Hey everybody, I know it's been a while. A bunch has happened since April or so when I last posted on this blog. I raced at Nationals, the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic (a really big JR race that's tougher than 15-16 Nationals), the Green Mountain stage race, and at least 15 other races. I went to Regional camp, National camp, and drove across the country and back. Here is a summary of months from May thru October.
May: I didn't have any big races/events this month. Instead, I was doing my final cat. 3 races and preparing for Regional camp. I was doing well until late May, when this started going downhill. My best result was probably my cat. 3 win at the Downtown Wake forest crit and setting the junior record in the Lowes Motor speedway TT.
June: Started off with Regional camp. I felt bad thru the first 3 days of camp, felt better the last full day and improved gradually until Nationals. Nationals didn't go like I expected it to--I got 7th in the TT, 12th in the Crit (field sprint), and 21st in the RR (also a field sprint due to the length, just 35 miles). I generally felt pretty good, except in the road race where I felt really weak. After Nationals, my dad, Will Richter and myself drove to Fitchburg.
July: This month started of with the biggest Junior race of my season, the Fitchburg Longsjo classic. I was feeling pretty strong for this race, and hadn't felt bad since Regional camp, which is rare for me. I felt powerful the first day of Fitchburg (It's a 4 day long stage race), which is a 3 mile loop with a short, but really steep hill. I attacked on the last lap with Ian Boswell (Hot Tubes). He dropped back since I don't think he was trying to start a 2 man break, and I continued until 1.5 miles to go. At that point the field caught me, and I finished 18th.
The Road race was next, a tough but short 42 mile race on a loop with a 2 mile long hill. The finish line was situated in the middle of the hill, within sight of the top and the feed zone. On the first lap, three riders got away, all really strong and good climbers. At the base of the climb, the pace wasn't hard so I accelerated, not really attacked, and bridged to the breakaway at the top.
At that point we had maybe a 20 second lead. We worked together pretty well for maybe 5 miles, but then we were caught. I was surprised and kind of dissapointed by this since both the major teams(Hot Tubes and Garmin) were represented. After that, I recovered for a bit and just stayed at the front for the next 2 climbs up the hill. On the last lap, I wanted to be aggressive so I attacked, at the base of the final climb with about 600 meters to go. I got a small gap, but by the last corner some people passed me and I crossed the line in 13th. A break of 3 finished ahead of the pack.
The 3rd stage was the TT. I had high hopes for this event, but I also just had an off day, and got 11th. However, my time was over 2 minutes faster than last year. Lawson Craddock won the stage by less than a tenth of a second over Australia's Lachlan Morton.
The final stage of the race was a flat criterium. I felt petty good here, and got involved in a couple breaks. Nothing stuck though, but in the last lap a crash took out a big part of the field. I got 10th on the stage and 9th overall, out of 90 riders who started. Compare that to last year, when I got 21st out of about 55, and I did pretty good.
Later this month I did my first p/12 race, the French Broad Classic. It is a 3 day omnium with a TT the first day, then a mountain road race, then a crit the last day.
TT- this went pretty well. I went out just a little too hard, but felt good, and averaged 28.2 miles per hour, for about 21 kilometers. I was king of surprised that this was only good for 21st out of 35, but it just showed me how much higher the level in p/12 races is.
Next was the RR. I did not feel too good during this, but I stayed in the front group over the first climb (about 2,000 feet elevation gain, but gradual), and the countless hills on the route. On the last climb I didn't feel too good, maybe I bonked, but whatever the problem was I got 14th.
I felt even worse during the crit the next day, and I got dropped with about 6 laps to go. This was pretty demoralizing for me, and I went home trying to figure out how I could've done better.
August: Not much happened in August. I did a couple of races, but I was mainly preparing for September's Green mountain Stage race.
September: GMSR. This was my last big race of the season, my last chance to do well this season. The first day was a TT.
My strategy for this was too go nearly all out for the first 3 miles, which were uphill, and then try to hold it until the end. In hindsight this may not have been the best idea, but I did pretty well and got 7th.
Next was the Circuit race. I felt really good during this stage. I pushed the pace in the last lap, trying to get away and did so a couple of times. I was in a break in the final miles with one other rider, who was from Canada, but, we were caught with 1 kilometer to go.
Road Race--the queen stage of GMSR, and the hardest race I've done this year. There were 2 climbs on the course, a long climb in the middle and then the brutal Appalachian Gap at the end. Results from the stage and more from the rest of the season coming tommorrow.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Racing Update Continued:Tour De Moore and Sanford crit
This is just finishing up my post from yesterday. Well, the Tour De Moore road race is 3 laps on a 27 mile loop, for 81 miles. I did the pro 1/2/3 race, and was really looking forward to racing since I live about 15 minutes away from the start line, and ride on the roads the course featured on the course a lot on group rides. This year was the first time I did this race, since in previous years it was a masters only race. Thankfully, this year it included categories too.
Like I said in the last post, I thought I could get a top ten finish if I stayed in the pack for most of the time. The race finishes at the top of a 250-300 foot climb, besides that, the course is downhill or rolling. I have done intervals up that hill countless times, so I know the climb pretty well.
I lined up for the race in the middle part of the pack of about 60, not the front because for the 1st lap I just tried to conserve energy. That is just what I did, and the race started really slowly, until there were some attacks after about 4 miles. A 3 person break got away a little later.
