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.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Nationals 2010
A couple of days ago on the USA cycling website, the dates for all the 2010 National Championships were announced. The JR, u23, and elite National championships are scheduled for June 22-27. This means it is more than a month earlier than in 2009, and before Fitchburg. So, it looks like Edgar Soto, the regional camp, Fitchburg, Nationals, and Tour of the Red River Gorge are all going to be packed into 1 month. All in all I am very excited about the 2010 season.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Broken Wrist and Off Season
Almost 2 weeks ago I was mountain biking on some trails, when I fell and broke my wrist. When I got it checked out by a doctor they thought I might have broken it in 2 pieces, so I have to wear a cast with a thumb piece for 3 weeks. I have kept riding, but the hardest thing to do is shift. It's also hard to put my hands on the bars in some ways, but at least it's the off season. Sadly, I don't have another race until mid February, about 3 months from now.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tour De Moore Photos and TrainingPeaks WKO
Here are some Tour De Moore Pictures:
A couple days ago I did The Airport Road Time Trial, a 2.2 mile long TT that's mainly uphill for the 1st mile, flat for almost half a mile, then downhill, then flat again for another half a mile. Overall, the course is net uphill. I hadn't done this TT all-out for a while, so I was expecting to beat my record time of 5:30 or so, as well as my old 5 min. record of 249 watts, which I set in may.
During the TT I just felt OK but could tell my speed was faster than usual on nearly all parts of the course. I would just have to wait until I could download my Powermeter on WKO. Using the Training Peaks WKO Software I can track my performance easily and see if my form is increasing or decreasing.
5:10, breaking my previous record by 20 seconds!
2.2 miles
Sadly, my 2009 cycling season is now over. I was going to end it with the Greenville Classic, October 11th and probably another race this month, but I couldn''t do the race this month and the Greenville race was cancelled. So now I 'm just being thankful for a fun 2009 season and looking forward to 2010, when lord willing my season will start all over again with January Nats.
A couple days ago I did The Airport Road Time Trial, a 2.2 mile long TT that's mainly uphill for the 1st mile, flat for almost half a mile, then downhill, then flat again for another half a mile. Overall, the course is net uphill. I hadn't done this TT all-out for a while, so I was expecting to beat my record time of 5:30 or so, as well as my old 5 min. record of 249 watts, which I set in may. During the TT I just felt OK but could tell my speed was faster than usual on nearly all parts of the course. I would just have to wait until I could download my Powermeter on WKO. Using the Training Peaks WKO Software I can track my performance easily and see if my form is increasing or decreasing.
5:10, breaking my previous record by 20 seconds!
2.2 miles
25.4 miles per hour
102 avg. cadence281 avg. watts, breaking my old 5 minute record by 32 watts!
IF: 1.21
IF: 1.21
VI: 1
6.05 watts per kilogramSadly, my 2009 cycling season is now over. I was going to end it with the Greenville Classic, October 11th and probably another race this month, but I couldn''t do the race this month and the Greenville race was cancelled. So now I 'm just being thankful for a fun 2009 season and looking forward to 2010, when lord willing my season will start all over again with January Nats.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
2009 Tour De Moore Century Ride
Last Monday I did the 2009 Tour De Moore Century. This was my first year doing the hundred mile ride, before I had only done the 50 mile route, and in 2005, the 28 mile. Before Monday, I hadn't ever rode more than 80 miles, so I didn't know how I would feel after 100.
I lined up to the start of the Ride with about 150 other people. Most of them weren't racers, but about 20 of them were. Of the 20, there was 1 0r more cat. 1's, at least 3 cat. 2's, and the rest were 3's or 4's 0r 5's. The ride started easy and was never very hard for the 1st 50 miles, although it was pretty fast. At mile 50 the pack was down to less than 50 people, and I was staying in the top 20, not the top 10 because position wasn't as important as it would be in a race. Pretty soon there was a 3 person breakaway, and a cat. 2 named Sam bridged up to them. It was a pretty serious move, and I started helping in a paceline to pull them back. We cam close to catching them at maybe mile 60, but then we sat up. I really wanted to catch the break already, so I went to the front, but nobody would even get on my wheel to follow me, so I was just dangling out in front for a while.
Due to the lack of chasing the break got a minute and a half advantage by mile 70, when more serious attacks came. There would be attack after attack, and I followed nearly all of them. At mile 90, Some riders attacked through dangerous parts of the course, and I was tempted to follow them but didn't. One of them bridged up to the break, which was just Sam at this point, and held it to the end. In the field, we were continuing to watch eachother, and I was really wishing that we had worked together better and could have caught the break. After a while, we reached the bottom of the Conneticut Road hill, the biggest in the area at 270 feet. The first half was steady but the last half there was an attack, and I just couldn't follow it after 100 miles of accelerations, which wasn't really suprising given I had never done nearly 100 miles ever before. I got 6th, 3rd out of the pack in the end.
Here are the statistics of the ride:
103 miles
4:36:30
22.6 average speed
No wattage data; I didn't use my powermeter.
So, that was the 2009 Tour De Moore. In my next post, I'll put up pictures of the ride.
I lined up to the start of the Ride with about 150 other people. Most of them weren't racers, but about 20 of them were. Of the 20, there was 1 0r more cat. 1's, at least 3 cat. 2's, and the rest were 3's or 4's 0r 5's. The ride started easy and was never very hard for the 1st 50 miles, although it was pretty fast. At mile 50 the pack was down to less than 50 people, and I was staying in the top 20, not the top 10 because position wasn't as important as it would be in a race. Pretty soon there was a 3 person breakaway, and a cat. 2 named Sam bridged up to them. It was a pretty serious move, and I started helping in a paceline to pull them back. We cam close to catching them at maybe mile 60, but then we sat up. I really wanted to catch the break already, so I went to the front, but nobody would even get on my wheel to follow me, so I was just dangling out in front for a while.
Due to the lack of chasing the break got a minute and a half advantage by mile 70, when more serious attacks came. There would be attack after attack, and I followed nearly all of them. At mile 90, Some riders attacked through dangerous parts of the course, and I was tempted to follow them but didn't. One of them bridged up to the break, which was just Sam at this point, and held it to the end. In the field, we were continuing to watch eachother, and I was really wishing that we had worked together better and could have caught the break. After a while, we reached the bottom of the Conneticut Road hill, the biggest in the area at 270 feet. The first half was steady but the last half there was an attack, and I just couldn't follow it after 100 miles of accelerations, which wasn't really suprising given I had never done nearly 100 miles ever before. I got 6th, 3rd out of the pack in the end.
