Gate City Grind Stage Race

Jan and I prior to the start of the TT
Me going into the last corner on the 10 second time prime lap
Ski Utah

For much of the race I was covering Jess from cyclosmith

Gate City was a grind this weekend but with 8 Ski Utah riders we were feeling confident for a good showing. Cameron, Kirk, Tyler, Clint, E.T., Todd, Jan, and me. The road race was hot and windy. Our plan was to hold the race together through 2 laps and then attack over and over till something stuck. What stuck was a counter attack by Jan and a fairly even representation by the other teams. The packs pace slowed and the gap grew. After some time the break attacked itself and Jan lost contact so we drove the front and closed the gap to try again. Other attacks went but nothing stuck like Jan's so we planned on the sprint. I led out at about 500meters or so to try to string it out. Attacks came, day light closed and it looked like we had at least 2-3 riders going for top 5 in the sprint. A logan rider skipped a gear, swerved and sent E.T. into the dirt (still got top 10!) and almost sent Clint off the bike. None of us were in the top 3 where the time bonuses were but we all had the same time otherwise.

The TT shook things up and placed me 2nd in the GC 3 seconds off the leader, 2 seconds to 3rd place (Jess Dear) and 11 seconds to Gary Swain and others.

We knew the crit would be essential to the GC win for us and that it was well within reach. There was one 10 second time bonus and then bonuses at the finish but if we could get the 10 second prime for me it would leave only one rider (Jess Dear) that could take first and only by winning the crit (20 second time bonus) so we slotted Clint to take that away from him. The crit was go from the gun. we were all together when they rang the time bonus prime bell. I attacked up the side of the peleton hard and went into the turns hot with a gap. I heard E.T. yell out and figured someone was coming. As I rounded the last corner Jess was about 20 meters off and I got the time bonus we needed. E.T. and Clint went to work controling the front. An attack by the 4th GC rider went and Tyler went after him and clonsed it. 4 guys further down in the GC went off the front and got a small break of about 15 seconds. I was following the wheels of Jess and Gary who were now 2nd and 3rd in GC. They were attacking over and over but never got a gap. The break was coming down though and was 10 seconds when the chaos occured. I was sitting 2nd wheel on Jess' wheel, in a strung out peleton when I slid out on a corner, and went down. I hop up immediately, feel fine, bikes fine, and the peleton is still passing me so I go to hop on my bike and join in but an official standing there tells me I have to go to the wheel pit with him, I told him no and that I was riding and he said "no, you have a free lap and you need to come with me to the wheen pit". So I throw my bike on his cart and he drives me up to the pit. The team has sat up to get me. I grab my bike and say to the head official "free lap" and she says "we messed up, you don't have a free lap, the pit is closed". I take off chasing now a half a km down. Meanwhile the official pulls all the Ski Utah riders who sat up to get me. I chase for 5 laps and am gaining on the pack (the 4 man break is now up by about 30 seconds from the pack). The official then pulls me with 2 laps to go "for safety" So I contest immediately. The first thing out of the officials mouth is that she screwed up the race. She didn't know what lap it was, she thought the pit was still open, she told them to bring me to the pit for the free lap, she made an error in pulling the teamates that sat up, and that they should have let me hop on my bike instead of making me come to the wheel pit. I'm livid and just lost it. My mother would have been so disappointed. To make a long and frustrating story short the officials stated that in stage race rules if I crash happens after the pit is closed, that the riders gets the same time as the pack that he crashed in got. I've never seen this before and am still not conviced that the officials didn't just make the decision to treat their screw up with this decision but there it was. One of the guys in the 4 man break went into the crit 28 seconds back, won the sprint to get the 20 sec time bonus and even with my 10 second prime beat be by less than ten seconds for 1st place in the GC. I got 2nd in the GC. There was a lot of arguing and no one, certainly not me, was happy with how the race was handled and ended. I didn't want 2nd place like that and really didn't want 2nd place anyway. There was plenty of time left, plenty of teamates left and I feel completely confident that we would have been all together with in 3 laps of the slide out, finishing in a sprint for 1st place.

Everyone did great this weekend. There were other strange things that happened, like ETs TT start where the guy that holds you up in the start house let Eric fall over. Not sure what they were doing there. The team worked really hard and looked great. I really enjoyed the tactics and appreciate the votes of confidence.