The first time up the hill I felt really good and went over the top of the hill on the back of a 6 to 8 person group, that just had a bike length or 2 gap of the rest of the pack. Going through southern pines, a breakaway got away, and I resumed my position in about 20th. There were some more breakaway attempts on that lap, but I wasn't involved in any of them.
The second time up the hill was much easier, and I stayed in a good position over the top. There were a lot more break attempts on the last lap, especially in the last half of the lap, which was hillier. I was involved in about 3 of the moves, one which involved bridging to a bigger breakaway that had got a small gap on the field. It was really fun, and really hard, to attack with the cat. 1's and 2's. The last break I was in got caught with about 3 miles to go, and when we got caught a rider just rolled off the front, and nobody chased.
After that I was pretty tired, but still feeling pretty good. The 1st half of the climb up to the finish was controlled an not too hard. At the base of the final, steeper section of the hill, I jumped onto somebody's wheel, and was in 3rd with about 500 meters to go. Right after that though, a person sprinted past me, then another, then another, and I realized my legs just couldn't respond. I went hard until the finish line and got 17th.
After the finish, I was pretty pleased of how I did. I raced pretty aggressively and was in the action a little bit. I expected a little more at the finish, but I guess that would have to come at the expense of going with any attacks during the race. I was the best cat. 3 finisher in the race (actually I think only about 4 other 3's finished), and it was so fun to be in a higher level race. Next time, I will try to be a little smarter in a race like this, but now I know that I can be competitive. I just have to give the glory to God for how I did, too. After the race, I rode back home, so I rode about 95 miles total that day.
Sanford Criterium, April 25th:
I only did one race sunday because I was a little tired from the day before. I chose to do the 3/4 race. The race was 50 minutes on a short course, with a hill up to the finish line, small enough to just sprint over.
I started the race at the front of the pack, and got in a break with Mike Ventola and 1 or 2 others when he accelerated and I was on his wheel. He was nice enough to pull for a while, then I pulled thru, but we were caught after about 2 laps, I think. After that, I conserved energy in the pack, was in a couple of moves, but tried not to exert that much energy. I was feeling kind of strange, it was pretty hot out, and I would feel good, then feel bad, then feel good again. With about 8 to 10 laps to go, a big, 8 plus person breakaway formed that I was in. However we were not working together very efficiently, and soon before we were caught 3 riders from the break attacked. At the time I wasn't feeling great, although I could have went with them, but didn't, thinking they would be caught. We sat up after they were up the road, so they got a big gap quickly, and with about 5 to go it was obvious they were going to stay away the whole time.
With 2 to go, I was wondering what I was going to do for the remainder of the race. Unfortunately we were racing for 4th at that point. Going around the 2nd corner, I was moving up on the inside of the field to about 1oth. We weren't going that hard at that point so I felt it was a good time to attack, so I did, using my momentum to get a gap. I swung to the right edge of the road so nobody could get in my draft, and went around the last 2 corners going as fast as I could. With 1 to go I had a decent lead, but the pack was starting to really go hard. They were close to catching me around the 1st corner, but instead a solo rider flew by me so fast that I could not get on his wheel. When I looked back I thought he was the head of the field, so I eased up a little bit thinking I had been caught, but I don't think I could have got on his wheel anyways. However, I was still focused on staying ahead of the field, and went as hard as I could on the backstretch, and held off the field to get 5th.
After the race I was happy with how I finished, but if only I had went with that break. If there hadn't been anyone up the road, that would have been second, but I was really happy with being able to stay away from a charging field in the last 1 and a half laps.
Now I have 20 points, I only need 5 more until I can cat. up! Next week, I will probably, Lord willing, the Dilworth Criterium in Charlotte.
Like I said in the last post, I thought I could get a top ten finish if I stayed in the pack for most of the time. The race finishes at the top of a 250-300 foot climb, besides that, the course is downhill or rolling. I have done intervals up that hill countless times, so I know the climb pretty well.
I lined up for the race in the middle part of the pack of about 60, not the front because for the 1st lap I just tried to conserve energy. That is just what I did, and the race started really slowly, until there were some attacks after about 4 miles. A 3 person break got away a little later.
The first time up the hill I felt really good and went over the top of the hill on the back of a 6 to 8 person group, that just had a bike length or 2 gap of the rest of the pack. Going through southern pines, a breakaway got away, and I resumed my position in about 20th. There were some more breakaway attempts on that lap, but I wasn't involved in any of them.
The second time up the hill was much easier, and I stayed in a good position over the top. There were a lot more break attempts on the last lap, especially in the last half of the lap, which was hillier. I was involved in about 3 of the moves, one which involved bridging to a bigger breakaway that had got a small gap on the field. It was really fun, and really hard, to attack with the cat. 1's and 2's. The last break I was in got caught with about 3 miles to go, and when we got caught a rider just rolled off the front, and nobody chased.
After that I was pretty tired, but still feeling pretty good. The 1st half of the climb up to the finish was controlled an not too hard. At the base of the final, steeper section of the hill, I jumped onto somebody's wheel, and was in 3rd with about 500 meters to go. Right after that though, a person sprinted past me, then another, then another, and I realized my legs just couldn't respond. I went hard until the finish line and got 17th.
After the finish, I was pretty pleased of how I did. I raced pretty aggressively and was in the action a little bit. I expected a little more at the finish, but I guess that would have to come at the expense of going with any attacks during the race. I was the best cat. 3 finisher in the race (actually I think only about 4 other 3's finished), and it was so fun to be in a higher level race. Next time, I will try to be a little smarter in a race like this, but now I know that I can be competitive. I just have to give the glory to God for how I did, too. After the race, I rode back home, so I rode about 95 miles total that day.