Here are the statistics of the ride:
103 miles
4:36:30
22.6 average speed
No wattage data; I didn't use my powermeter.
So, that was the 2009 Tour De Moore. In my next post, I'll put up pictures of the ride.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Racing Update
First of all, sorry that it's been so long since I've updated my blog. Here is a racing update:
Coming into the National Championships, I wasn't expecting to do great because I was racing in the 15-16 category, despite still being 14. Now, I think I should have had higher goals or the race.
July 28, 2009: USA CYCLING National Road Race Championships:
I started the 45 mile circuit/road race feeling terrible, I think because of the heat, despite me drinking about 6 water bottles. I suffered at the back of the pack or near it for the first half of the race, when someone in front of me crashed, and I and a couple of other people went down. From then on me and 2 other riders from 5280 grouped together, one from the crash and one who was dropped, and tried to not get lapped by the field. At the end, after doing most of the work in the last 5 miles, one of the riders, the stronger one, sprinted around me and I got 27th. Only 1 racing age 15 yr old stayed in the 20 person finishing pack.
July 30: Time Trial
Despite the course being pretty good for me, at about 2 percent for 12k up and then back down, and the fact that I felt better than I did in the Road Race, I got 35th, which I wasn't too disappointed about because Time Trialing isn't my strength. I was just hoping to do a little better.
August 1: criterium
The criterium was short and fast, on a super technical 6/10 of a kilometer long circuit. I got called up to the line because I was in the top 8 last year (8th in the 13-14 category), but around the 1st corner there was a big crash where I lost a lot of momentum. For nearly all of the race I was near the back, which was bad enough, but I was also feeling good and should have been near the front. In the last lap I moved up a lot because the pack was stretched out, and got 2oth.
My end result seemed pretty good, but given I didn't race well it wasn't.
South Carolina State Road Race Championship, August 26th:
After Nationals I took a long break, and as of the State Championships I still hadn't done a single interval yet, mainly doing Tuesday Group rides for intensity and endurance/tempo riding during the rest of the week.
Based on this, I wasn't sure how I'd do at the State Championships, although prior to the race I was feeling good. But regardless of how I felt, I really wanted to race good, stay at the front of the field, and play a card.
I would be racing the cat. 3's, a 65 mile race on a 13 mile loop. Although I know this course very well since there are 2 races on it a year, for this race they decided to add an extra hill, a short steep sprint that thinned out the field.
The race started really slow, and remained that way for most of the next 2 laps. After that there were some hard parts, a pack split, and crosswinds, in addition to a crash on the new hill. With 2 laps to go the pack was down to less than 30 riders, and a hard pace had been set for a while. I stayed in the top ten and with 1 to go I was still there, waiting for the right time to play my card.
I decided I would attack over the top of the new hill, which I thought was about 7 miles from the finish. I went over the top of the hill in around 12th, ready to attack, but someone else did before I got the chance to. There were caught pretty soon, and after that I think there was a counterattack. The field was going pretty hard into a headwind to chase them back. When they were caught, the rider leading the pack slowed and pulled off. I attacked right between the rider who had just pulled off and the rider now leading the pack, and got a gap with about 3.5 miles to go.
Unfortunately I was fighting a headwind, and about a minute after I attacked, I was almost caught. But the pack sat up like I was hoping it would, with riders watching each other. My gap grew again, I took a right turn, then began a long descent. During the descent I noticed one rider in a light blue Jersey was trying to bridge up to me. I wasn't thinking about the finish yet, but I still didn't want that rider bridging up to me.
After the descent were two rolling hills, which I went as hard as I could up. I could see the one rider, and also the pack, gaining on me now, and I wasn't expecting to stay away. After the 2 hills was a left turn, and seeing the 1 K to go sign gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, I could hold of the peleton and win a cat. 3 race.
From 1K to go until the finish there is a gradual uphill. Given I was still ahead of the chasing rider in the blue jersey, I thought the slight uphill would be enough for me to stay ahead of him.
With 500 meters to go, I thought I could win, but then that 1 rider started to gain on me quickly, so I kicked into a much harder pace. With about 300 meters to go I saw him give up a little, but I still kept going hard until 100 meters to go, when I knew I was going to win. I went across the finish line with my hands in the air, celebrating my first category 3 race victory.
After the race, I downloaded my power meter and saw that I only averaged 21.5 for the whole race. During my breakaway, form what I could tell it was about 3.5 miles, at an average speed of 23.5, not very fast, but there was a headwind for nearly all of it and the last 1.5 kilometers were uphill. I didn't use my power tap wheel for the race, so unfortunately I don't know my average power.
Lord willing, my next race is the Tour De Moore century on September 7. Although it isn't really a race, several cat. 2's and maybe even some cat. 1's will be doing it and I want be competitive and try to win it.
Almost a week later is the Carolina cup, September 13th. I think I will be racing the cat.3's and the juniors.
Coming into the National Championships, I wasn't expecting to do great because I was racing in the 15-16 category, despite still being 14. Now, I think I should have had higher goals or the race.
July 28, 2009: USA CYCLING National Road Race Championships:
I started the 45 mile circuit/road race feeling terrible, I think because of the heat, despite me drinking about 6 water bottles. I suffered at the back of the pack or near it for the first half of the race, when someone in front of me crashed, and I and a couple of other people went down. From then on me and 2 other riders from 5280 grouped together, one from the crash and one who was dropped, and tried to not get lapped by the field. At the end, after doing most of the work in the last 5 miles, one of the riders, the stronger one, sprinted around me and I got 27th. Only 1 racing age 15 yr old stayed in the 20 person finishing pack.
July 30: Time Trial
Despite the course being pretty good for me, at about 2 percent for 12k up and then back down, and the fact that I felt better than I did in the Road Race, I got 35th, which I wasn't too disappointed about because Time Trialing isn't my strength. I was just hoping to do a little better.
August 1: criterium
The criterium was short and fast, on a super technical 6/10 of a kilometer long circuit. I got called up to the line because I was in the top 8 last year (8th in the 13-14 category), but around the 1st corner there was a big crash where I lost a lot of momentum. For nearly all of the race I was near the back, which was bad enough, but I was also feeling good and should have been near the front. In the last lap I moved up a lot because the pack was stretched out, and got 2oth.
