Tour of New Braunfels and Team Camp 2011

It has been a long and hectic off-season but the race season is about to officially start up again at Tour of New Braunfels. This race isn’t to important in terms of finishing because it is the start of the season for me, but a great chance to meet some of the new racers on  my newly revamped FCS Cycling team for 2011.

After a short 3 hour drive to New Braunfels with Bike Barn racer and friend Wally Groda I was picked up by Team Director Tim Redus and James Karthauser. Two guys I have gotten to know over the years of my cycling through coaching, development camp, and Tour de L’Abitibi. Once I got to the team house we were staying at I quickly met the racers of the team that would be with me this weekend. This includes Tucker Gerald, Cody Foster, Stephan Hirsch, Booey Hottenstein, Jake Boone, and Jack Funk. Will Rader and Zach Noonen weren’t able to make it to the race/camp this weekend.

Omloop 2/3s

Team Dome

The weather was perfect for the first race of the year. Light Winds and the temperature in the 60s. This first race is a short circuit race around a small 2-3 mile loop for 50 minutes.  The race started out very calm and speed was slowly picked up as the momentum of the field started going. We started with a large group of over 60 riders and must have been one of the bigger fields of the day. As the race progressed I was able to move up with my teammates Jake and Booey towards the front of the field to try to get a good position.  We wanted to be in the front early in order to respond to anything that could have the potential to stay away. Once we were up there I felt moderately comfortable in the pack but I could tell that my pack handling skills weren’t up to par. Booey and Jake seemed pretty comfortable being towards the front of the group with me. As the race progressed we as a team tried to stay in the field and conserve energy for the sprint. Every once in a while Jake or me would follow a wheel into a small break that would quickly get reeled in on the very fast smooth course. On the final lap about a mile and a half from the finish line it was time to get in a position for the sprint. I worked up the left hand side of the pack on the downhill section and got right behind Jake who has been riding in the top 10 the entire race. He saw me get behind him and immediately gets to the front to drill it to the line in order to give me a lead out. When he started to hammer I was pushed off of his wheel by another racer and was out of the draft. I continued to fight for position but was now sitting 4^th wheel and slightly in the wind to the left of the line. Jake continued to drill it all the way to the to the 350 meters mark. At this point I could see racers starting to come around me in my peripherals. I get out of the saddle to try to push it to the line before I get boxed in. About 2 pedal strokes into my sprint I had to do some emergency braking as Jake pulled off to the left and got directly in front of me as he floated back from his lead out. I desperately looked for an out but I lost too much speed and started floating backwards behind my teammate.  Both Jake and me ended rolling in with the back end of the pack. Fortunately Booey was able to get a top 10 with a 7^th place for the team in the race.

After the race the team and me met up and discussed what happened. The Team raced phenomenally, the only fault I could see is I just wasn’t aggressive enough when I needed to hold Jakes wheel and I kind of let a top finish just get out of my reach. Nonetheless It was a great race and an awesome season opener. The team and I rode back to our team “dome” where we spent the rest of the day eating, and relaxing.

Road race P 1/2s

From the moment I got out of the team van I knew that today was going to hurt. The wind was blowing a still 15-20 mph and the course offered little protection and I had 72 miles of racing to complete. In this race I would be racing with my Cat 1 teammates Tucker, Cody, and Stephan who I didn’t race with the day before.

I ended up getting a really poor starting position in the race and found my self in the back half of the pack in what I personally thought was a very slow start. As the race started rolling I kept trying to find a way to move up towards the front but I wasn’t finding any open gaps. It wasn’t until after the feed zone on the first of six laps that the cross winds started to move riders around. The wind started shearing at the pack coming across our right shoulders and pushing the group closer and closer to the yellow line. I was trying my hardest to hold my position and move up but the speed was slowly getting faster. I desperately tried to spin my gears to hold any draft I could but I was getting closer and closer to crossing that yellow line and risk getting penalized, or worst get my team disqualified.  I quickly tried to start a second echelon in the back of the group as a last chance to try to get a draft going but as more riders tried to work with me the more and more they ended up putting me back in the gutter. I looked up to see in my horror that I was now off the back of the race on the first lap with half of the pack in the incoming traffic lane. I quickly got as low as I could and kept pedaling. I was able to form a small group of 5 and then we were able to catch onto the back of the main field in the head wind. As soon as we made the connection I was able to move up to the front of the thinned out-group and find my teammates. The next two laps felt a little bit easier now that there was an established break off the front and my teammate Stephan was in a chase group trying to get across. However every time we got into the crosswind section after the feed zone I kept getting pushed into the gutter and over the yellow line. I refused to go across it fearing I could end up getting my team penalized. However it was this following of the rules that got me off the back a second time in the race. After getting dislodged from the group a second time there was nothing I could do to try to get my legs to work. I was officially off the back. I completed the lap I was on and pulled out of the race a lap early. I was fried and defeated by the winds of central Texas.

After the race I got with my team to discuss what went on in the race. All of us missed the break that stuck and the chase group with Stephan was caught around the same time I was ejected off the back of the group. However it turns out that the entire main field was disqualified from the race from continued yellow line infringement. Something that I was afraid would happen just by watching the strung out-group take up the entire road without concern for incoming traffic. None the less it was a fun race while it lasted and gave me a sneak peek of what I should expect from the P1 /2 races of the year. I cannot wait to head out for my next race with better legs and more confidence to get a better result.