University of Florida Race Weekend

University of Florida Race Weekend
Race Report
2/7/09 – Individual Time Trial
Time Trials are generally boring, so I’ll keep it brisk. First off, UF straight lied in their race flyer, and the promoters pulled a fast one on everyone in the final results pertaining to the actual race distance. The flyer said 8 miles, the results said 9 miles, and I heard 9.5+ from most riders I talked to.
To gauge, last week, on a much hillier course with a definite headwind on the return trip, I ran 8.7 miles in 22:09. This weekend I ran a 24:11, and the course was WAY FLAT, and almost NO wind, slightly downhill coming back and what wind there was behind you on the way back. My super imaginary internal cyclometer says the race was 9.5 miles. I really need a computer on my TT bike…
But to summarize, I had a decent ride, a little bit sluggish and not as strong as I should have been. Managed a 3rd place result in the Cat 4 and a 6th place finish in the Collegiate B’s. My Cat 4 TT resulted in a nice $40 dollar payout. Paid for all my collegiate races for the weekend off the bat.
Joe had a solid ride himself, riding into a 3rd place finish in the Cat 5 Age 19-34 Age division, and 12th in the Collegiate C category. Worth mentioning that Joe won a BALLER SUPER AWESOME 3rd place medal for his Cat 5 effort. I mean super awesome medal. Be jealous. Joe, stop trying to give it away!
Overall, a decent effort by the team. For a new team to place its riders in the top 3rd of their race categories on their fist time trials is very impressive.

Intermission Report
2/7/09 – Disney World
So, my ex-girlfriend, who I remain close with, works at Disney World, and has the awesome benefit of being able to take 3 guests in with her for free. So Joe and I ponied up the cash to drive down to Orlando after our ITT. We rocked Hollywood Studios for an hour and half, then spent a wonderful time in Magic Kingdom. We rocked the Dumbo ride and the Teapot ride like it was our job. Unfortunately we probably stayed in Orlando too late, leaving around 10:30.
Joe’s crit was at 8:00AM the next morning…

