Tuesday
Agenda: Bust down to Georgia in 12 hours
As expected, the drive down was as much as we could handle in one day. Molly had the great idea of playing a game, and so I thought I might as well play along. I was thinking of some sort of sign game or "I Spy" or something like that, but no... Molly's "game" would soon put us in grave danger. She instructed us to weave in and out of the roadway reflectors that separated the lanes without touching them, while Ben tried to avoid the surrounding traffic. I couldn't take this terror any longer, and thinking fast I blasted the radio to distract Ben from Molly's voice, and soon he was able to regain focus to stop playing the game. That was the last suggestion we took from Molly for the remainder of the week. Other than that bit of trauma, the trip was rather boring of course.
Wednesday
Agenda: Preview TT course and pick up racing packets
The TT course would prove to be the most scenic race course of the weekend. Starting just inside the South Carolina border, it crossed over a huge dam into Georgia, through rolling hills surrounded by forest, then made a u-turn to come back and finish at the end of the dam. Ben, Jessi, Jessi's father, and myself all set out to take a look. I wasn't planning on racing the time trial, but I needed to get a ride in anyway as my first race wasn't until Friday. We went off at an easy pace and Ben and Jessi made a few hard efforts to get ready for their time trials the next day. While they were riding a little longer than an hour, I stopped and took the opportunity to snag some photos:
Jessi decided to try out some motorpacing and rode the course once more, and in the meantime Ben and I rode down a remote road on the other side of the dam. We found a small boat ramp and took off our shoes to wade in the refreshing water. We even took out some chairs to sit in the water and enjoyed the view of the massive dam that spanned the state border.
No one else knew about our relaxing hideout
Packet pick-up didn't go as smoothly. After Ben and I picked up up our packets and race numbers, we got in a long line to get Ben's TT bike checked out. This is not a mandatory check, but it's a good idea to check the night before to make sure the bike meets measurement regulations. Being a tall rider with a large bike, it was the dimensions that would force us to make some silly modifications to his bike. To make a long story short we had to add foam strips to his handlebars which were "too thin" and violated the maximum ratio of a 3:1 airfoil, and we also had to move his bars back a few centimeters. What made it ridiculous is that Ben had checked his bike at two NRC time trials previously this spring with no problems. At least we didn't have to saw off part of his frame, like some riders had to do to their $10,000 Specialized bikes. That was enough frustration for one night, and Ben needed to get some rest for his race the next day at noon.
Thursday
Agenda: Ben and Jessi's time trials/Tune-up ride
Once we got the the race, and before I did anything else, I took Ben's bike up the the officials to have it checked once more. We hadn't met up with Jessi and her parents the night before, so I also took her bike to get checked. Luckily there was no need to add any foam strips to her frame. While Jessi was warming up for her time trial at 10, I set out for a short ride with some leg-opener efforts . I took a scenic route along the South Carolina border and put in a few short intervals, then made it back in time to see Jessi finish her race. She clocked in a very good time in her field, enough to take third place! As with most good time trialists, she said that it was extremely painful and not fun at all, the signs of what a time trial should feel like if you do it right. Next up was the start of Ben's race. I rode over to the starting tent and what do you know, the ridiculous officials say that he needs to move his TT bars back even further. Ben kept his cool though and quickly adjusted his position a couple minutes before the start. Off he went, and 39 minutes later we saw him post up a time that was fast enough for second place. This was great news, but there were still many elite riders still to go. At the end of the day, Ben's time put him in the 20th spot, a very respectable result at Nationals.
Friday
Agenda: Downtown crit
We arrived to the downtown venue a few hours before Ben's race and decided to walk the course first. It was sort of a letdown with the backside of the course littered with glass, sand, and numerous potholes, and most of the businesses on the homestretch closed down. The course was literally in the heart of the ghetto of Augusta. There wasn't very much parking so we ended up on the side of a busy street under a tree, with complementary background noise of locals trading for cigarettes and blasting hardcore rap. The 95-degree heat took its toll on Ben during his race, however he did put in a great effort. About a third of the way through his 80 kilometer race a break of about nine riders went up the road and quickly got 20 seconds. Ben seized the opportunity and made a monster bridge to the break on the home stretch. Unfortunately Ben lost one of his bottles when it popped out on a bump in the road, and he decided it was best to drop out instead of risk becoming seriously dehydrated.
Luckily my race was later in the day when the temperature had dropped almost ten degrees. The U23 crit started out somewhat fast, but the course was open enough that I was able to make some major moves up towards the front. I had bad position in the beginning but within several laps I was up there with the Garmin and Livestrong boys who were dictating the race.
Somewhere in the back there
In the first three laps a break of about eight had gone, so there were still many riders at the front that were putting in the work to try to bring that group back. I was feeling good, so I took a couple pulls at the front and maintained my position. During the closing laps I tried my best to stay near the front, but once again I fell victim to the large swarm of riders that always bunch up at the end of almost any crit. I found myself about 25 spots back, then on the backstretch of the last lap, a Livestrong rider in front of me just plain sat up and let all the other riders get away. I was forced to go around him and lead out the rest of the pack, and in the end I was able to hang on for 31st place. Not what I was hoping for, but not that bad either considering the circumstances I was in.
