. While Josh may have been one of the first to lose the pack, he was certainly not the last. Daniel soon found himself in no mans land, with Clinton in a small chase group about 20 seconds behind. After a few more laps, the race official (Stuart...) made the call to pull the riders that would get lapped. Without scoring cameras or equipment, Stuart was scoring/placing the race by hand. Lapped riders needed to be off the course to keep things honest. A very disappointed Josh, Clinton and Daniel rolled off and looked on as Joe and Barrett continued. Barrett found himself in a bit of misfortune as well. He ended up in a small chase group of 4 guys, but despite the intense efforts put forth by all the riders, they were not able to match the tempo of the lead pack. However the group was fast enough that they were not going to get lapped, and at that point Barrett was assured a top 10 spot. All the while, Joe sat in the top 5 of the pack, which contained about 8 guys, 2 from Alabama, 2 from Georgia Tech, and a few more stragglers. The Georgia Tech guys, in particular, made many attempts to ride off the front, and in one instance Joe simply bridged the gap seemingly effortlessly. As the final lap came around, Joe found himself towards the front of the group, he held the wheels of the attacks as the group whittled down to 4 around the last turn. Joe held on for the sprint to finish 4th, well ahead of 5th. Barrett lost his sprint at the line to the Alabama rider, yet still nailed down a top 10 finish. (Official results coming later).

The general consensus was that crits are much much harder and everyone needs to train a good bit harder to maintain the speeds required in them.

Back in my former riding days in Indiana, crits were my achilles heel. I could not have agreed with the other guys more. They are usually mindblowingly fast, unforgiving, and if you cannot corner well, you are in big trouble. For this reason, I threw my (possibly) cracked carbon race wheels on my bike to get every bit of advantage possible for the A race, which was again combined with the B race. We had a total of 8 guys this time around: Me, Sam (Alabama), 2 Florida guys (1 A, 1 B), 2 Georgia State B's, the Emory Cat 1, and a UGA B. Right off the gun the pace was not as fast as I expected. However going into this entire race weekend my legs felt like water, and I had not been getting the power out of them I typically do. The fact I was able to outclimb the field Saturday was ridiculous, and I felt particularly poorly about 45 minutes of threshold crit racing. Thomas from Emory, who shall henceforth always be referred to as Emory, tried early and often to make a break work. Sometimes Kyle from UFL would bridge up, sometimes Sam would help, but it seemed I was always the one grabbing his wheel. We had 4 premes, all of which were swept by A riders, and none of which I really cared about at all. Except the last one, which was 2 laps from the finish. Ala, we had a sprint and then only 1 lap to finish. On the windy front stretch I sprinted for that last preme, took it, and took the lead through the technical section of the course. Coming out of the switchback, Emory attacked, and I hesitated a split second too soon, and was not able to catch his wheel in time. While he did not ride like a Cat 1 yesterday, he definitely did when he made that attack. As I tore around the last bend, I could tell the pack behind me was frayed, so as soon as i exited the corner, i brought my best sprint legs out of NOWHERE and blasted up the road to take the sprint from Sam. Another 2nd place. Fortunately, about 25 minutes ino the crit I had found my race legs, was able to rider smart, I did hardly any work. And with the exception of hitting my pedal on the ground around a corner, the race was pretty uneventful.




All in all, the team had a pretty amazing showing. Joe got 5th in the ITT, 6th in the Road Race, and 4th in the Crit. Barrett got 9th in the ITT, 8th in the Road Race, and a definite top 10 in the Crit. Josh, Daniel and Clinton held on for their lives in their first road cycling races ever, and judging by their expressions and comments after, they are hungering for more. And I , who felt like crap going into the weekend, for whatever reason, and was entering the A(Pro/1/2/3) field for the first time ever, held on pretty well, even if I was only racing against 3 other guys. I am far from peaked for the season, and come late March/April, I should be money.

Pain is a part of bike racing, and this weekend, on the hilliest road/TT course any of us have ridden this year, we were all bike racers.