Sanford Criterium, April 25th:
I only did one race sunday because I was a little tired from the day before. I chose to do the 3/4 race. The race was 50 minutes on a short course, with a hill up to the finish line, small enough to just sprint over.
I started the race at the front of the pack, and got in a break with Mike Ventola and 1 or 2 others when he accelerated and I was on his wheel. He was nice enough to pull for a while, then I pulled thru, but we were caught after about 2 laps, I think. After that, I conserved energy in the pack, was in a couple of moves, but tried not to exert that much energy. I was feeling kind of strange, it was pretty hot out, and I would feel good, then feel bad, then feel good again. With about 8 to 10 laps to go, a big, 8 plus person breakaway formed that I was in. However we were not working together very efficiently, and soon before we were caught 3 riders from the break attacked. At the time I wasn't feeling great, although I could have went with them, but didn't, thinking they would be caught. We sat up after they were up the road, so they got a big gap quickly, and with about 5 to go it was obvious they were going to stay away the whole time.
With 2 to go, I was wondering what I was going to do for the remainder of the race. Unfortunately we were racing for 4th at that point. Going around the 2nd corner, I was moving up on the inside of the field to about 1oth. We weren't going that hard at that point so I felt it was a good time to attack, so I did, using my momentum to get a gap. I swung to the right edge of the road so nobody could get in my draft, and went around the last 2 corners going as fast as I could. With 1 to go I had a decent lead, but the pack was starting to really go hard. They were close to catching me around the 1st corner, but instead a solo rider flew by me so fast that I could not get on his wheel. When I looked back I thought he was the head of the field, so I eased up a little bit thinking I had been caught, but I don't think I could have got on his wheel anyways. However, I was still focused on staying ahead of the field, and went as hard as I could on the backstretch, and held off the field to get 5th.
After the race I was happy with how I finished, but if only I had went with that break. If there hadn't been anyone up the road, that would have been second, but I was really happy with being able to stay away from a charging field in the last 1 and a half laps.
Now I have 20 points, I only need 5 more until I can cat. up! Next week, I will probably, Lord willing, the Dilworth Criterium in Charlotte.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tour of the Battenkill 2010, Tyson's corner circuit race, Tour De Moore RR, Sanford crit
It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Since then I've done a lot of racing, but I only have time to go over my last 4 races-Tour of the Battenkill, Tyson's Corner, Tour De Moore RR, and the Sanford Crit.
Tour of the Battenkill, JRs 15-18, April 1oth:
This was one of my main goals of the early season. Before the race, my preparation wasn't quite perfect, but I was expecting to be competitive for the win, atleast in the 15-16 race.
Some of the other strong juniors in the 15-16's were Alexey Vermeulen, Marcus smith, Rudy Peterson, and Curtis White. Unfortunately Alexey broke his wrist before the race, so he couldn't come, so that left a couple of people I was watching. Of all the juniors, I thought Paul Lynch, a 17 yr. old, was the strongest.
We got to New York after a 13 hour drive from North Carolina, the day before the race, so I could ride the last half of the 62 mile course. There were some incredibly steep dirt sections; the race flyer said the grades went up to 25%.
Fast forward to the day of the race. I got in a short warmup, and went to the line. It was pretty cold at the start, so I was at the front during the neutral warmup to warmup. During the 1st dirt climb, I went over the top at the back of the first group, of maybe 15-20, but realized I wasn't feeling great. I just stayed in the pack for most of the race, until a climb near the halfway point split maybe 12 people off the front. I wasn't in this group and chased for what seemed like forever after them, but actually it was more like 5 to 8 miles. At that point, only 2 15-16 yr. olds were in the front group, Marcus Smith and I.
By the start of the last climb Marcus was in the 2nd break on the road, while I was in the next group, the chase group. It was obvious by this point that I was feeling terrible, and on the 2nd half of the climb my legs seemed to give out. I rode the last 6 miles to the finish by myself going about 18 miles per hour.
Still, I got 13th and 2nd of the 15-16's. Marcus won, and got 5th of all the juniors . Curtis white got 3rd, and Rudy got 4th. I think I felt bad for a couple of reasons, I don't think I ate enough, and as I said my training before the race wasn't great. Even if I was feeling good though, Marcus was really strong. Congratulations, and also congrats to Paul Lynch, who won the race, also to Rudy and Curtis, and to all the other juniors who raced.
So despite feeling really bad, I just tried to get over it, thank God regardless of how I had done, and get ready for the Tyson's Corner LAJRS race the next day.
Almost immediately after my finish and the podium presentation we left for a 7 hour drive to Tyson's corner, which is close to Washington DC.
Tyson's corner Circuit Race, Jr 15-18, April 11th :
My main rivals for this race were Steven Kendall, a 17 yr. old cat. 2 who did good at nationals and fitchburg last year, and Wyatt Briggs, who also is a cat. 2. I know Wyatt pretty well since he lives in North Carolina too, and earlier this season he was a 3, so I've raced with him quite a bit.
There were about 30 juniors signed up for the race, but Wyatt couldn't make it to the race, so my main rival was Steven Kendall. There were also some decently strong juniors there that I didn't recognize.
There were some attacks and some easier parts during the race. There was mainly only 1 dangerous break that got away, Steven Kendall and another rider. However, there were a lot of people who seemed like they were content to pull forever, so they were brought back.