Jessi's race was a bit of a mess actually. A huge storm rolled in just as the women were about to start, and the officials made the decision to cut down there race from 47 laps to 20 laps. By the time I got changed out of my cycling clothes it was already 5 to go, but the wind and rain was coming in even faster. Jessi was able to battle it out for a place mid-pack as the race ended in a massive bunch sprint, and then as if on cue, the rain started pouring down. Chris Uberti from Panther had met up with us earlier that day, and after he joined Ben, Molly and I for a quick dinner, we headed back to the Motel 6. Living in Greenville, SC, Chris was able to drive to the crit that day in about an hour, but we liked the company and he stayed in my room at the hotel for the next two nights. I told him he had to help feed me the next day though and also be my personal mechanic/soungier/servant.
Saturday
Agenda: U23 Road Race
For my U23 road race, Ben was nice enough to let me borrow his super cool prototype Bontrager wheels. I would find out that the 38mm carbon tubulars would help tremendously over the 14 mile hilly course, which I would circle 7 times for 102 miles. It was going to be another hot day with temperatures climbing over 100 degrees. I rolled up to the start line towards the back, and after we started a lot of the riders were very jumpy and nervous. A few miles in we had to pass through this barricade (did I forget to mention this course was in the Fort Gordon army base?) and a rider in front of me got too close to the side, nailing a post which sent his bike into the pack. Just like the crit the day before, I avoided a crash by narrowly missing his bike, but this time I bumped hard into the rider on my other side. I slammed down onto my top tube as my feet unclipped, skidding a few feet before I was able to put my foot down. I almost lost balance but was able to just barely stay on my feet. I quickly remounted and started to chase through the caravan back onto the field. It wasn't more than five minutes since I had gotten back into the field that there was another crash right in front of me. I'm not sure what happened but I was caught behind a huge pileup and was forced into a grassy ditch. I stayed on my bike and struggled to make my way back onto the road, then began chasing the field through the caravan. It was a familiar scenario for me.
By this time, about 40 riders had escaped off the front of the field in various breakaways, so I had no choice but to sit back and conserve energy for the next 90 miles. Each 40 minute lap, I was taking two bottles and an ice sock (pantyhose filled with ice and stuffed in the back of your jersey), which seemed to be working for me. The longer I rode, the smaller our group got as riders became overwhelmed by the heat. I could see it in their faces that the heat was hurting a lot of guys, and many also fell victim to cramping. Surprisingly, I was feeling absolutely great. Usually in long road races I start to cramp up between 60-80 miles in, but this time I didn't cramp up at all the entire race. With three laps to go I started to take cokes instead of gatorade, and my attention to how much I was eating and drinking started to pay off. A lap to go and the main field had dwindled to about 25 riders until we caught another 15-20 riders that had fallen off the pace of the breakaways. I was feeling on top of the world as I took a few pulls at the front of the group. It was amazing being there in the mix so far into the race alongside pros from all over the country, and I'm sure they were wondering who I was. With three miles to go there was an attack of four guys, but unfortunately I was boxed in at the time, so I had no choice but to watch them ride away and focus on the sprint of the remaining field. Coming into the last kilometer I was third wheel as a Livestrong rider ramped it up to lead out his teammate on the finishing climb. The Livestrong rider in front of me attacked on the climb with about 500 meters to go, and I dug deep to stay on his wheel. Around the last turn with 200 meters to go he looked back to see if he had a gap on the field, but I was right there, with Josh Berry from RealCyclist on my wheel. I opened up the sprint and had enough to hold off the field for 26th place. It was a great result for me, as I was originally hoping to just finish the race regardless of my placing. Even though it was only 26th place, it felt good to beat all the pros and Cat 1's in my group after 100 blazing hot miles.
Sunday
Agenda: Ben and Jessi's Road Race
Ben and Chris needed to get plenty of rest for their big race, and with Jessi's race starting early in the morning we got their in time to see her finish. Strangely her race stayed intact almost the entire time without much attacking until the last lap. We got there with a lap to go and Jessi was sitting well in the pack, thinking mostly about surviving through an unfortunate cold she had gotten. She toughed it out though and rolled in for a top 40 placing after a group of about five riders escaped to contest the win. Her race finished just in time for the midday temperatures to reach towards 100 degrees, but by this time we were used to it, right? Ben’s field started onto the course for a fairly quick first lap, while Molly and I drove down to get a good spot in the feed zone. The first time through a group of a dozen riders got off the front to dangle in the range of 45-60 seconds range, a move that didn’t seem too dangerous at the time. Just like in my race, Ben and Chris were taking one to two bottles per lap plus an ice sock. The cooling methods were working well for Chris, but then a flat at the top of the feed zone and an extremely long wheel change by the neutral mechanic forced him to chase for the next lap and a half. It wasn’t looking too good for Chris, and the next lap around he dropped off by our car and helped us with feeding Ben. Ben stayed calm and was slowly making his way up in the pack, waiting for the inevitable catch of the break and counter attack. That move would never come and for some reason every rider decided to ride as defensively as possible, keeping the group intact. He had no choice but to save energy for the final sprint up the finishing climb. The result for him was 24th place, which wasn’t at all bad considering how many riders started. We had hope for the big win or podium spot, but what could he do against 200+ riders that were too afraid to make an attack. A callout from Dave Towle of the top 24 was a nice consolation though.
Monday
Agenda: Back to the Midwest
There isn’t much to say about the drive home, so whatever.
It had been a long week for all of us, even those that didn’t race, and we were eager to get home. Nationals was a great experience overall, and a chance to ride against different riders from all over the country and put in a noticeable result for yourself. I was hoping for a better result in the crit, but I still couldn’t believe my own abilities to survive the road race as well as I did. I’m anxious to get another chance at Nationals next year to see if I can place even higher.
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