Tour Of Austin 2010

Tour of Austin P12

After another ride with my one of my favorite Pearland cyclists Ronnie Strange we arrived at the Driveway Race track where stage one of the tour of Austin will take place. This Stage is a 3.4 individual time trial on the famous driveway race car and crit course.

After heading up with Stranger Danger I was able to get all my stuff ready and find my team. The course was the big loop that used the top and the bottom of the course and. We had to do about two laps around it. After finding and hooking up with the team I proceeded to warm up on the trainer to get ready for the race. With the race being so short I wanted to be at the line warm and ready to roll. After a good 20-25 minute warm up I rolled over to the start ramp on was waiting for my start time.

Stage one 3.4 mile iTT

When the timer said Go I launched myself down the start ramp and sped into the first corner which officially got me on to the course. I got in my aero tuck and starting to put the hammer down. Heading down the back side of the course I put my bike in the bigger gear and spun as fast as I could to keep my speed up. I was holding nothing back since it was only two laps. Half way through the second lap I must have sounded like a oxygen deprived pack a day smoker as I was trying to get every bit of oxygen into my lungs to power me to the line.  I came across the line at full throttle putting in 100% into that effort. Later that night I found out that I finished 15^th doing the course in about 6:28:20in the Pro 1/2, my best 
result in this field all year.

Stage two 50 mile Criterium

The course for the first crit in the race was the same venue as the one that we raced the TT bikes on the day before. The race Started off very fast and we were quickly doing well over 35mph on the back stretch. My goal in this race was to just do what my team wanted me to do which was to follow and sit on wheels. The racecourse was very fast but the roads were so wide that the speed didn’t help string it out that much and everyone was able to stay in contact with the field for the most part. As the race progressed I could feel that my legs were getting worn out from the very high speed going down the back side ever y lap and my Jr gear restrictions weren’t helping me ether. By the time the race came down to the final couple laps I tried my best to get to the front to help out my team in any way I could but The course was too wide and fast for me and I ended up pulling off on the final lap as things started to get sketchy in the field.

Stage three 90 min e’stigma criterium

With the completion of the first two stages of the tour of Austin complete. My teammate Andrew Gonzales was sitting third in the omnium race and the goal was to try to keep the race together so he can sprint for maximum points on the line. The race started out very fast as most of the races do with attacks going from the gun from all the big teams. I found myself in the middle of a strung out pack and trying to get to the front. By the time I got to the front of the race the race already had a break off the front with a few riders from every team including Brett Crosby from Metro Volkswagen.  Even though we had a guy in the break I still told by the team to get to the front to try to bring everything back together so Gonzo had a chance to win maximum points in the sprint. I was at the front with a couple other teammates in a rotation at the front of the field. I was taking pulls as long as I could trying to bring back the group that was about one minute off the front of us. After a few laps of being in the rotation I could feel that my legs were starting to feel the sting of a long 90 minute race. After a couple rotations at the front there was a lul in the pace and a few riders attacked and formed a chase group. One of these riders was Gonzo who was the rider that we were trying to get the win for. I took a breather and sat near the front of the pack taking a few pulls until I pulled off on the final straight away knowing I contributed to the team and had no energy to contribute to the final sprint. The main break was never caught but Brett won from the lead group, Gonzo finished third in the chase getting so valuable omnium points and Tyler Jewell won the field sprint. It was a good day for the team.

Stage four 90 minute ‘Pickle Criterium’

After Gonzo Performance yesterday in the crit he moved tied for a podium position in the omnium, so the primary goal of the team was to try to get him on the first place pedestal. Something that would take a lot of hard work and maybe a little bit of luck. By the time the race started the weather was very hot with the temperature already past 100 degrees and the wind was picking up from a small storm that just went through. When the race started I could feel the fatigue from already racing 3 days before and didn’t know exactly how my body would respond to this race. The race was extremely hard. Harder than any other previous race I have ever done before. Every lap there was a long up hill and a downhill which were both on the cross wind sections of the course. The race started out with a bang and every lap I found my self sprinting with everything I could to try to stay in contact with the group going up the hardest section of the course. I tried my best to get to the front but I couldn’t find the energy to move up after a couple laps of sprinting up the hard side. Every time I tried to move up I got blasted by the strong head wind and ended up losing even more spots that if I just hung on. I lasted at this pace for about 28 minutes before I just unhitched from the pack and rode to the side of the road to try to breath. This was by far the hardest race I ever started.