With 6 laps to go I attacked, but it wasn't at the right time and I was brought back a little less than a lap(about 1.2 miles) later. After that I recovered for a while, until there were some hard attacks that really strung out the field. With 3 to go we were still going hard, but soon after the 1st corner we eased up some. I was in 3rd at that time, and noticed that there were maybe 4 or 5 of us that had a 2 bike length's, and shrinking, lead.
Right after I saw that I attacked, hard, and extended my lead on the middle downhill section of the course while the field didn't seem to be going that hard. From there on out I was usually extending my lead, until it was maybe 15 seconds going around the last corner. This was my 1st race win since last august, when I won the SC state championships 3 race.
After that was the cat. 3 race, about 1 1/2 hrs. later. The field had about 100 riders in it, the biggest group I've ever raced in. I conserved energy for most of the race, and was in a couple of short lived moves, as well as a breakaway of 6 to 8 that probably had the best chance as any of succeeding. The field just had a lot of strong guys in it, who were also willing to pull. After those attacks I was pretty tired, and got 28th at the finish.
Tour De Moore Road Race, Pro 1/2/3, April 24th:
This was my 2nd p123 race, and although the competitors in this one seemed to be quite a bit stronger, I thought I was capable of a top 10 finish if I conserved my energy throughout the 81 miles road race. I don't have time to finish this race report right now, I will try to finish it tomorrow and post some pictures from all 4 races.
Tour of the Battenkill, JRs 15-18, April 1oth:
This was one of my main goals of the early season. Before the race, my preparation wasn't quite perfect, but I was expecting to be competitive for the win, atleast in the 15-16 race.
Some of the other strong juniors in the 15-16's were Alexey Vermeulen, Marcus smith, Rudy Peterson, and Curtis White. Unfortunately Alexey broke his wrist before the race, so he couldn't come, so that left a couple of people I was watching. Of all the juniors, I thought Paul Lynch, a 17 yr. old, was the strongest.
We got to New York after a 13 hour drive from North Carolina, the day before the race, so I could ride the last half of the 62 mile course. There were some incredibly steep dirt sections; the race flyer said the grades went up to 25%.
Fast forward to the day of the race. I got in a short warmup, and went to the line. It was pretty cold at the start, so I was at the front during the neutral warmup to warmup. During the 1st dirt climb, I went over the top at the back of the first group, of maybe 15-20, but realized I wasn't feeling great. I just stayed in the pack for most of the race, until a climb near the halfway point split maybe 12 people off the front. I wasn't in this group and chased for what seemed like forever after them, but actually it was more like 5 to 8 miles. At that point, only 2 15-16 yr. olds were in the front group, Marcus Smith and I.
By the start of the last climb Marcus was in the 2nd break on the road, while I was in the next group, the chase group. It was obvious by this point that I was feeling terrible, and on the 2nd half of the climb my legs seemed to give out. I rode the last 6 miles to the finish by myself going about 18 miles per hour.
Still, I got 13th and 2nd of the 15-16's. Marcus won, and got 5th of all the juniors . Curtis white got 3rd, and Rudy got 4th. I think I felt bad for a couple of reasons, I don't think I ate enough, and as I said my training before the race wasn't great. Even if I was feeling good though, Marcus was really strong. Congratulations, and also congrats to Paul Lynch, who won the race, also to Rudy and Curtis, and to all the other juniors who raced.
So despite feeling really bad, I just tried to get over it, thank God regardless of how I had done, and get ready for the Tyson's Corner LAJRS race the next day.
Almost immediately after my finish and the podium presentation we left for a 7 hour drive to Tyson's corner, which is close to Washington DC.
Tyson's corner Circuit Race, Jr 15-18, April 11th :
My main rivals for this race were Steven Kendall, a 17 yr. old cat. 2 who did good at nationals and fitchburg last year, and Wyatt Briggs, who also is a cat. 2. I know Wyatt pretty well since he lives in North Carolina too, and earlier this season he was a 3, so I've raced with him quite a bit.
There were about 30 juniors signed up for the race, but Wyatt couldn't make it to the race, so my main rival was Steven Kendall. There were also some decently strong juniors there that I didn't recognize.
There were some attacks and some easier parts during the race. There was mainly only 1 dangerous break that got away, Steven Kendall and another rider. However, there were a lot of people who seemed like they were content to pull forever, so they were brought back.
With 6 laps to go I attacked, but it wasn't at the right time and I was brought back a little less than a lap(about 1.2 miles) later. After that I recovered for a while, until there were some hard attacks that really strung out the field. With 3 to go we were still going hard, but soon after the 1st corner we eased up some. I was in 3rd at that time, and noticed that there were maybe 4 or 5 of us that had a 2 bike length's, and shrinking, lead.
Right after I saw that I attacked, hard, and extended my lead on the middle downhill section of the course while the field didn't seem to be going that hard. From there on out I was usually extending my lead, until it was maybe 15 seconds going around the last corner. This was my 1st race win since last august, when I won the SC state championships 3 race.
After that was the cat. 3 race, about 1 1/2 hrs. later. The field had about 100 riders in it, the biggest group I've ever raced in. I conserved energy for most of the race, and was in a couple of short lived moves, as well as a breakaway of 6 to 8 that probably had the best chance as any of succeeding. The field just had a lot of strong guys in it, who were also willing to pull. After those attacks I was pretty tired, and got 28th at the finish.
