Lago vista weekend, this was going to be the second year in a row that I completed the Lago course. Lago vista is a unique course because it is a very long climb followed by a very long and fast decent. Last year I hit a new speed record of almost 56 miles per hour. I headed up with Ronnie strange a little before noon on Friday to get to the races, which are about 30 miles west of A-TX
After getting to stay at Mellow Johnnie’s for the Gary Fisher presentation I headed to Lago at around 22:00. Once I made it there I found my team and the cabin we where staying at and started to unpack and get ready for the races in the morning.
Having a race that starts at 12:50 is one of the few joys I have in my life. Me, Ian, and Will all got to sleep in and get a good breakfast before we even thought about getting ready for the race.
Saturday road race 11 laps
After oiling up the legs the team and I headed out for a warm up before the Saturday road race that would be about 11 laps around the course. The race started out like a lot of road races and there were no big accelerations. In this leisurely period time I moved up the pack to get towards the front that way if I needed to do something I’d be in the right spot to respond. Going up the back section there were a few attacks but nothing got much distance until about 3 laps in where a few strong cat 2s attacked including Eric Benz and got some separation on the field. Now there was a group of about 4 riders off the front and we were still within an hour of the race start. I figured that there was no way the field was going to let such a strong group of riders go off the front like they did but I was wrong, and before I knew it I was trying to find a way to try to get someone from my team up to the break. Some teams tried to send a few riders to the front to try to bring it back, but the course wasn't smooth enough to get one single chase going, every time we got moving a hill would break up the pace. At one point the break was getting closer and was about 30 seconds up the road. Once it was this close Ian, Will, and I where alternating attacks to try to bridge up to the leaders. Will was the first to try to get across but he couldn't make it and floated back. I then launched a counter to try to get across and I was getting really close but I they looked back and saw me coming then upped the pace once they got to one of the flat sections of the course I then lost all the time I made on the uphill from coming across and floated back to the pack. Shortly after that Ian launched what would be the last hard effort from our team to try to get someone across but again we got close but the break was working too good to try to get there solo. After Ian came back Will and I were toasted and I had to sit in the pack for a couple laps to try to catch my breath and think of what I could do to try to get the next best result. It wasn't until with 2 laps to go Ian floated back and scolded at me to get back to the front, and he was right it was getting too close to the finish to sit back so I started to move up. By that point the pack had lost all interest in chasing down the break and obviously was content with sprinting for 5th place. Heading into the final lap Ian and me were riding strong near the front and where preparing for the field sprint. After the down hill at 51 mph we where 1 k from the line and things where getting heated. I tried my best to stay on Ian’s wheel to get some sort of boost in the sprint but before I knew it I lost contact with Ian's wheel and moved to the outside to prepare for the sprint. Once we got past the tree that marked about 500 m to go I moved all the way over to the far left side of the road and started drilling it, I started my sprint right before the base of the hill and was able to pass a few riders to snag 10th place.
After the race Ian, Will, and me had a long discussion over what we did wrong and how we can change it on Sundays race
Sunday road race 14 laps
Another race in the late afternoon means I got to sleep in and get as much rest as I needed. This morning I ate myself some eggs and bagels and me and the team proceeded to watch Zombie-Land with some of the GS Tenzing Jrs who we were sharing the house with. The race today was on a slightly shorter loop but the biggest difference was that there where some very strong winds blowing which favors me and the team a lot better than the windless race the day earlier. This race started off a lot harder than the day before with people attacking from the gun trying to get in an early break since the days conditions suited this a lot more. It was gutter fest the entire way up the climb. This helped me and the team move to the front of the pack. From the front we were all over every attack. We switched who covered the moves to make sure there was always a fresh set of legs in the break. At one point Will was in a 4-man break that got a small gap on the field. They were working pretty well together from what I saw. While Will was off the front, I positioned my self on third wheel and covered any bridge attempts. After the feed zone, it was obvious that the break was getting pulled back so I moved up to second wheel. The break was a mere 2 seconds off the front when we hit the steepest part of the climb. I shot out of the pack to put in my counter move. I was drilling it up the steepest part of the hill and looked back after I made it to the crosswind section and saw that my teammate Will Rader was on as well as Eric Benz (Team Brain and Spine Cycling), Colton Jarisch (GCCA) and Mario Arroyave (Velossimo) had made the split. These were same three guys from the break the day before. There where also a handful of other riders that made the break including Danny Parks (GS Tenzing) and Christopher Tricky (Wooly Mammoth). With this combination of riders, we had most of the teams represented. The remaining teams left in the field couldn't get organized to chase us in the crosswind. We quickly started to build a gap on the field and knew that we made the winning move. Once in the break got into a rhythm Will Rader was policing me to assure I didn't use too much energy at the beginning of the break and he took several hard pulls so I can sit in a little more. After several hard laps, Will pulled out of the break and fell back to the pack to block with Ian. By this time we only had 7 or 8 laps left. It was apparent that several riders in the break were feeling the fatigue of a long early break and the rotation that we had was falling apart on the hilly section. Me, Benz and Colton attacked the break a few times to try to get rid of the extra baggage, but nothing worked and we were just wasting matches. After a lap of no attacks Mario attacked and no one followed him. He got a small gap on us and it was slowly getting bigger as people in the break were hesitant to chase. We tried to rotate hoping that to bring him back, but were not successful. About a lap later Benz attacked on the flat section of the course, while I was sitting on second wheel, but no one responded. I believe everyone was looking at me to chase, but there was no way i was going to waste the rest of my strength chasing the cat 2 state TT champ. As Mario and Eric where going up the road, it became apparent that the best place I can hope for would be 3rd. With 2 laps to go I sat at the back of the break to try to save energy and figure out what I could try to do to make the last spot on the podium. Colton tried a few attacks to try to get the third place slot on this lap, but the break wasn't about to let a 3rd rider just ride away. That was until the start of the final lap, where I rolled off the front on the downhill after the feed zone. I was quickly attacked when the break made reconnection to my wheel but followed through with a hard counter. I opened a large gap and one solo rider came with me. The two of us worked pretty equally up the hill until we got through he descent. Once we were in the final 500 meters, he was sitting on my wheel hoping to pimp me at the line. I was prepared for this and moved as far right as I could to leave him in the gutter as I was speeding towards the finish. I started my sprint at the base of the hill. He was slowly starting to make ground on me but once we got into the final 20 meters he blew up and I was able to get third place by a Bike length.
This race played out perfectly for our team. Being on the top of the podium would have been nice, but me and my team are very happy with our podium placing. I have to give a special thanks to my VW teammates Will Rader and Ian Sewalt for their selfless teamwork and team tactics, which allowed us to get a podium slot for the race. I'm proud to be surrounded by such teammates. I’m confident we're going to do some great things as the season progresses.
I'd also like to thank Ronnie Strange and Kevin Kremke for giving me a ride to the race (Ronnie) and back to Houston (Kremke). I'd also like to thank Danny and his dad for letting me and the team stay at one of the cabins on the course.