My end result seemed pretty good, but given I didn't race well it wasn't.
South Carolina State Road Race Championship, August 26th:
After Nationals I took a long break, and as of the State Championships I still hadn't done a single interval yet, mainly doing Tuesday Group rides for intensity and endurance/tempo riding during the rest of the week.
Based on this, I wasn't sure how I'd do at the State Championships, although prior to the race I was feeling good. But regardless of how I felt, I really wanted to race good, stay at the front of the field, and play a card.
I would be racing the cat. 3's, a 65 mile race on a 13 mile loop. Although I know this course very well since there are 2 races on it a year, for this race they decided to add an extra hill, a short steep sprint that thinned out the field.
The race started really slow, and remained that way for most of the next 2 laps. After that there were some hard parts, a pack split, and crosswinds, in addition to a crash on the new hill. With 2 laps to go the pack was down to less than 30 riders, and a hard pace had been set for a while. I stayed in the top ten and with 1 to go I was still there, waiting for the right time to play my card.
I decided I would attack over the top of the new hill, which I thought was about 7 miles from the finish. I went over the top of the hill in around 12th, ready to attack, but someone else did before I got the chance to. There were caught pretty soon, and after that I think there was a counterattack. The field was going pretty hard into a headwind to chase them back. When they were caught, the rider leading the pack slowed and pulled off. I attacked right between the rider who had just pulled off and the rider now leading the pack, and got a gap with about 3.5 miles to go.
Unfortunately I was fighting a headwind, and about a minute after I attacked, I was almost caught. But the pack sat up like I was hoping it would, with riders watching each other. My gap grew again, I took a right turn, then began a long descent. During the descent I noticed one rider in a light blue Jersey was trying to bridge up to me. I wasn't thinking about the finish yet, but I still didn't want that rider bridging up to me.
After the descent were two rolling hills, which I went as hard as I could up. I could see the one rider, and also the pack, gaining on me now, and I wasn't expecting to stay away. After the 2 hills was a left turn, and seeing the 1 K to go sign gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, I could hold of the peleton and win a cat. 3 race.
From 1K to go until the finish there is a gradual uphill. Given I was still ahead of the chasing rider in the blue jersey, I thought the slight uphill would be enough for me to stay ahead of him.
With 500 meters to go, I thought I could win, but then that 1 rider started to gain on me quickly, so I kicked into a much harder pace. With about 300 meters to go I saw him give up a little, but I still kept going hard until 100 meters to go, when I knew I was going to win. I went across the finish line with my hands in the air, celebrating my first category 3 race victory.
After the race, I downloaded my power meter and saw that I only averaged 21.5 for the whole race. During my breakaway, form what I could tell it was about 3.5 miles, at an average speed of 23.5, not very fast, but there was a headwind for nearly all of it and the last 1.5 kilometers were uphill. I didn't use my power tap wheel for the race, so unfortunately I don't know my average power.
Lord willing, my next race is the Tour De Moore century on September 7. Although it isn't really a race, several cat. 2's and maybe even some cat. 1's will be doing it and I want be competitive and try to win it.
Almost a week later is the Carolina cup, September 13th. I think I will be racing the cat.3's and the juniors.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Fitchburg Longsjo classic 2009: Stages 1, 2, and 3
Last Sunday was the end of the July 2nd to 5th Fitchburg Longsjo classic. For those of you who have never heard of it, it is a very big 4 day race in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. All of the fields there were extremely talented, but none more than the 70 person 15-18 pack which included all of the Hot tubes team (Nathan Brown, Lawson Craddock, Gavin Mannion, Anders Newbury, Ian Boswell, and Ben Gabardi), Luke Keough, Juan Carmona, Nathaniel Wilson, Charlie Avis, and AJ Meyer. Since the field was so strong, I didn't know how I'd do in the race but thought I could do pretty good in Saturdays hilly road race.
Day one: TT
Thursday was the 1st day of the race, an out-and-back, pretty flat long 14 Kilometer TT. The course didn't suit me very well, but I was expecting to get about 30th.
I rode up to the starting ramp and waited to go off. I sprinted down the course with the wind, and though I was going pretty fast. I got to the turn around feeling good, and powered back to get a time of under 22 minutes ( 24.7 mph), which I thought was pretty good. But when I saw the results a couple of hours later, I was surprised that I got 49th, out of 67. My average speed wasn't bad for me, but there were just so many good people there. Nathan Brown won in a time of 18:25, averaging over 29 miles per hour!
Stage two: circuit race
Friday was the circuit race, 22 miles on a 3.1 mile course. Even after the day before I was looking forward to this stage because it had a steep climb 1/5th of a mile long as well as a smaller, more gradual hill.
I lined up for the race in the 2nd row, but fell back alot at the start because I couldn't clip in. We quickly accelerated to 32 mph, and went over 25 on the smaller climb. After that there was a slight downhill were we got up to more than 35, then a pretty narrow corner followed by the hill.
We sprinted up the first 2/3rds of the incline, past the finish line, and up the rest of it to the start line, then repeated it 6 more times. Throughout this a lot of riders got dropped and I had to bridge a lot of gaps. The final time up the hill I started it in about 25th, moved up to almost 2oth halfway up, then faded a little to 27th on the last bit after 45 minutes at my limit. After the race I saw that the winner of our race averaged 28.5 mph, only 1/2 mph slower than the Pro/1 field.
Stage three: RR
Saturday, July 4th 2009 was the toughest stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo classic, and one that I had been waiting for. What made the course so hard was a 500 foot climb which we had to go up 4 times in an 11 mile loop, for a 44 mile long Road Race. I thought I could probably be in the top 20 on this stage, but still knew how many extremely strong people there were.
I lined up for the race in the 2nd row, then turned left out of a ski area parking lot and onto a very fast, 50+ mph descent. That was the first time I've ever went so fast, but the road was pretty straight.
After the descent there was a right turn, then a couple of miles of mainly flat roads before a pretty big hill. Then a downhill, followed by another uphill, this one lasting much longer. Then there was a little bit of flat ground, then another right turn, and then we were on the main part of the climb. A little more than halfway up the last part of it was the finish. Close to there the pack split, and I found myself at the front of the 2nd pack. I jumped across to the first pack without too much difficulty.
Then there was a short descent and two climbs, one longer but both not that steep, followed by the big descent again.