Tour De Moore Road Race, Pro 1/2/3, April 24th:
This was my 2nd p123 race, and although the competitors in this one seemed to be quite a bit stronger, I thought I was capable of a top 10 finish if I conserved my energy throughout the 81 miles road race. I don't have time to finish this race report right now, I will try to finish it tomorrow and post some pictures from all 4 races.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Greenville Spring Training Series race #5: Fork shoals RR
Yesterday my family and I went to my 2nd race this season, the Fork shoals Road Race, in Greenville, South Carolina. My goal for this race was to race very aggressively, get into breakaways, and make the race, rather than just stay anonymously in the pack and get a top 5, or higher finish. We got to the race a little over an hour before the start, giving me plenty of time to get my number and warm up. I was feeling pretty good before the race and was really looking forward to racing aggressively.
The race started fairly slowly, and about halfway through the first lap I was in a good position, maybe too good, in anywhere from 2nd to 5th position. The bad thing about that was that people were expecting me to pull through a lot to catch a break that had formed. After that I fell back in the pack, and was boxed in for a while. During the first couple of laps I was just saying hi to people I hadn't seen since the previous season. It was great to say hi to everyone I haven't seen since last season, including the Carolina cyclones junior team. I chased some breakaways and attempted to bridge up to others, but nothing was very successful. With 2 laps to go (the race was 4 laps on a 15 mile circuit) I could barely wait for a break that would stick, but I felt like I was getting a little tired--usually I just sit in for the first half of a road race.
I got what I was hoping for when 2 strong riders, one each from the powerful Hincapie and Carolina cyclones junior development teams, formed. We held them at a relatively small gap for a while. 2 more people joined them as the field began to sit up. We began heading down a gradual downhill that gets faster as it goes on, but nonetheless I could see the break easily and thought that it was within reach. I sprinted away from the pack and quickly got into a TT like position on my road bike. I caught the break in about a minute or a minute and a half, but as I remember it, it seemed like 10 seconds. So now the breakaway was 5 people strong and I thought we might stay away. 2 more people joined the break after me. I started pulling after I felt recovered enough, and soon all 7 of us were taking part in the paceline. We reached the start of the final hill (of the lap, coming up on 1 to go) with a decent gap on the field, and went up the hill pretty hard. Soon before the last corner with 1 K to go, I tried to attack the break, thinking my breakaway companions would block the field for me. Once I got a small, less than 5 second gap I settled down into a threshold pace, thinking that if I went harder I would only blow up--there was still another 15 miles to go. I was feeling good however, and about 5 people caught me coming up to the finish line. I'm not sure if they were a different set of riders than the ones in the original break or not, but either way they didn't seem too eager to pull, so once they got on my wheel I pulled for a few moments longer, but I was going slower and slower, and no one passed me right away. Because of this we were pretty much caught by a stretched out field about 50 meters before the line . I wished I had pulled harder and then veered out of the way faster, but I had just put in a hard effort so I was tired, and nothing was preventing the people behind me from passing me right away. We were all together at the start/finish line, when a hincapie rider attacked. I think it was the same person who started the breakaway, and also the same rider who was extremely aggressive throughout the race. Unfortunately I don't know their name, but they really made the race and I have to say congratulations to them.
Anyways, the junior from Hincapie was caught maybe a mile or so later. In the first half of the last lap I didn't do much--I was tired from all that attacking I did and was just thinking that a pack finish would be OK. In the final half of the last lap, I recovered and was getting desperate to move up. The final of the race was hard, and consistently fast, which I was very happy about because I thought it would tire out people for the sprint. With maybe 4 miles to go a 2 person break got away. Had I not been boxed in at that moment I would have tried to go with them, and there was one time when I could have attempted to bridge, but chose not to. Now I'm wishing I had at least tried because it turned out they stayed away, but oh well.
We went really hard on the last 2 hills before the "k to go" corner, so much that we were all pretty much attacking up it, but not getting anywhere. I moved up to about 1oth here, and wasn't in a position to try a late attack, nor do I think it would've had any chance to stick. I got stuck behind a rider going backwards with 200 meters to go and lost some of my momentum, but sprinted up to the finish for 6th place.
I was really happy about how I did in this race, not just the end result but also how aggressive I was--I've never been that aggressive in any category(other than juniors). After the race I rode around for a while cooling down. I want to thank God for how I did and give him the glory for any result I might get, and also keeping me and everyone else safe.
I got 20 dollars and 4 points from 6th place, so now I have 14 points, 11 until I can cat up. I cannot wait to be racing the pro 1/2 races! I'll post some picture tomorrow, and you'll get to see my new bike then too.
The race started fairly slowly, and about halfway through the first lap I was in a good position, maybe too good, in anywhere from 2nd to 5th position. The bad thing about that was that people were expecting me to pull through a lot to catch a break that had formed. After that I fell back in the pack, and was boxed in for a while. During the first couple of laps I was just saying hi to people I hadn't seen since the previous season. It was great to say hi to everyone I haven't seen since last season, including the Carolina cyclones junior team. I chased some breakaways and attempted to bridge up to others, but nothing was very successful. With 2 laps to go (the race was 4 laps on a 15 mile circuit) I could barely wait for a break that would stick, but I felt like I was getting a little tired--usually I just sit in for the first half of a road race.