Race Report
2/8/09
Criterium
We decided to double up on categories again today. Joe needs mass start finishes, I need upgrade points, and I felt pretty good about being able to win money in the Cat 4 race. Breaking even on race fees and our jaunt down to Orlando would be a big plus, making it the most free weekend vacation EVER (Special thanks to UAH for paying our gas ☺ )
First up was Joe in the Collegiate C crit. Joe has never done a mass start road race before. His instructions were to sit in the pack, keep out of trouble, and wait for the sprint. Joe listened perfectly. He sat essentially in the middle to back of the pack the whole race, kept a careful eye on the other riders, and rode to finish. The course had some very technical turns, one of them on a cobblestone/brick road. Joe finished the crit on the tail end of the main pack, and was smiling and joking on his cooldown. It is safe to say his next crit will not be so easy.
I went into the Collegiate B crit feeling a bit groggy from late night taco bell, 6 hours of sleep, and my clif bar breakfast. Fortunately, the pace was not murderous, and the pack was relatively small at 31 riders. (unlike Joe’s Collegiate C crit with 47). I spent most of my time in the top 7, watching riders carefully, and taking small pulls. Pulled in a few attacks, helped as little as possible. First preme came around, and as the sprint approached I was in good position, and a Georgia Tech rider was going for it, but he was going quite slow. I “sprinted” past him by just picking up my cadence. My mini effort actually put a big bridge on the field, and 4 of us decided to try and make a run for it. But with Florida State chasing with 5 riders, it was not to be, and we sat up. Not too long after, a Clemson rider took a gap that no one seemed willing to bridge. All the teams with big representation (Florida, USF, Florida State) sat up and let him go. He had no teammates in the B race that I knew of. Finally I said some harsh words to the pack, and led the chase for about a minute. I pulled some time on the Clemson rider, and pulled off the front. I had gapped the field. More harsh words, something to the tune of “I don’t have a problem racing for second, but you guys should”. The lone rider from Temple and a couple FSU guys finally stepped up, and we started driving the thing. A few laps later, and after more yelling, we caught the Clemson rider, who got a resounding amount of congrats for his monster effort. Alas, his day was over. At this point, I had done a lot of work for the pack. While chasing the Clemson rider, a preme apparently happened, and those that worked got preme points. Because I had put my fair effort in, and had some good talks with the FSU guys, I got out of pulling for a while, and the race got much easier. With 3 laps to go, the pace picked up, and the back of the pack decided it was a good time to start riding hard. Things got very tricky very fast, and holding my treasured top 7 place became a bit harder. Going into the last lap, I felt like a million dollars, and I was very positive I had the best legs in the pack. Just after the start finish, the road splits, and there is a large median in the middle. I was a little further left than I wanted to be, so I made a move over. Unfortunately I did not communicate with the FSU rider, and he slowed down, and we touched bars. They got stuck for a second, enough to bump me about 3 feet over as the median approached. I hit the median completely head on at close to 28 mph. No time to react. I remembered thinking “This is going to hurt…Ive never flipped over my handlebars before”. But by the greatest miracle of civil engineering, the curb was slightly angled. AKA a ramp. Next thing I knew I was slightly airborne. I landed in some bushes and kept riding, only casualty was that my foot came unlocked. I got clipped back in and chased hard. The pack was a good bit ahead, but I caught the tail end going into the last 2 corners. Superior handling skills and badass race wheels shot me around in time to make it past the bottom 1/3 of the race and into a top 20 finish. While I was SUPER frustrated by my luck, I was more impressed by how solid my ec90 wheels were, and my unknown BMX skills. I can lose a race by bad luck and just be mad. I was faster, I knew I was faster, so next time around I was ready to haul.
So we got starbucks watched the Womens and A races, and met Joe’s friend Katie, who GRACIOUSLY holed us up for the weekend. Much thanks to her. We grabbed some lunch then geared up for our noncollegiate races.
Joe decided to be a bit more aggressive in the Cat 5 race. Within a lap he was in the top 5, and he stayed in the front half the whole time. Since they had some pathetic premes, Joe didn’t bother with them, and instead focused on riding safe and setting up for the sprint. He even chased down a few breaks, looking super comfortable and focused the whole time. Meanwhile, riders were getting spit out the back left and right as the Cat 5’s rolled at an unusually quick pace. Unfortunately, when the sprint came around, his legs were gone from a very long weekend of time trialing, Disney world-ing, bad nutrition, early mornings and lots of racing. Joe finished 16th
Seeking redemption, I toed the Cat 4 line with strong legs and a goal of redeeming my bad luck in the previous race. Only problem is a much slower race with less stable racers. The pace varied greatly, and because of this the whole race just stayed together and sketchy riders were everywhere. I got real frustrated and decided to see just how strong my legs were. A small group of younger riders was about 50 yards up front, so I decided to bridge up to them and see how long it took and if the pack would follow. They did not. I then decided to see if I could blow this race up. I caught up to them, sat on their wheel for a second. They looked at me as if begging for help making their break work. I smiled and took off. I can only imagine the faces of the riders realizing their break was doomed. Surprisingly, the pack let me get a lot of room. I decided to try and make it stick, and dove into every corner. After 2 laps, I looked back, and I had a monster gap. Joe tells me that this is the point where the pack started to care. They all stood up and went balls to the wall to catch me. By the end of Lap 3, I was caught. I sat up as I knew it was coming and eased into the top 5 behind the FSU rider who won the B race. At this point, I was all about recovering in time for the sprint, and I chased no more breaks, just made moves to make sure I stayed in the front. With 3 laps to go, there were 2 riders out front, and the pack really didn’t care. We caught them on the 2nd to last lap and as we hit 1 to go, I got a great idea. I held them off for 3 laps before…Can I do it for one more? Im pretty sure no one thought it could be done, and NO ONE thought it would be done. But I did it. I gapped the field ridiculously fast, and coming out of the first 2 corners I had a good gap. Unfortunately I had to fend them off on a very long downhill segment, around 2 sharp corners and up a very long uphill finish. My timing was a bit off, and I knew it was gonna be close. When I came out of the last corner, I still had a good gap. I Just dropped the hammer as best as I could up the hill and with 10 feet to go I thought I had it. Then 4 guys blew past me, and I was caught. 5th place. Not so bad, and I managed to stay away from a sketchy group sprint. And best part, I won another 40$, making my weekend free, collecting some upgrade points, and making for a nice return to bike racing.

All in all, this was a phenomenal first weekend for the UAH Cycling Team. 3 top 10 finishes, a bunch of preme points, and all the while knowing that we are at the beginning of our season and we were super comfortable. Neither I nor Joe ever got really uncomfortable in the pack, and I was very confident with my solo attacks and my ability to cover the breaks. The season looks bright for the team, and I think with more training, more riders, and more focus, we could develop into a top tier team like Florida, FSU, Georgia and USF. Lees McRae is a totally different monster. Worth noting is that the Alabama cycling team, which has been around for 3 years, only has 3 riders signed up to race this year. We have 6. Next weekend we haul on down to Georgia Southern for a Road Race and a Crit on Valentines Day weekend.