Moving Up

I have neglected writing race reports at the end of the season so I thought I would post a recap. To race in the road race at nationals, the rules require racing in the A race for the regionals weekend and at one other road race during the season. I was able to move up just in time to race in the A field at the Purdue road race. As Carly detailed in her report the weather was perfect for race day. When I moved from category C to B last year, I proceeded to get dropped in each of my B races for the rest of the year. I was nervous about making the jump as the gap between the B field and A field is even more significant. Going into the race my big goal was to just finish with the field. With this strategy I found a spot in the middle of the field and hung on for the first 3 times up the hill as the pace was fast. After the first few laps a large break went off the front with nearly all of the strongest riders. After this the pace settled down and we just rode out the rest of the race with no big changes of pace. Once the break went, the race was almost boring and I found that I wished to be in the move working harder. The biggest difference in the A race was that the moves off the front went fast. I learned that to be a factor in the race I would have to be near the front when the move went off. In this field I was no longer strong enough to make up for bad position.

With a few lessons learned, my goal for the 80 mile regionals road race was to see if I could position myself to make it into a break. Since I was the only person on the team, I planned to try to mark the moves of the few riders who had been most successful during the early season road races that I had seen. During the first few laps I kept at the front of the pack and watched as the attacks went. Unfortunately, nothing that I went with stuck and a group of 4 went off the front during the first lap. I thought that it would eventually come back so I tried to stay near the front and hoped that my legs would be ready for a counter move if they were reeled in. They never came back. The pace for the race was much faster than I expected and I was again happy to make it to the finish with the field after only 3 hours and 22 minutes in the saddle. Major props to those in the break who were able to stay away with such a high pace.

Sunday was another story. The hard winter took a large toll on the roads in downtown Madison and the seams in the middle of the road were deep pits. As the criterium started at a torrid clip, I found myself in bad position near the back and heard the loud bangs of tires popping as racers couldn't avoid the potholes in the turns. I quickly lost the mental discipline to move up through the pack and was shed from the race. Overall, the weekend gave me a good insight into how much I have progressed as a racer and showed me the things that I still need to work on. Racing in the faster races showed that I have the strength to keep up during the long races, but still have a ways to go in my jumps out of corners and technical skills in fast cornering situations in the pack. I am excited to develop these skills during the summer racing season.

The final race of the collegiate season will be Collegiate Road Nationals in Fort Collins, CO in two weeks. During the summer, Devon and I will be racing for Team Get A Grip Cycles. Rumor also has it that many of the the collegiate riders will be racing for the new team in the neighborhood. Look for Orange on the path in the near future!