Hotter than Hell Weekend

Hotter than hell 100 pro 1 cat 2

After a smooth start to a new school year it was time to drive up north to race the Hotter than Hell 100. This race consisted of a crit Friday night, a 100 mile road race Saturday morning and a crit Sunday afternoon. I went up to Wichita Falls with fellow Pearland rider Ronnie strange as well as a few of the racers from Texas San Jose racing team, including Carlos Varges and Travis Brant.

                  When we arrived at the convention center to pick up our race numbers and packets the entire place was filled with racers as well as riders that will be doing the 100 mile charity ride that goes off after the racers start.

Crit 1: 

The Friday night race was a very fast course with tons of people watching the race from all around, when the race started it started off really fast and I found myself in the middle quick a moving peloton. I quickly found myself in a position where I needed to move to the front to be ready to follow attacks and help out my team in any way possible. After spending almost twenty minutes moving up a few riders at a time I finally made it to the front fifteen riders where I wanted to be. Things were going smooth for me in terms of positioning but I was starting to feel the pain of holding my position and the race was still far from being over. At about forty minutes into the race I could feel all my energy going away and starting losing positions as I drifted back to the back of the strung out field. Once I made it to the back I gave it one last push to try to stay connected with the field but the speed was too high and I came off the back of the pack and rolled in.

In terms of cycling I thought I did great in terms of pack control and being where I wanted to be, I just didn’t have the energy or snap to stay with the pack in the ending half of the race.

RR: The Hotter than hell 100 is was going to be my first 100 mile road race and I was excited for this event. The race started out very fast as we left the neighborhood. We were cruising down the road at 30 plus like it was no one’s business. For the first couple of hours I pretty much just rode in the middle front of the pack trying to stay out of trouble and stay sheltered from the wind that was lightly blowing. With still about 30-40 miles left in the race a break went off the front with a few riders from every team including my teammate Russ “big daddy” Walker.  Back in the pack however all the teams seemed content with letting that break go off the front so there was no big chase to bring everyone back together. As we hit the final 10 miles of the race my team had a rotating pace line going at the front of the pack and I jumped in to help out the best I can. We kept things under control for the next 20 minutes before some of the other teams started bringing their riders to the front for the lead out in the final 2 miles. I tried to move back to the front to try to help out my team with a final push our sprinter. As I was moving up in the final k there was a big crash right in front of me on the overpass. I slammed on my breaks and was able to get around it without falling. However by the time I got my rhythm going the field was in full sprint mode and I just rode in the final 900m easy to try to save some energy for the third race of the weekend. From the break that stayed away Big Daddy took a solo win. It was great day for the team.

Crit2: The start of crit number two was set in the middle of the day by the convention center. It was very very hot and even windier; the course its self didn’t look that complex but with the high winds it was going to be pretty hard. The race started out very fast like I knew it would, I quickly found myself in the back end of the field at the mercy of the riders at the front. Every lap I tried to move up but anytime we hit the strong crosswind section I could feel that I was losing positions to the stronger riders. After what felt like an endless circle of laps I was on the tail end of the group getting whipped around as I tried to hold contact with the group. Once the race was in the final 20-30 minutes I lost contact with the group and was quickly off the back in the strong cross wind section. I pulled off a lap later to prevent getting heat exhaustion.

Recap: I defiantly feel like I had a good weekend with a lot of positive reinforcement.  Mostly in terms of working with my team in the road race and being able to move around better in the pack.

Special thanks to my team and sponsors for allowing me to race this race with them. Another thanks to Ronnie Strange for Driving me all the way from Pearland for this race and Kyle Anderson and his parents for allowing me and some of the team to stay at their house over the weekend.