I got what I was hoping for when 2 strong riders, one each from the powerful Hincapie and Carolina cyclones junior development teams, formed. We held them at a relatively small gap for a while. 2 more people joined them as the field began to sit up. We began heading down a gradual downhill that gets faster as it goes on, but nonetheless I could see the break easily and thought that it was within reach. I sprinted away from the pack and quickly got into a TT like position on my road bike. I caught the break in about a minute or a minute and a half, but as I remember it, it seemed like 10 seconds. So now the breakaway was 5 people strong and I thought we might stay away. 2 more people joined the break after me. I started pulling after I felt recovered enough, and soon all 7 of us were taking part in the paceline. We reached the start of the final hill (of the lap, coming up on 1 to go) with a decent gap on the field, and went up the hill pretty hard. Soon before the last corner with 1 K to go, I tried to attack the break, thinking my breakaway companions would block the field for me. Once I got a small, less than 5 second gap I settled down into a threshold pace, thinking that if I went harder I would only blow up--there was still another 15 miles to go. I was feeling good however, and about 5 people caught me coming up to the finish line. I'm not sure if they were a different set of riders than the ones in the original break or not, but either way they didn't seem too eager to pull, so once they got on my wheel I pulled for a few moments longer, but I was going slower and slower, and no one passed me right away. Because of this we were pretty much caught by a stretched out field about 50 meters before the line . I wished I had pulled harder and then veered out of the way faster, but I had just put in a hard effort so I was tired, and nothing was preventing the people behind me from passing me right away. We were all together at the start/finish line, when a hincapie rider attacked. I think it was the same person who started the breakaway, and also the same rider who was extremely aggressive throughout the race. Unfortunately I don't know their name, but they really made the race and I have to say congratulations to them.
Anyways, the junior from Hincapie was caught maybe a mile or so later. In the first half of the last lap I didn't do much--I was tired from all that attacking I did and was just thinking that a pack finish would be OK. In the final half of the last lap, I recovered and was getting desperate to move up. The final of the race was hard, and consistently fast, which I was very happy about because I thought it would tire out people for the sprint. With maybe 4 miles to go a 2 person break got away. Had I not been boxed in at that moment I would have tried to go with them, and there was one time when I could have attempted to bridge, but chose not to. Now I'm wishing I had at least tried because it turned out they stayed away, but oh well.
We went really hard on the last 2 hills before the "k to go" corner, so much that we were all pretty much attacking up it, but not getting anywhere. I moved up to about 1oth here, and wasn't in a position to try a late attack, nor do I think it would've had any chance to stick. I got stuck behind a rider going backwards with 200 meters to go and lost some of my momentum, but sprinted up to the finish for 6th place.
I was really happy about how I did in this race, not just the end result but also how aggressive I was--I've never been that aggressive in any category(other than juniors). After the race I rode around for a while cooling down. I want to thank God for how I did and give him the glory for any result I might get, and also keeping me and everyone else safe.
I got 20 dollars and 4 points from 6th place, so now I have 14 points, 11 until I can cat up. I cannot wait to be racing the pro 1/2 races! I'll post some picture tomorrow, and you'll get to see my new bike then too.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wolfpack Classic Top of the Hill RR
2 days ago was my first race of this season, the Top of the Hill road race! Before I give you a race report, here's some news and stuff that's happened since last time I've talked to all you guys. We've been getting a lot of snow here( about 3 inches, twice). It has snowed 3 times in the last 2 weeks and stuck to the ground twice--pretty unusual in North Carolina. Because of this, and that the snow just happened to fall on the weekends, my first test of the 2010 season which was supposed to be on January 31st, was postponed to February 6th. The ride I'm talking about is January Nationals, which I've done for the last 3 years now. Although it is just a ride it is pretty prestigious to win, and lots of good pro-1/2's try to win it every year. This year, I wasn't sure how I would do because I haven't done much intensity at all, and nothing that would replicate the demands of a hard race. My goal was pretty much to survive in the pack.
The race started pretty good for me, but with every acceleration I seemed to get more tired. I went for one break, just a 30 second or 1 minute intense effort, but after that I felt like I never recovered. On the last 2 laps of the 7 lap, 49 mile ride I was really hurting. About 4 miles from the finish I was barely hanging on to the back of the pack, which seemed to be only going faster and faster. I wasn't going to be with the field much longer. I was then dangling 10-30 seconds off the back of the field until my teammate, Andy, nearly pulled me back up to the field. He made it, but I didn't and finished off the back for the first time I've done this ride.
I was pretty dissapointed after the ride. The fact that I had not done much hard efforts in training before the race hardly made me feel any better. I tried to thank God for how I did, but in that situation it was extremely hard. Now I was just hoping that that I would do decently at the Wolfpack cycling classic/NC state road race, a week from Jan. Nats. If it was just a cat. 3 race I knew I would be fine, but it was a 72 mile long Pro 1/2/3 race--my first.
The day after Jan. Nationals, my new bike came. It is made by Stradalli, with a full carbon frame, fork, seatpost, and handlebars, and sram force components. We already have wheels for it and we are using a spare stem, but I think we will be getting a better one sometime soon. The Stradalli is very very light as a full bike, and is way stiffer than my aluminum Mottobecane. The most noticeable difference is when doing sprints and on uphills, especially short, steep ones. I thought that my new bike would give me an advantage in the upcoming race.
Wolfpack Classic top of the hill RR:
This pro 1/2/3 race started at 8:30 in the morning, when the temperature was 25 degrees and there was still some snow on the ground. They combined my race, the Pro 1/2/3, with the collegiate A's, so with the 2 fields combined there was a pack of anywhere from 65 to 85.