High Uinta's Classic Stage Race

This last weekend was one of the best races of the year and one that killed me last year. It is an 80 mile road race on Saturday from Kamas, UT over bald mountain pass (>10,700 ft) and then down to Evantson, WY. Sunday morning is the time trial, a 10 mile out and back course. Sunday afernoon is the criterium, a 1.3 mile course with a 6 block climb (painful), followed by a zig-zagging decent, and then a straightaway leading through the start-finish line back to the 6 block climb. Last year I pulled out of the crit because I thought I was going to vomit. This year I was planning on improving.

Saturday's road race began with a rolling (overall up hill) first 22 miles before a 7 mile climb that is steep and hard. I held with the leading group until about 3 miles form the summitt when I got popped off the back. Near the summitt I got caught by the first chase group (about 12 riders) and went over the top to begin the chase after the 10 or so riders in the lead group. We pushed the pace and pulled their lead down to under a minute. I had 2 other teamates in the chase group, Clint and Tyler. At 2 km from the finish Clint launched but blew up and I passed him holding the wheel of about 5 riders to the finish. In the end we were only 26 seconds off the lead group. My placing was 16th I think but only 26 seconds off the leader going into the time trial. After the race I took an ice bath and ate...alot.

The time trial was my first TT with my new TT bike. I have ridden it about 4 times and felt good. I knew that i would need to average about 27-28 mph to do well. I started out and hit 29mph before my computer died. I held the pace as high as I could and focused on keeping my position tight. I passed the guy who started 1 minute ahead of my before the turn around. This gave my alot of encouragement. In the end I finished with a time of 22:22 and placed 3rd in the TT. Now I was up to 5th place in the over all and only 19 seconds off the leader going into the Crit.

The crit would have one 10 second time bonus prime for lap 6, a $20 cash prime for lap 7, a $100 cash prime for lap 8, and would end with lap 10. I lost my 2 teamates on the time bonus prim lap as everyone wanted that. The pace was blistering with attack after attack. Ali ended up getting the time bonus putting him in the lead by 7 seconds overall. I can't recall who got the $20 cash prime but the 8th lap I led the climb, attacked at the top and didn't touch my breaks through the downhill zigzags. By the finish straight I had about 20 seconds on the pack and easily got the $100 prime. With only 2 laps to go, I figured that I would give it a go for the win and went at it trying to beat off the pack solo. After the 9th lap they rang the bell for the final lap and I had about 30-40 seconds on the pack. 2 teams came forward and worked to bring me back and I was finally caught at the top of the climb. We flew down the zigzags and all sprinted out for the finish. In the end I finished 6th place overall with prize money of $95. That added to the $100 prime was a nice ending to a great weekend of racing. Over all I felt good on each stage.

Next weekend is another stage race (road race, TT, crit) in Pocatello, ID. After that I go into a transition in training before my last build period of the season.

State Championships (AKA Little Mt. Road Race)

I can say that I did everything I could to not have the race end up in a bunch sprint but in the end it did so I led out my teamate who has a bigger sprint than I do for 2nd place.

The race was a 16 mile circuit with a 3/4mile climb (steep) on the front side and a more minor climb on the back side. We did 5 laps. I figured my best chances were to either exploit the steep climb or get in a break so on the first time up the steep climb I drilled it and ended up on the top with only one other rider. But within a half mile from the summit there were 30 riders with us again. So the 2nd time up that climb I went harder and ended up on the top alone. Again within a half mile there were about 30 riders with me again. I repeated it again on the 3rd time up with the same result. i realized that the climb was not long enough to get a big enough advantage to stay away from a pack of guys with great flat terrain power so on the 4th lap I went with a guy that attacked on the minor climb, went over the top of him and ended up with a break of about 200 meters. A great climber was the next guy on the road so I held up slightly for him and the two of us worked hard to put a sizable lead on the pack. He had several tamates in the pack and I had about 3 so i figured we would have some help with blocking. In the end the pack caught us brought back my a teamate of the guy I was with in the pack!. I couldn't believe it! that guy is a moron. Anyway, we then hit the steep climb for the 4th time and I had not recovered from the attack, got dropped and worked hard to get back to the group (with Dustin's help). For the last lap I sat in realizing that I wouldn't get out of a bunch sprint (eventhough we were now down to about 20 riders) so I was now working for my teamate Clint. I could have used one more waterbottle and on the final time up the steep climb I could feel my calves cramping. The finish line is about 3 miles from the top of the steep climb and is 3% grade from 0.5k out. I went to the front and strung out the group with my teamate 3rd wheel. When I had given it all I pulled off and they went at it. My teamate got 2nd. I think I was in the mid-teens.