Next week we will be tag teaming 2 races. One is a non-collegiate USAC race in Georgia, and the other is the NGSCU road race in Dahlonega, GA. Joe gets 2 more mass starts, I get to gauge myself against a field of Cat 3's, and the new guys will get their chance to ride in a real pack. It ought to be fun...

Alabama Race Weekend ITT and Road Race

We brought 6 guys to the Alabama race weekend, and they brought the pain.

First up was the Individual Time Trial. 10 miles on the Tour de Tuscaloosa/UA Road Race course. It is hilly, it is intense, and it is extremely difficult as a road race course, much less so for a Time Trial.

First up, and we do mean first, was Curtis. With his fresh Cat 3/A upgrade, and being the first A to register, he got to go first. He was none so happy about it, he is like a dog, he needs something to chase. Regardless, he put in a great effort, rolling in at 2nd place in the A's category (which had 2 A riders...) and well above the rest of the field.

Joe pulled in a solid 5th place finish in the C's , the hilly course catering to his strengths. The official results for the rest of the team are pending.

Next was the Road Race. The C field was about 25 strong, the B field was 5 strong, and the A field was a total of 4. The A's and B's were combined, both would ride 50 miles. Joe, Clinton, Barrett, Daniel and Josh all rode in the C race, while Curtis rolled in the A/B race.

In the C race, an Alabama rider attacked right off the start, got some support from some other teams, while the Alabama boys rode support on the front of the field by slowing it down. The initial acceleration blew up the C race, and Josh/Daniel/Clinton got hit pretty quick. Joe tried to make a break with a Georgia Tech rider to try and bridge up to the breakaway. Very very very very rarely is a breakaway successful in a C race. Today was a day it did. By attacking from the start and the Alabama riders playing beautiful teamwork, the confusion allowed the riders to get away. Daniel and Josh ended up trying to chase back onto the field with an Emory rider who refused to pull his weight, rode erratically and really hampered their efforts. Daniel layed down the law with some very harsh words, and the rider oh so suddenly began to work. They got back within 20 seconds of the pack before the uphill finish. Clinton, who was hanging on towards the back of the pack, dropped a chain at the bottom of the climb while with 2 other riders. he had to fix his chain and start from the bottom of the hill. Meanwhile, in the pack, Joe managed to sprint for a 6th place overall finish, and Barrett held for 8th.

In the A race, they started with 9 riders, 4 A's and 5 B's. Joking and laughing ensued, but apparently the A rider from Emory wasn't confident in his climbing/sprinting abilities. The B from Georgia Tech apparently also felt frisky, and on the first climb of the first lap they pounded the pace. We all held on and eventually brought them into the fold. Curtis uttered "douchebag" under his breath, which Sam Barr (Alabama) found funny. The field continued to cover Emory's attacks, and 9 fell to 7. After the big climb it fell to 6. Emory attacked again, and this time the field decided to let him go and burn himself out. He had not been particularly strong, just aggressive, and his moronic riding was wearing the field down. They decided to let him go, banking he would tire and get caught. Unfortunately, each time the field hit the final climb, Curtis would inadvertantly drop a B rider. By the end of lap 3, It was only Curtis, Sam and Florida, all of the A's, while Emory was up the road. About 2 miles into the lap there is a super steep mini climb. When we hit that climb, Sam's legs just couldnt go anymore. We were maintaining a very good pace (around 23), and with such a small field, without recovery, it was too much witht he hills. So for the last lap and a half it was just Curtis and the kid from Florida (who smoked the ITT), and with only 2 riders catchin the Emory rider was unlikely. Curtis switched from chase mode to survival/tactical mode. He wanted to pull as little as possible when it mattered, maximize his efficiency, and put a little bit of hurt on the Florida rider. The Florida rider was very weak on climbs, and while an excellent time trialer, simply was not well suited for sprinting and climbing. So Curtis would pull at a decent rate uphill, not to break the rider but just to hurt him a little bit. He would usually allow the FL rider to pull up the 2nd half of the hills and over the top. For some reason he was a great descender, so he used that against him. Right before the final climb there is a SCREAMING descent, a slight upgrade, a sharp right, then the climb. Curtis let the UFL guy lead the descent, Curtis led up the gradual climb, then let the UFL guy lead up the first half of the long final climb. Once the UFL guys pulled off to switch, Curtis attacked about 500 m from the finish on the steepest part of the climb, before it levels off. Once it levels off, there is about 200m before the last 100m climb to the finish. He looked back and his attack worked, the UFL rider was sucking wind. He stood up one more time and hammered up the last few meters of the climb, taking 2nd in style.