Fast forward to the 3rd lap, the last time up all of the hill. I started the climb in 4th position in the pack (3 guys broke away early on), moved up to 2nd, then crested it in 4th, behind a 2 person chase group that had just escaped on the climb. The chase stayed away until close to the descent, and from then on I was just trying to conserve my energy.
I began the climb to the finish in about 20th, and moved up on the steepest section, to get 20th, 17th out of the splintered 30 person field. I ended the day in 27th overall, with only Sundays' criterium left to go.
Day one: TT
Thursday was the 1st day of the race, an out-and-back, pretty flat long 14 Kilometer TT. The course didn't suit me very well, but I was expecting to get about 30th.
I rode up to the starting ramp and waited to go off. I sprinted down the course with the wind, and though I was going pretty fast. I got to the turn around feeling good, and powered back to get a time of under 22 minutes ( 24.7 mph), which I thought was pretty good. But when I saw the results a couple of hours later, I was surprised that I got 49th, out of 67. My average speed wasn't bad for me, but there were just so many good people there. Nathan Brown won in a time of 18:25, averaging over 29 miles per hour!
Stage two: circuit race
Friday was the circuit race, 22 miles on a 3.1 mile course. Even after the day before I was looking forward to this stage because it had a steep climb 1/5th of a mile long as well as a smaller, more gradual hill.
I lined up for the race in the 2nd row, but fell back alot at the start because I couldn't clip in. We quickly accelerated to 32 mph, and went over 25 on the smaller climb. After that there was a slight downhill were we got up to more than 35, then a pretty narrow corner followed by the hill.
We sprinted up the first 2/3rds of the incline, past the finish line, and up the rest of it to the start line, then repeated it 6 more times. Throughout this a lot of riders got dropped and I had to bridge a lot of gaps. The final time up the hill I started it in about 25th, moved up to almost 2oth halfway up, then faded a little to 27th on the last bit after 45 minutes at my limit. After the race I saw that the winner of our race averaged 28.5 mph, only 1/2 mph slower than the Pro/1 field.
Stage three: RR
Saturday, July 4th 2009 was the toughest stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo classic, and one that I had been waiting for. What made the course so hard was a 500 foot climb which we had to go up 4 times in an 11 mile loop, for a 44 mile long Road Race. I thought I could probably be in the top 20 on this stage, but still knew how many extremely strong people there were.
I lined up for the race in the 2nd row, then turned left out of a ski area parking lot and onto a very fast, 50+ mph descent. That was the first time I've ever went so fast, but the road was pretty straight.
After the descent there was a right turn, then a couple of miles of mainly flat roads before a pretty big hill. Then a downhill, followed by another uphill, this one lasting much longer. Then there was a little bit of flat ground, then another right turn, and then we were on the main part of the climb. A little more than halfway up the last part of it was the finish. Close to there the pack split, and I found myself at the front of the 2nd pack. I jumped across to the first pack without too much difficulty.
Then there was a short descent and two climbs, one longer but both not that steep, followed by the big descent again.
Fast forward to the 3rd lap, the last time up all of the hill. I started the climb in 4th position in the pack (3 guys broke away early on), moved up to 2nd, then crested it in 4th, behind a 2 person chase group that had just escaped on the climb. The chase stayed away until close to the descent, and from then on I was just trying to conserve my energy.
I began the climb to the finish in about 20th, and moved up on the steepest section, to get 20th, 17th out of the splintered 30 person field. I ended the day in 27th overall, with only Sundays' criterium left to go.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
NC Road Race Championships
Last Sunday I did the NC RR championships. I raced in the cat. 4's--my last cat. 4 race. I have managed to get enough points to cat. up to a 3! I have 25 points now, half of which I got at the Tour of Atlanta about 2 weeks ago. Since this was my last category 4 race, I really wanted to be aggressive, race good and just have fun.
The cat. 4's lined up at 8:40 a.m. to complete 3 laps of a roughly 16 mile loop, for 50 miles total. The course this year was slightly different from the last 2 years, with a short section added on to the loop that included what people said was a mile-long climb.
I started the neutral section out to the main loop in the top 10, but slipped back pretty soon in the huge field of at least 60 people. We got to the hill, but it was less than half a mile long followed by an easy false flat. Not what I was expecting, but oh well.
With 1 lap to go I was still boxed into the huge field, but with half a lap to go I finally saw an opening on the right side of the road. One rider had attacked and another rider had just went up the road chasing. I saw an opportunity and went off the front. I bridged up to the 2nd rider and let him pull me up to the first. We shared pulls for a while and were really cruising, even passing the category 3 breakaway (we passed the field earlier). Were were going over 30 pretty frequently, but were all getting more tired. With a mile to go the hard charging field appeared to be almost up to us, but we tried to keep the break going.
We rounded the left hand corner leading back to the Start/Finish line, and had about a mile to go. With 1 k to go the field was just hanging back a couple of bike lengths, prolonging the catch, and I decided to go. I tried to attack, and thought for a while I had a chance, but was caught and swarmed with 400 or 500 meters to go. I crossed the line near the back of the pack.
After the race I was hardly disappointed, because I had almost held off an 60+ rider peloton for 5 miles, which is the longest break I've ever been in in a category race. I raced aggressively too, and am really looking forward to the 3's.
Lord willing, my next races are the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, July 2nd-5th, and the French Broad Ominum, July 17th, 18th, and 19th, where I'll race the 3's for the first time. I am really hoping to do well in both races; in MA with the Juniors and in Asheville with the mountaintop finish Road Race.
The cat. 4's lined up at 8:40 a.m. to complete 3 laps of a roughly 16 mile loop, for 50 miles total. The course this year was slightly different from the last 2 years, with a short section added on to the loop that included what people said was a mile-long climb.
I started the neutral section out to the main loop in the top 10, but slipped back pretty soon in the huge field of at least 60 people. We got to the hill, but it was less than half a mile long followed by an easy false flat. Not what I was expecting, but oh well.
With 1 lap to go I was still boxed into the huge field, but with half a lap to go I finally saw an opening on the right side of the road. One rider had attacked and another rider had just went up the road chasing. I saw an opportunity and went off the front. I bridged up to the 2nd rider and let him pull me up to the first. We shared pulls for a while and were really cruising, even passing the category 3 breakaway (we passed the field earlier). Were were going over 30 pretty frequently, but were all getting more tired. With a mile to go the hard charging field appeared to be almost up to us, but we tried to keep the break going.