I was happy with my efforts but would have liked to get a break going. I couldn't understand why after each of the first 3 steep climbs, when I would be joined by a few riders, they wouldn't want to work and keep the advantage they had earned by their effort on the climb. Anyway, next week is High Uinta Classic stage race with a massive long climb so I hope that turns out better.

Garden Creek Gap Road Race

The Saturday of Memorial Weekend was the first day of a week long vacation and the Garden Creek Gap Road Race in Arimo, ID. It is a 25 mile loop with a 3 mile climb each lap that averages 6-9%. Bre and Kate came up with me to support me. We did the loop 3.5 times for a race length of about 85 miles. The climb is the key factor in the race as this is where all the separation will happen. I led the climb on each of the frist 3 trips up it, thinking it was better to ride a high pace that was mine than trying to respond to the pace of other riders. After each climb the group was progressively smaller and smaller with 7 riders going over the top into the final lap. The make up of the 7 riders were myself and Chase from my team, 2 guys from Timm's, and 3 solo riders. As a result, the 3 solo guys did not want to do any work during the last lap as they were out numbered. The two guys from Timm's tried to hatch a scheme with me to attack the other 3 solo riders in the final climb but in the end I wanted to set Chase up for the win as he is leading the UCA point series (and he is a cool guy). In the lead up tot he climb the weather began changing for the worse with big wind, hail and freezing rain. Again, I led the climb at the fastest pace I could maintain to discourage attacks. It worked as no one attacked until 200meters from the line. Chase went against Jess from Timm's taking 1st at the line. I finished 5th. It was fantastic!

Here's Chases race report:

"On the final lap we were down to 7 guys, including Spence and myself. I talked to Spence and asked him to push the pace up the final climb to set me up for the win. He did a fantastic job and kept everyone from attacking.

"The whole final climb was a battle with my patience. I had to really control myself so i didnt go too early and end up getting passed at the line. We got to about the 300 meter mark and Jess decided to put in a final attack and when he did this all the stops were out for me. I barely felt the last 200 meters because all the pent up energy of waiting came out in a rather violent in the saddle effort. I crossed the line soaking and pleased.

"I really have to put in a special thanks to Spence, he is a fantastic teammate and i have no doubt i wouldn't have been able to win without him. His climbing today was very impressive and i am sure we will see more great results out of him!"

Chase

I wrote a race report in response:

"Last year Garden Creek Gap was the worst ride I have ever had and I really wanted to exercise the demon this year. It was nice being the the lead group and even nicer to have Chase there the last 2 laps. On the decent for the begining of the last lap, Jess went off the front and got a sizable lead. No one wanted to do any work so Chase and I brought him back practically on our own. The 7 inour group consisted of Chase and myself from Ski Utah, Jess and Taylor from Timms, and 3 other solos. Jess wanted to hatch a plan for one from each of our teams to attack the field, have the 3 solos bring it back, with the other 2 of our teams drafting until the catch and they they would attack, etc. It may have been a fair idea but in the lead up to the final climb I knew that Jess and Taylor were concerned about Chase. Working their plan would have benefited both our teams but it would have deminished our chances of actually winning the race so as we neared the gap I went to the front and set the tempo with Chase either on my wheel or in 3rd position. I didn't have the snap in my legs that I would have needed to cover attacks so I tried to set I high enough pace to discourage attacks. It worked. At 200m the field picked it up, coming around me, and so Chase was ahead of me a few riders. I saw Jess come by me in the attack and yelled "left!" hoping Chase would get the jump. He did and took 1st place.

"I spent last year riding in support of a certain to-remain-un-named teamate on another team. In an attempt not to dig up dead bodys, I'll spare the details and explanation of why this was such a caustic situation. In any event, I just wanted to say that I love riding with the 3s on Ski Utah. When Chase asked me to play a role in the finish for him, I was all over it. There is probably one motivator bigger than riding for yourself and that is riding for a teamate you respect and enjoy riding with. After riding with one role last year, and having so many more class act teamates this year, I'm excited to see what we can do tactically."

So it was a great race! What a way to begin a week long vacation.