The race started pretty fast, but in the 1st 2 laps there were some really hard parts, but a lot of easy parts too. I was thinking that I would just have to focus on conserving as much energy as possible during the race to survive, which I think I did a very good job of. With 2 laps to go, I realized that I was actually feeling pretty good, and let myself spend a little more energy moving up in the pack, which was down to about 35 at this point. I survived the hardest hill on the course, with just over 1 lap to go. Then I knew I had less than 20 minutes of pain to go until the finish, so I tried to get ready for the biggest hill on the course, which ended about a mile of a mile and a half before the finish.
Over the top of the last hill, the field split, with about 15 people in the front pack and 10 in the trailing one. Over the top I was at the front of the second, only a couple of seconds back from the first pack. I tried to catch the field with a steady effort, but I never got completely in the draft. In hindsight I wish that I had tried to sprint up to the first pack and get a break before the final downhill, which I'm not even sure that I could have done, but since I didn't I dangled right off the back of the 1st pack down the hill. We were going about 40 miles per hour on the decent, and I was spinning my junior gears out like crazy trying to rejoin the pack. At the bottom of the downhill, within sight of the line, I was a little bit further back than at the start of the decent. I caught up a little bit sprinting up the hill, but still finished just a couple of bike lengths off the end of a very strung out group.
Even though I made the mistake of not sprinting over the top of the last hill, I was very happy with my results, especially because of how I did on the same course just a week before. I went into the race thinking I would be happy with staying with the peleton, and ended up easily within the top half of a competitive field. I was even more happy once I learned how I did: 13th in the pro 1/2/3 (24th out of the 2 fields combined), out of about 35 or 45 pro 1/2/3's. I think that I was the 2nd highest finishing cat. 3 in the race, so I should be getting some more points! Even if
So that was my first race of 2010, and I thought it went pretty good! I did way better than a week ago, some of which I'm sure was because of my new bike. Even if I had done badly, however, I want to thank God for keeping me safe and giving me the strength to do pretty good.
Today, my Dad an I drove to Raleigh to do the group ride there. This was the first time I have done this ride, and I don't think I will ever see other group rides in the same way again. The ride in Raleigh attracts lots of extremely strong riders, like Dave Leduc, a cat. 1 or 2 who is one of the best masters riders in the nation, my teammate Terry Huss, who is a very good cat. 1, some of my other teammates like Kurt Massey, and more of my teammates and other good racers. Soon I will describe it in more detail. It was a great ride, very fun and it offered some great training. The idea of the ride is to do a 100k long, hard tempo ride, being very consistent in your effort. We averaged 21mph for the whole ride, and I averaged a normalized power of 191 watts, with a TSS if 220. Both of these features, NP and TSS, are available in the Training Peaks software, which is excellent for tracking your progress. Also, I want to post some pictures of my new bike up soon.
The race started pretty good for me, but with every acceleration I seemed to get more tired. I went for one break, just a 30 second or 1 minute intense effort, but after that I felt like I never recovered. On the last 2 laps of the 7 lap, 49 mile ride I was really hurting. About 4 miles from the finish I was barely hanging on to the back of the pack, which seemed to be only going faster and faster. I wasn't going to be with the field much longer. I was then dangling 10-30 seconds off the back of the field until my teammate, Andy, nearly pulled me back up to the field. He made it, but I didn't and finished off the back for the first time I've done this ride.
I was pretty dissapointed after the ride. The fact that I had not done much hard efforts in training before the race hardly made me feel any better. I tried to thank God for how I did, but in that situation it was extremely hard. Now I was just hoping that that I would do decently at the Wolfpack cycling classic/NC state road race, a week from Jan. Nats. If it was just a cat. 3 race I knew I would be fine, but it was a 72 mile long Pro 1/2/3 race--my first.
The day after Jan. Nationals, my new bike came. It is made by Stradalli, with a full carbon frame, fork, seatpost, and handlebars, and sram force components. We already have wheels for it and we are using a spare stem, but I think we will be getting a better one sometime soon. The Stradalli is very very light as a full bike, and is way stiffer than my aluminum Mottobecane. The most noticeable difference is when doing sprints and on uphills, especially short, steep ones. I thought that my new bike would give me an advantage in the upcoming race.
Wolfpack Classic top of the hill RR:
This pro 1/2/3 race started at 8:30 in the morning, when the temperature was 25 degrees and there was still some snow on the ground. They combined my race, the Pro 1/2/3, with the collegiate A's, so with the 2 fields combined there was a pack of anywhere from 65 to 85.
The race started pretty fast, but in the 1st 2 laps there were some really hard parts, but a lot of easy parts too. I was thinking that I would just have to focus on conserving as much energy as possible during the race to survive, which I think I did a very good job of. With 2 laps to go, I realized that I was actually feeling pretty good, and let myself spend a little more energy moving up in the pack, which was down to about 35 at this point. I survived the hardest hill on the course, with just over 1 lap to go. Then I knew I had less than 20 minutes of pain to go until the finish, so I tried to get ready for the biggest hill on the course, which ended about a mile of a mile and a half before the finish.
Over the top of the last hill, the field split, with about 15 people in the front pack and 10 in the trailing one. Over the top I was at the front of the second, only a couple of seconds back from the first pack. I tried to catch the field with a steady effort, but I never got completely in the draft. In hindsight I wish that I had tried to sprint up to the first pack and get a break before the final downhill, which I'm not even sure that I could have done, but since I didn't I dangled right off the back of the 1st pack down the hill. We were going about 40 miles per hour on the decent, and I was spinning my junior gears out like crazy trying to rejoin the pack. At the bottom of the downhill, within sight of the line, I was a little bit further back than at the start of the decent. I caught up a little bit sprinting up the hill, but still finished just a couple of bike lengths off the end of a very strung out group.