We rounded the left hand corner leading back to the Start/Finish line, and had about a mile to go. With 1 k to go the field was just hanging back a couple of bike lengths, prolonging the catch, and I decided to go. I tried to attack, and thought for a while I had a chance, but was caught and swarmed with 400 or 500 meters to go. I crossed the line near the back of the pack.
After the race I was hardly disappointed, because I had almost held off an 60+ rider peloton for 5 miles, which is the longest break I've ever been in in a category race. I raced aggressively too, and am really looking forward to the 3's.
Lord willing, my next races are the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, July 2nd-5th, and the French Broad Ominum, July 17th, 18th, and 19th, where I'll race the 3's for the first time. I am really hoping to do well in both races; in MA with the Juniors and in Asheville with the mountaintop finish Road Race.
Southeastern Regional Developement camp: Day 5 results
Last Thursday night I went down to lectures at 8 o' clock where we got a chance to see both that days' and the whole camp's GC results. Turns out I got 8th that day in the flat short TT's, only losing a total of 10 seconds to Matthew Spinks, a cat. 2, in 4 efforts! The guys behind me made up some time, but not enough to pass me on GC meaning I held on to my 2nd place (3rd 15-18)!
I was really pleased with my results and the camp as a whole. I came into it not expecting more than a top 8 or so, but performed well and learned a lot. Stay tuned for a description of the June 15th NC RR championships.
I was really pleased with my results and the camp as a whole. I came into it not expecting more than a top 8 or so, but performed well and learned a lot. Stay tuned for a description of the June 15th NC RR championships.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
2009 Southeastern Regional Developement Camp: Days 5 and 6
DAY 5: Thursday, June 11th, 2009
I went down to the ride assembly area trying not to think about the flat TT's that awaited me. I was expecting to lose huge chunks of time to Matt Spinks and pretty much everybody else, but I was thinking, at least I did good on Monday.
We rode out to the start of the repeats, lined up, and started them. On the first one my foot clipped out. I got to restart it, but noticed my cleat was chipped on the back. From then on I was careful not to pull up on it that hard, but still gave a maximum effort.
After 2 of the intervals I was dead. After three I was really dead. As I lined up for the last one I was just looking forward to being done with these things.
I started the last one fast and just tried to power through it. I hammered to the finish, turned around, and went to a park were we ate lunch. I tried to eat but couldn't because I was so nauseous, but that was probably a good thing because I knew I went hard enough.
I went down to the ride assembly area trying not to think about the flat TT's that awaited me. I was expecting to lose huge chunks of time to Matt Spinks and pretty much everybody else, but I was thinking, at least I did good on Monday.
We rode out to the start of the repeats, lined up, and started them. On the first one my foot clipped out. I got to restart it, but noticed my cleat was chipped on the back. From then on I was careful not to pull up on it that hard, but still gave a maximum effort.
After 2 of the intervals I was dead. After three I was really dead. As I lined up for the last one I was just looking forward to being done with these things.
I started the last one fast and just tried to power through it. I hammered to the finish, turned around, and went to a park were we ate lunch. I tried to eat but couldn't because I was so nauseous, but that was probably a good thing because I knew I went hard enough.
After lunch we took the long way to a "big ring", but long climb near Saluda. We started the climb and raced to the summit. I moved up to the top 10 pretty quickly, but when the climb was steep enough to create a gap I was tired and still warming up. It was all I could do to stay with the front 7 riders for the first half of the climb. There were numerous attacks, and pretty soon I launched one myself, but didn't get a gap. Another flurry of attacks, and then I got to the front and really went hard. I pulled off only to have Jacob Arnold counter-attack me. I was too tired to go with him. Only Travis, one of the camp staff/coaches, a cat. 1, could follow him the whole way up.
Near the top I took a hard pull hoping to catch them, but all of a sudden I saw the finish line. Will Richter sprinted past me, and I tried to pass him, but it was too late. We rode over the top and descended to Saluda.
We regrouped at the Wildflower bakery for a long stop. From there we descended from Saluda, and got back down to the bottom of the climb just before it started raining. Then we rode about 1.5 or 2 hours back to campus.
DAY 6: Friday, June 12th, 2009
I rode down to the start of a really fun, optional easy ride at 8:00 a.m., got back, packed up my stuff, and left. That ended a great week in Greenville. Hopefully I'll come back next year. An NC State Championship post is coming soon.
2009 Southeastern Regional Developement Camp: Days 3 and 4
Coming into Tuesday, I was pretty nervous. I had done great on the mountainous Time Trials, but now I would have to prove myself against a field of 100 in the A race. After that, another decisive day on Thursday that would likely reshape the GC awaited.
DAY 3: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday was the A Race, but first we had to get there. We did a 13 mile route to the Donaldson center on roads I wouldn't ride on by myself, but in a big pack it wasn't bad at all. Once we got there we rested for a while, then warmed up.
I lined up for the start of the A race in a huge pack of almost 100 riders, including 25 juniors from the camp, easily distinguishable because we were all wearing USA cycling Jerseys.
The race started slowly thanks to a neutral first couple of miles. When the real racing started, it started fast and didn't slow down. I think the first 7 mile lap (out of 6 laps) was done at an average of almost 29 miles per hour. The next couple of laps blew by, and with 2 laps to go I was trying to move up. In the last lap I was in 2 short-lived breakaways. With 3 or so miles left I was fighting for the top 10 spot. There were some very hard pulls, with people trying to catch a breakaway 10 or 15 seconds up the road. With 1 K to go I was in 8th. I started my sprint a little too late, but still got 4th in the field sprint (the 2-man break stayed away), for 6th or 7th place. Will Richter and another camp Junior did great too, getting 4th and 5th. Not to mention Jacob Arnold, who was in almost every breakaway there was in the whole race.
As we rode back to campus, I was yet again so thankful for my results. I couldn't relax yet though--Wednesday was an easy day, but Thursday was where the GC will be cemented.
DAY 4: Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Wednesday was a day to relax after 2 long, hard rides. We did a 1.5 hr ride earlier in the day were we worked on sprinting and braking, then another 1 and a half ride after lunch practicing cornering.
DAY 3: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday was the A Race, but first we had to get there. We did a 13 mile route to the Donaldson center on roads I wouldn't ride on by myself, but in a big pack it wasn't bad at all. Once we got there we rested for a while, then warmed up.
I lined up for the start of the A race in a huge pack of almost 100 riders, including 25 juniors from the camp, easily distinguishable because we were all wearing USA cycling Jerseys.
