Tulsa Tough:
My first 100 person field came in June when I flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma to compete in the three day race event called Tulsa Tough. My first race was Friday evening and I was probably just as nervous as excited! The city takes huge pride in this annual event and it seemed the entire city was out to watch. There must have been over 5,000 people out to enjoy the racing (and the wrecks) and the local vendors selling food and brews. After few warm up laps it was time to line up and give it a go! ASU cycling Coach Sean Weddell was there with me and also his wife Melissa and many of my friends and family were watching the live stream online so I knew I needed to try and put on a show. The bell rang and we were off. Heart beating out off control as we flew into the first turn, wheels rubbing wheels and shoulders leaning on shoulders. Every chance I could I was trying to move up and find a new wheel to follow. Every lap it got faster and people started fighting more and more at the front of the race. The faster it got and the closer to the end it got, the more people were willing to take chances and lay it all on the line for a win. This always increases the chance for wrecks as the emotions overtake the idea of safety. For most of the race it seemed I was hanging on the very back but I was actually mid pack unable to see the front of the race nor the end of the race. Sean kept yelling for me to move up and I was giving it everything I had to try. It was painfully fast and hot as hell (97 degrees) and the idea of dropping out definetely crossed my mind a few times but I have never been able to accept quitting as an option. I had no idea how I could move up when I was in 50th and needed to be riding top 10 going into the last few laps especially when the front of the race was an entire turn ahead of me and out of sight. I thought about how privileged I was to be here and about my future aspirations and somehow found some hidden strength and dug real deep to kick it up another gear. During the last 5 laps I consistently moved up a spot every chance I saw an opening. It got super hectic and I continuously heard the sound of wrecks behind and beside me as carbon and metal slid across the road with people attached. The bell finally rang for the last lap and there I was sitting top 10 ready to give it a go for the win! Unfortunately one of the guys leading the race wrecked in the next to last turn and I lost a few spots but still managed a 12th place finish which I was very ecstatic about! It was a true experience in and of itself. It gave me confidence going into the next two days of racing. On Saturday I tried a few times for a breakaway but never managed to get to far away from the field and had nothing left in my legs at the end finishing 50th. Sunday had the famous "Cry Baby Hill" and I knew that it would be an extremely tough race from the start. Every lap the field would lose a person or two and by the end half the field would be gone. I stayed top 5 for the majority of the race and tried everything I could but just didnt have enough on the final lap to take the win finishing 15th. Reflecting back if I had raced a little smarter I could have more than likely won the race and collected a pretty huge paycheck but hindsight is always 20/20 right? None the less I was proud of my accomplishments having finished top 15 in two out of the three races in my first test on the national level without any teammates!
Tour of America's Dairyland:
Mom and I took off on a two week vacation (maybe you can call it that?) to America's Dairyland aka Wisconsin. I was taking part in ToAD which was a 10 day stage race featuring 8 criteriums, 1 road race and 1 time trial. This would be an entirely new experience racing for 10 straight days with no breaks. I went to the Tour hoping to get three top 10's. The first few days, the racing was hectic and guys seemed to be wrecking and doing silly things for no reason. This was frustrating along with the fact I was not getting the results yet that I was hoping for. Finally on the third day I broke through and grabbed a 7th place finish and gained some confidence and reassurance that I am capable of racing in these huge fields in which every rider is as strong or stronger than me. I would also go on the grab two more top 10 finishes in the next three days with a 6th place in the Shlitz Criterium and a 6th place in the Ripon TT. During the Downer Classic in Milwaukee, I was riding with sky high confidence with my recent results and the fact that my collegiate teammate Clayton Omer was racing with me. Either one of us or both of us were in every breakaway of the day and both of us were riding extremely well with a high finish quickly approaching. Unfortunately a wreck took out at least a third of the field with three laps remaining including myself. Clayton was able to avoid the wreck and go on to finish 9th. The 10th stage and final race was the Madison Capital Criterium which was laps around the state capital building. I was set to get a break to stick on the final day and attacked with 2 others on a preme lap in which they sat up after the preme but I decided to test my legs and go solo. I spent quite a few laps off the front giving it everything my legs had left in them after 10 days of racing but it was not enough to stay away and I eventually got reeled in by the field with 5 laps to go. All together it was a great 10 days of racing and spending time with my "cheesehead" family that lives in Green Bay. My goal of three top 10's had been accomplished and my experience seemed to grow each day.