Even though I made the mistake of not sprinting over the top of the last hill, I was very happy with my results, especially because of how I did on the same course just a week before. I went into the race thinking I would be happy with staying with the peleton, and ended up easily within the top half of a competitive field. I was even more happy once I learned how I did: 13th in the pro 1/2/3 (24th out of the 2 fields combined), out of about 35 or 45 pro 1/2/3's. I think that I was the 2nd highest finishing cat. 3 in the race, so I should be getting some more points! Even if
So that was my first race of 2010, and I thought it went pretty good! I did way better than a week ago, some of which I'm sure was because of my new bike. Even if I had done badly, however, I want to thank God for keeping me safe and giving me the strength to do pretty good.
Today, my Dad an I drove to Raleigh to do the group ride there. This was the first time I have done this ride, and I don't think I will ever see other group rides in the same way again. The ride in Raleigh attracts lots of extremely strong riders, like Dave Leduc, a cat. 1 or 2 who is one of the best masters riders in the nation, my teammate Terry Huss, who is a very good cat. 1, some of my other teammates like Kurt Massey, and more of my teammates and other good racers. Soon I will describe it in more detail. It was a great ride, very fun and it offered some great training. The idea of the ride is to do a 100k long, hard tempo ride, being very consistent in your effort. We averaged 21mph for the whole ride, and I averaged a normalized power of 191 watts, with a TSS if 220. Both of these features, NP and TSS, are available in the Training Peaks software, which is excellent for tracking your progress. Also, I want to post some pictures of my new bike up soon.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
SAMI racing and other Off Season News
It's been a long time since my last post. Since then I've gotten a cyclocross bike, trained through the off season, and switched teams to SAMI racing.
SAMI racing is a new team for 2010 based in Michigan. It is an elite junior team that currently has 3 riders-Alexey Vermeulen, Rudy Peterson, and myself. If you've never heard of them before, I'm sure you will soon, but here is a little bit about them.
Alexey Vermeulen-Racing age 16 in 2010, Alexey is the favorite for Junior Nationals this season. Some of his results include 3rd place overall in the 15-18 category at the Green Mountain Stage Race, a cat. 3 race victory and many other cat. 3 podium finishes, and 5th in the TT at Nationals in 2008. Unfortunatley Alexey couldn't make it to Nationals this season, but he was invited to the National Development camp in Colorado Springs this past October.
Rudy Peterson- Racing age 15 in 2010, Rudy placed 8th in two of the three events at Nationals last season, and crashed in the other, which he had a great chance of a top 3 finish in. He upgraded to a cat. 3 after Nationals, which is incredibly rare for the racing age 14 year old he was at the time. In addition to this, he won a big LAJRS race, the Chicago Criterium, last July--in the 10-18 category.
Given the talent of my teammates, I think that 2010 will be a very good season for us. I think we have the potential to dominate the 15-16 category this year. Regardless of how I race though, I want to put my 2010 season in God's hands. If I do good, I want to give Him the glory for it.
Another thing that's new is that one of my Birthday gifts was a cyclocross bike. My Dad and I built it up ourselves, and since then I have been riding it a lot. I think it is better training than a mountain bike and is more fun, too. It puts you into the position of a regular road bike, and is much harder to handle than a mountain bike, which hones your bike handling skills.
I also want to thank the Raleigh Allstars cycling team for being a great team for me in the past 3 seasons. I have gotten much better as a bike racer under them, and they have also helped many other juniors improve in all aspects of cycling since I joined. Thank you.
SAMI racing is a new team for 2010 based in Michigan. It is an elite junior team that currently has 3 riders-Alexey Vermeulen, Rudy Peterson, and myself. If you've never heard of them before, I'm sure you will soon, but here is a little bit about them.
Alexey Vermeulen-Racing age 16 in 2010, Alexey is the favorite for Junior Nationals this season. Some of his results include 3rd place overall in the 15-18 category at the Green Mountain Stage Race, a cat. 3 race victory and many other cat. 3 podium finishes, and 5th in the TT at Nationals in 2008. Unfortunatley Alexey couldn't make it to Nationals this season, but he was invited to the National Development camp in Colorado Springs this past October.
Rudy Peterson- Racing age 15 in 2010, Rudy placed 8th in two of the three events at Nationals last season, and crashed in the other, which he had a great chance of a top 3 finish in. He upgraded to a cat. 3 after Nationals, which is incredibly rare for the racing age 14 year old he was at the time. In addition to this, he won a big LAJRS race, the Chicago Criterium, last July--in the 10-18 category.
Given the talent of my teammates, I think that 2010 will be a very good season for us. I think we have the potential to dominate the 15-16 category this year. Regardless of how I race though, I want to put my 2010 season in God's hands. If I do good, I want to give Him the glory for it.
Another thing that's new is that one of my Birthday gifts was a cyclocross bike. My Dad and I built it up ourselves, and since then I have been riding it a lot. I think it is better training than a mountain bike and is more fun, too. It puts you into the position of a regular road bike, and is much harder to handle than a mountain bike, which hones your bike handling skills.
I also want to thank the Raleigh Allstars cycling team for being a great team for me in the past 3 seasons. I have gotten much better as a bike racer under them, and they have also helped many other juniors improve in all aspects of cycling since I joined. Thank you.
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