The race started slowly thanks to a neutral first couple of miles. When the real racing started, it started fast and didn't slow down. I think the first 7 mile lap (out of 6 laps) was done at an average of almost 29 miles per hour. The next couple of laps blew by, and with 2 laps to go I was trying to move up. In the last lap I was in 2 short-lived breakaways. With 3 or so miles left I was fighting for the top 10 spot. There were some very hard pulls, with people trying to catch a breakaway 10 or 15 seconds up the road. With 1 K to go I was in 8th. I started my sprint a little too late, but still got 4th in the field sprint (the 2-man break stayed away), for 6th or 7th place. Will Richter and another camp Junior did great too, getting 4th and 5th. Not to mention Jacob Arnold, who was in almost every breakaway there was in the whole race.
As we rode back to campus, I was yet again so thankful for my results. I couldn't relax yet though--Wednesday was an easy day, but Thursday was where the GC will be cemented.
DAY 4: Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Wednesday was a day to relax after 2 long, hard rides. We did a 1.5 hr ride earlier in the day were we worked on sprinting and braking, then another 1 and a half ride after lunch practicing cornering.
Monday, June 15, 2009
2009 Southeastern Regional Development Camp: Days 1 and 2
Last Sunday was the first day of the 2009 SE Regional Camp, held June 7th-12th. This was my first year I could do the camp because of my age (you have to be 14 by the 1st day). For those of you who have never been to a USA cycling Development Camp, I highly recommend going. Here is some information about it.
Every year from June to late July there are Regional cycling camps put on by USA cycling. During the camps, you get in some great training (and this year racing, too), learn a ton of stuff, and do field tests. Perhaps the most important thing that you do during the camp is the field tests, because if you do well in the tests you have the chance to go to the National camp in Colorado Springs, and then from there to being a member of the National Team, and from there to Izegem, Belgium.
This year, the riding schedule for the Southeastern camp is as follows: arrive Sunday, June 7th, at Furmann University (in Greenville, South Carolina) and do an easy 2 hr. ride. Monday gets a lot harder, with an 80 mile ride including 5 minute and roughly 15 minute long field tests up Cesar's Head. Tuesday isn't any less difficult, a 3.5 hr. day with the Donaldson Center Tuesday Night Training race halfway through. Wednesday is a rest day; two easy 1.5 hr. rides with drills on cornering and sprinting. Then comes Thursday, which is an epic 80 mile ride, with 4 1.5 mile long Time Trials. Friday, the riders leave camp before noon, but not before an optional 40 minute easy ride.
DAY ONE:
We got to the camp at 11:20, and my parents helped me unpack. After they left I waited for the start of that days ride, feeling a little nervous. I got down to were we met on time, and saw a lot of riders I knew, including guys from Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia; nearly the whole East Coast and then some.
The ride started faster than I expected (I like to go super easy on easy days), and I realized I wasn't feeling strong. Despite that, it was different and really fun training with Juniors that I'm only used to racing with.
We stopped for a water break after a little more than an hour, then rode back to Furmann. Later that day we had lectures, then did field games, which are where you go out on a field, and practicing bumping shoulders, track standing, braking really fast, and other fun stuff. Then we got to back to our dorms, and had an hour before lights out.
DAY TWO:
I went down to the ride start with plenty of time to spare, thinking about the upcoming field tests. I wasn't that optimistic, mainly because I didn't feel good Sunday and it seemed like there were a bunch of strong guys there.
I didn't feel great riding out to Cesar's Head, but would get some confidence soon enough. We took a right turn to the start of the climb, and people automatically started sprinting up it (the field tests started later on the climb, after a short slightly downhill section, the beginning of which we were racing to). I started the climb at the back half of the field, but when it started I found myself moving up. All of the sudden I was bridging up to the front group of less than 8 riders. I crested the hill with them, while Jacob Arnold was about 8 seconds in front of us. Although some guys weren't going all out to save some energy for the field tests, I was a little more confident about how I would do after that.
I started the first 5 minute field test 20 minutes later. It was hard to get going at first, but I was holding 12+ m.p.h on all but the steepest grades. I rounded the last bend, and sprinted for the line, expecting a top 10.
After that I rode back down the mountain and got back in line for the 2nd, longer field test. I started it a lot easier than the first one, and soon found a rhythm up the climb. I tried to go a little harder after about 8 minutes, but couldn't hold it and backed off a little. I rounded some very steep hairpin turns, went through the last corner and sprinted for the line.
After that all the riders attempted to go another kilometer up the hill to a regrouping site. We waited there for 20 minutes, then rode the remaining roughly 4 miles of the climb at a tempo pace.
During the climb the field split into two groups, with about 18 riders and myself in it. Once we got to the top we ate lunch at the park there, then went down the descent in groups of 4.
At the bottom we met up again and rode back to campus. The results were posted around 9 0' clock, and before I could see them someone said I had gotten 2nd in the long field test. I looked at the results and saw that I got 5th in the short test and 2nd in the long one (out of everybody, 15-18), which shattered my expectations. In the 15-16's, I got 4th for short one and 1st in the 3 mile one, meaning I was 3rd on GC! (2nd 15-16's).
So, after the first day of field test, I was only 3 seonds behind Matt Spinks, a category 2, on 15-16 GC. Although I was extremely happy with the results, I was hoping no 15-16 yr. olds would be able to pass me on GC in the coming days, especially on Thursday's endless flat repeats. I also had to prove myself in Tuesday's A Race, competing against Pros, 1's, 2's, 3's and other 4's, but I'll write about that later.
Every year from June to late July there are Regional cycling camps put on by USA cycling. During the camps, you get in some great training (and this year racing, too), learn a ton of stuff, and do field tests. Perhaps the most important thing that you do during the camp is the field tests, because if you do well in the tests you have the chance to go to the National camp in Colorado Springs, and then from there to being a member of the National Team, and from there to Izegem, Belgium.
This year, the riding schedule for the Southeastern camp is as follows: arrive Sunday, June 7th, at Furmann University (in Greenville, South Carolina) and do an easy 2 hr. ride. Monday gets a lot harder, with an 80 mile ride including 5 minute and roughly 15 minute long field tests up Cesar's Head. Tuesday isn't any less difficult, a 3.5 hr. day with the Donaldson Center Tuesday Night Training race halfway through. Wednesday is a rest day; two easy 1.5 hr. rides with drills on cornering and sprinting. Then comes Thursday, which is an epic 80 mile ride, with 4 1.5 mile long Time Trials. Friday, the riders leave camp before noon, but not before an optional 40 minute easy ride.