Zooming through a turn!
People's Community Bank Omnium:
A few friends and I went to Tennessee at the end of May to race the People's Community Bank Omnium that included a road race that finished with an 8 mile climb up Roan Mtn, a individual time trial and a downtown Johnson City criterium. I was going into the race with pretty good fitness following the collegiate season and thought I had a legit shot at winning the omnium overall. Saturday morning was the road race and we camped on top of Roan Mtn on Friday evening to be real close to the start of the race. The field stayed together to the base of the climb beside a break away of three (that would all die on the climb as we went flying past them) but unfortunately my legs sucked and a few guys rode away from me a few miles into the climb. I then got in a rhythm and went my own pace but they were long gone. I finally made it to the top of the climb at 6,000 ft in 9th place and was glad to see a buffet of food and drinks waiting my arrival (my roommate Derek had a great day finishing the road race in 4th). Not doing as good as I was capable of in the road race meant I had my work cut out for me in the remaining TT and crit. If it wasn't already hard enough for me to have a chance to win the omnium after the road race then missing my start for the time trial by 25 seconds didn't help either. Luckily I am pretty decent at TT's and my legs were feeling good unlike the road race and I was able to finish 7th even though I started 25 seconds down compared to everyone else. After the first two events I was sitting 7th overall in the omnium and knew from calculating the points that there was only one way to win the omnium was to win the criterium the final day. It was a big task but coming into the race winning 3 out of my last 4 criteriums (Duke Crit, Wake Forest Crit and Matt Witting Memorial Crit in Wisconsin) I was confident that it was still an achievable goal. After riding a few warmup laps I could tell that it was perfect for a breakaway if the right people got together because there were some tight and turny sections that a breakaway could go through much faster than the main field. During the first few laps of the race I sat on the front and tried to make it fast but no one else seemed to want to help. I then decided to sit in for a lap and recover then put in a strong move and try to ride off the front. So on the 5th lap I attacked the field and got a gap of 30 seconds or so. When I came back around on the next lap I saw that the lap counter had been put up and we had 22 laps remaining. SHIT! Here I am needing to win this race yet I am in a breakaway by myself with a lot of laps remaining. I was stuck in a tough spot trying to decide if I should go back to the field or if should try to go solo for the remainder of the race. I decided to go for it! I put my head down and just started pushing my pedals over as fast as I possibly could. Every lap hurt more and more but each lap was one closer to the finish line and one in which I was still in the the drivers seat headed for the win. Suffering is one of the hardest things to describe but to me it is like the name of John Mellencamp's song "Hurt So Good". It was hurting to be in a solo break but I was damn sure that winning would feel so, so good. I just kept finding things every lap to motivate me just that little bit more and it worked! I came across the finish line 40 seconds ahead of the field for the solo win! Not only did I win the criterium but I also won the omnium! My first omnium victory!
Tour de Toona:
Just this past weekend Reid, Derek and I went up to Altoona, PA for the International Tour de Toona which is the largest Pro-Am bike race in the United States. We were doing a 75 mile road race on Saturday with two huge climbs and a total of 6,000 ft of climbing throughout the race. Doing a lot of hour long criteriums all summer made the length of the road race become a real shock to my legs. It was extremely hot and lack of food during the race caused me to have to fight cramps off in the late stages of the race. A breakaway of two had escaped early in the race but I was in the first chase group of 10 riders. We were unable to catch the two but came real close. I was unable to contest the others in my group for the sprint because of cramps so I coasted in for 12th place which I was pleased with considering my conditions. Derek would finish 26th and Reid would finish 6th in his race. The following day in the crit I had no cramps and was active at the front the entire day. I ran over a nail half way through which flatted my tubular so I had to grab a Zipp wheel from SRAM's neutral support and was able to hop back into the field with no penalty. I then tried a breakaway with Jacob Aber, a Virginia Tech rider but after a few laps we were reeled back in. The field ended up staying together setting up a field sprint for the win. I was sitting perfectly in 4th place in the final turn ready to sprint for the win when all of a sudden the guy I was following slid out causing me to wreck at 32 mph but luckily when I flipped over him I was able to embrace my fall by landing on a wall of hay. So what could have possibly been a victory and a shot at the omnium ended real quickly in the final turn. But that is how it goes sometimes, you win some and you lose some.
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Quote of the Day: "Dream Big and Make it Happen!" -Carla Swart