Great results for the first day. Joe gets another top 10, Barrett breaks the Top 10, and Josh/Clinton/Daniel got their first taste of racing. Tomorrow is the parking lot crit, more updates to come!

Georgia Southern Criterium Race Report

Georgia Southern Criterium
2/15/2009

Weather was dryer, but colder for the criterium. Course was a gentle one for a crit, more suited to be called a circuit to be honest. Ran counter-clockwise with one 90 degree turn and everything else was a sweeping turn.

The team warmed up the best they could, a few miles around the course. The C race started, Joe took one pedal stroke and broke his chain. He took 3 free laps while the onsite wrench fixed the chain and got him back on the course. Meanwhile, Barrett sat comfortably in the pack. Not long after Joe got back in the field, it started to speed up significantly. Slowly but surely, groups began to fall off the back. After a few laps of sitting in while the field attacked, Barrett slipped off the back with 4 other riders. While the rest of the dropped riders struggled to form alliances and ultimately got lapped, Barrett and his chase group rallied quickly and managed to hold off the field until the last lap. He worked super hard and looked comfortable in the paceline. Joe, who seemed pretty tired from his first Road Race the day before in addition to his chain mishap, sat in the pack and moved up on the last lap. He snagged 6th or 7th in the field sprint (Official results pending).

In the B race, the field was very small and stacked quite unevenly. About 5 laps in the first preme was announced. Curtis attacked for the preme, easily winning it before sitting up with Ryan Fisher (Florida). They let the pack catch them, and sat back in. Towards the end of the lap Ben from Clemson, who snagged 2nd in the Road Race, made his expected breakaway attempt. Curtis said choice words and chased on. Only Jared from GSU was able to follow them, and by the end of the lap they had 10 seconds. They kept at it, and by the 2nd lap they had 20 seconds. Within 5 laps the gap was over a minute and lapping the field was inevitable. Ben was driving super hard, Curtis was hurting a good bit, and Jared was sucking wind. A deal was made. Jared would not sprint for the win if he could skip some rotations. From that point Curtis and Ben did 90% of the work. Curtis told Ben that if he thought he could hold a faster pace to the end, to go for it, but otherwise hed have to ease up a bit. Deal #2 was formed. Ben would sit with them for another 10 minutes then make a move. The second deal didn’t work out, because the next lap they were 10 seconds behind the field. Ben, who isn’t a fantastic sprinter, didn’t want to risk having to sprint it out against Curtis, and using the field as a breather before launching a 2nd attack was a great strategy. Curtis let him go, figuring he would waste a lot of energy bridging up to the pack which seemed caught. Jared tried to hold Curtis’ wheel, but the acceleration ended him. He went into TT mode to stay away long enough to save 3rd place. Ben caught the pack about a half mile later, and his teammates picked up the pace. After a few laps of sitting in, Ben got a nice leadout from his teammate and launched his 2nd attack to keep Curtis off his wheel. After Ben got away, Curtis took a few laps but eventually caught on to the group. The GSU rider was left in the dust, barely visible behind the pack. Curtis sat in for a few laps, laughing and chatting with the other riders, then decided to drive the pace to make sure the GSU rider didn’t catch the pack. When the bell lap came around, he pulled off, wished the field luck and rode on the back of the pack , finishing easy and laughing. He made a few comments about how he preferred to be able to finish easy like that every time…we’ll see how much he smiles at the end of his first A race…Worth noting is that the top 5 contained the exact same riders as in the Road Race, but mixed up slightly.