DAY ONE:
We got to the camp at 11:20, and my parents helped me unpack. After they left I waited for the start of that days ride, feeling a little nervous. I got down to were we met on time, and saw a lot of riders I knew, including guys from Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia; nearly the whole East Coast and then some.
The ride started faster than I expected (I like to go super easy on easy days), and I realized I wasn't feeling strong. Despite that, it was different and really fun training with Juniors that I'm only used to racing with.
We stopped for a water break after a little more than an hour, then rode back to Furmann. Later that day we had lectures, then did field games, which are where you go out on a field, and practicing bumping shoulders, track standing, braking really fast, and other fun stuff. Then we got to back to our dorms, and had an hour before lights out.
DAY TWO:
I went down to the ride start with plenty of time to spare, thinking about the upcoming field tests. I wasn't that optimistic, mainly because I didn't feel good Sunday and it seemed like there were a bunch of strong guys there.
I didn't feel great riding out to Cesar's Head, but would get some confidence soon enough. We took a right turn to the start of the climb, and people automatically started sprinting up it (the field tests started later on the climb, after a short slightly downhill section, the beginning of which we were racing to). I started the climb at the back half of the field, but when it started I found myself moving up. All of the sudden I was bridging up to the front group of less than 8 riders. I crested the hill with them, while Jacob Arnold was about 8 seconds in front of us. Although some guys weren't going all out to save some energy for the field tests, I was a little more confident about how I would do after that.
I started the first 5 minute field test 20 minutes later. It was hard to get going at first, but I was holding 12+ m.p.h on all but the steepest grades. I rounded the last bend, and sprinted for the line, expecting a top 10.
After that I rode back down the mountain and got back in line for the 2nd, longer field test. I started it a lot easier than the first one, and soon found a rhythm up the climb. I tried to go a little harder after about 8 minutes, but couldn't hold it and backed off a little. I rounded some very steep hairpin turns, went through the last corner and sprinted for the line.
After that all the riders attempted to go another kilometer up the hill to a regrouping site. We waited there for 20 minutes, then rode the remaining roughly 4 miles of the climb at a tempo pace.
During the climb the field split into two groups, with about 18 riders and myself in it. Once we got to the top we ate lunch at the park there, then went down the descent in groups of 4.
At the bottom we met up again and rode back to campus. The results were posted around 9 0' clock, and before I could see them someone said I had gotten 2nd in the long field test. I looked at the results and saw that I got 5th in the short test and 2nd in the long one (out of everybody, 15-18), which shattered my expectations. In the 15-16's, I got 4th for short one and 1st in the 3 mile one, meaning I was 3rd on GC! (2nd 15-16's).
So, after the first day of field test, I was only 3 seonds behind Matt Spinks, a category 2, on 15-16 GC. Although I was extremely happy with the results, I was hoping no 15-16 yr. olds would be able to pass me on GC in the coming days, especially on Thursday's endless flat repeats. I also had to prove myself in Tuesday's A Race, competing against Pros, 1's, 2's, 3's and other 4's, but I'll write about that later.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
More Photos
The Georgia Cup Tour of Atlanta Stage 7 photos are now posted at the bottom of the 'Tour of Atlanta 2009' blog entry.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tour of Atlanta 2009
May 22nd to 25th was the Tour of Atlanta, a 4 day, 7 stage race. I did the last 5 of the 7 stages of the race (Saturday to Monday). My family and I chose to do this race instead of Dragons challenge this year because of so many racing opportunities in Georgia, and a hilly, "epic" T.O.A RR.
Stage 3: 10:35 am., on Saturday May 23rd, cat. 4/5 U35, 3o minutes long
I lined up for the start of this short crit after a long warmup to see a pretty small 20 rider field. The race started pretty fast, but I held a pretty good position. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, they announced 5 to go.
With 1 lap to go, I bridged up to a recently formed 2-man break on the course's short, steep hill. I passed both the riders, who had sat up, and just went medium when I looked back and realized that they, as well as the pack, didn't follow me. I decided to go for it. I sped around the course while the dropped breakaway riders blocked the field on a one-lane section. On a long, strait downhill my gap fell, but I kept going and went around the last corner at 32 mph. The last 300 or so meters the gap fell to a second, but at the line I held off the field to take my first ever category 4 win!
Stage 4: 3:00 p.m., on Saturday May 23rd, Cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
The 23 rider pack started and I soon realized I was a marked rider. I wasn't in a great position for a lot of the race, tried 2 breakaways unsuccessfully, and sprinted to 7th at the end.
Stage 5: 10:35 a.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
I lined up to the start of my second day of racing along with a 25 or so rider field. After the start I had a little trouble clipping in and fell to 1oth, reminiscent of the days when I would nearly get dropped at the start of every race because I couldn't clip in.
Another short race where I had good tactics and felt strong; I followed a couple of short-lived breaks but didn't start any myself until 5 to go, when I counter attacked after the field had been chasing hard for at least a lap. Nobody responded, and I built up to a 10 second gap, out of the peloton's sight at times. I thought I had a chance to hold it to the finish until 2.5 laps to go, when my advantage went down a bit on the course's long downhill as I had no one to help me pull.
With 1 3/4 laps to go I was caught and went to the back of the pack. I tried to survive and got 1oth at the line.
Stage 6: 3:00 p.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
I was hoping to conserve myself in this race after being so aggressive in the last one. I chased down a few breaks, but never was in the wind for much more than 15 seconds. For much of the race I was top 8, and I went into the last corner 4th or 5th wheel, right behind the guy who turned out to be the winner. But going into the bend my right foot unclipped and I almost crashed and went straight to the back. I finished 20th or so, 3 people away from the rear of the group.
So going into the final stage, the "epic" T.O.A RR, after 4 previous stages, only 1 yielded good results. But I had to be pleased, because I did win stage III, and for 3 of the races I had good tactics.
Stage 7: 9:25 a.m., Monday May 25th, Cat. 4/5 U35, 45 miles long
Prior to the last stage I was excited about the 2 lap course, which had 2 hills with 500 feet of elevation gain and numerous other "walls" per lap, held on undulating, sometimes very poor quality roads. The best thing was that the Race finished atop the biggest climb, which was also the biggest hill on the route.
The race started with a 5 mile neutral start for the 39 rider pack, but after it was over the attacks came thick and fast. I got in most of them just by holding the wheel in front of me. Usually the break was caught before I had to pull, but if not I dropped back a couple of bike lengths or bluffed exhaustion. I was in a bad position once during the race, on the first lap during the first half of a roughly 3 mile stretch of road with huge potholes, gravel, sand, sticks, and short but wearing climbs one after the other. It was easy to move up on the roads that resembled the ones in the hilly classics. I rode past the splintering group to the top 10, and stayed there.
The first time up the big climb, I conserved energy and went from 1oth at the bottom to 3rd at the top, while another strong rider powered up the 2nd half of the climb and won the prestigious KOM.
In the last lap the group was mainly single file from the difficulty of the climbs, and I stayed in the top 10 easily because of that. Going into the finishing climb, I was in 1oth, but was on the wheel of the wrong person, and was boxed in as he fell back to 2oth. I thought my race was over, but got around him and moved up to 3rd pretty easily. At the time the rider who won the KOM a lap ago had broken away, but I bided my time on 3rd wheel while the rider in 2nd pulled towards the leader and the finish line. When we got close to the lone leader halfway through the hill, I attacked. I caught and passed the rider who had broken away, and looked back at the field, which was 5 or so seconds behind. I held it on a short downhill with 200 meters to go, then powered up the final part of the climb to take the victory. Congratulations to everyone in the cat. 4/5 U35 race for their very strong performances.
And that's the end of a great weekend in Atlanta. I got great race experience, some victories, and 12 points over the weekend, which bring by total to 24, enough to cat. up to a 3!
Here are some pictures.
Stage 3
Bridging up to the breakaway with 1 to go
Finish
Podium
stage 4
Stage 5
3 lap solo breakaway
Stage 6
Stage 7
Half way through 2nd lap
The finish
Stage 3: 10:35 am., on Saturday May 23rd, cat. 4/5 U35, 3o minutes long
I lined up for the start of this short crit after a long warmup to see a pretty small 20 rider field. The race started pretty fast, but I held a pretty good position. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, they announced 5 to go.
With 1 lap to go, I bridged up to a recently formed 2-man break on the course's short, steep hill. I passed both the riders, who had sat up, and just went medium when I looked back and realized that they, as well as the pack, didn't follow me. I decided to go for it. I sped around the course while the dropped breakaway riders blocked the field on a one-lane section. On a long, strait downhill my gap fell, but I kept going and went around the last corner at 32 mph. The last 300 or so meters the gap fell to a second, but at the line I held off the field to take my first ever category 4 win!
Stage 4: 3:00 p.m., on Saturday May 23rd, Cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
The 23 rider pack started and I soon realized I was a marked rider. I wasn't in a great position for a lot of the race, tried 2 breakaways unsuccessfully, and sprinted to 7th at the end.
Stage 5: 10:35 a.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
I lined up to the start of my second day of racing along with a 25 or so rider field. After the start I had a little trouble clipping in and fell to 1oth, reminiscent of the days when I would nearly get dropped at the start of every race because I couldn't clip in.
Another short race where I had good tactics and felt strong; I followed a couple of short-lived breaks but didn't start any myself until 5 to go, when I counter attacked after the field had been chasing hard for at least a lap. Nobody responded, and I built up to a 10 second gap, out of the peloton's sight at times. I thought I had a chance to hold it to the finish until 2.5 laps to go, when my advantage went down a bit on the course's long downhill as I had no one to help me pull.
With 1 3/4 laps to go I was caught and went to the back of the pack. I tried to survive and got 1oth at the line.
Stage 6: 3:00 p.m., on Sunday May 24th, cat. 4/5 U35, 30 minutes long
I was hoping to conserve myself in this race after being so aggressive in the last one. I chased down a few breaks, but never was in the wind for much more than 15 seconds. For much of the race I was top 8, and I went into the last corner 4th or 5th wheel, right behind the guy who turned out to be the winner. But going into the bend my right foot unclipped and I almost crashed and went straight to the back. I finished 20th or so, 3 people away from the rear of the group.
So going into the final stage, the "epic" T.O.A RR, after 4 previous stages, only 1 yielded good results. But I had to be pleased, because I did win stage III, and for 3 of the races I had good tactics.
Stage 7: 9:25 a.m., Monday May 25th, Cat. 4/5 U35, 45 miles long
Prior to the last stage I was excited about the 2 lap course, which had 2 hills with 500 feet of elevation gain and numerous other "walls" per lap, held on undulating, sometimes very poor quality roads. The best thing was that the Race finished atop the biggest climb, which was also the biggest hill on the route.
The race started with a 5 mile neutral start for the 39 rider pack, but after it was over the attacks came thick and fast. I got in most of them just by holding the wheel in front of me. Usually the break was caught before I had to pull, but if not I dropped back a couple of bike lengths or bluffed exhaustion. I was in a bad position once during the race, on the first lap during the first half of a roughly 3 mile stretch of road with huge potholes, gravel, sand, sticks, and short but wearing climbs one after the other. It was easy to move up on the roads that resembled the ones in the hilly classics. I rode past the splintering group to the top 10, and stayed there.
The first time up the big climb, I conserved energy and went from 1oth at the bottom to 3rd at the top, while another strong rider powered up the 2nd half of the climb and won the prestigious KOM.
In the last lap the group was mainly single file from the difficulty of the climbs, and I stayed in the top 10 easily because of that. Going into the finishing climb, I was in 1oth, but was on the wheel of the wrong person, and was boxed in as he fell back to 2oth. I thought my race was over, but got around him and moved up to 3rd pretty easily. At the time the rider who won the KOM a lap ago had broken away, but I bided my time on 3rd wheel while the rider in 2nd pulled towards the leader and the finish line. When we got close to the lone leader halfway through the hill, I attacked. I caught and passed the rider who had broken away, and looked back at the field, which was 5 or so seconds behind. I held it on a short downhill with 200 meters to go, then powered up the final part of the climb to take the victory. Congratulations to everyone in the cat. 4/5 U35 race for their very strong performances.
And that's the end of a great weekend in Atlanta. I got great race experience, some victories, and 12 points over the weekend, which bring by total to 24, enough to cat. up to a 3!
Here are some pictures.
Stage 3
Bridging up to the breakaway with 1 to go
Finish
Podium
stage 4
Stage 5
3 lap solo breakaway
Stage 6
Stage 7Half way through 2nd lap
The finish
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