Arms to the Sky

Saturday was the Hugo Road Race which my team Swift Cycling puts on. The Cat 4s had a 90 rider field limit which filled up by preregistration the week before. There were a total of 579 racers with 512 finishers. I had an awesome 2 weeks of training prior to this race which had me feeling confident and my legs feeling strong. Chaz, Jeremy, and Matt lined up with me for the race. We had to start on the last row, because we were late to the start line due to our volunteer responsibilites. With no warm-up, we headed out and spent the next 18 miles trying to weave our way to the front. I was only able to get up to about 50th before the first turn. After the turn, things strung out a bit and I was able to move up a little further. At this point guys were starting to open gaps from the crosswind and rollers and there was a lot of heavy breathing, so I decided I better move up quick. I saw Matt move into the wind and head for the front, so I jumped on his wheel and we went all the way to the front, then drifted left and slowed down to enjoy the draft. This is where our team finally got back together and hung out until the 2nd turn. After the second turn (now with a left right cross/headwind) the pace picked up a bit as a few riders got off the front through the feed zone. I had drifted back again so Matt pulled Chaz and I back up to the top 10. From here I settled into the pack about 20th, while Matt, Chaz, and Jeremy patrolled the front. Chaz and Jeremy got in some short breaks while Matt blocked. Once Chaz got caught he drifted back and told me to make sure I was in the to 20 going into the last turn as all hell would break loose. Sure enough it did. We now had a cross/tailwind and the pace was crazy 30+ for the last 8 miles. The pack instantly split with me sitting on the back of the main group of 30 riders. Eventually 20 more got back on. Chaz came by and I got on his wheel, then Jeremy came on my right so I jumped on his wheel , and this is where I spent the next 7 miles. Chaz was right next to me giving me the distance as my odometer stopped working and I wasn't familiar with the finish. 5 miles, 4 miles, Move up, 3 miles, etc. With about 2 miles to go the pace picked up again and Jeremy started moving me up. We were sitting about 25th, when he started to hammer and I just sat on his wheel as we kept moving up. We were about 1k out when there was an acceleration on the left and things started to split up. At that point Jeremy went all out to get me to the front, with about 500 meters I yelled for him to move left as he detonated, and I was now sitting 4th. A CPT rider jumped at this point and got a good 15 meter gap so I started to close It but came next to another guy so I sat back down to see if he was going to go or not, because I didn't want him to jump on my wheel. One look at him and I knew he was cooked so I started again. The last guy in front of me saw me coming, but couldn't accelerate, and at that point I knew I was going to win. I came by him and had a couple bike lengths and time to throw my arms up and get my first win. Finishing time of 2:39:36 for 64 miles with and avg speed of just over 24mph if my math is correct. Matt finished 11th, Chaz 16th, and Jeremy 48th. The results moved our team into 3rd place for the Best All Around Team Competition. I can't thank my teammates enough. It was great to finally see all the hard work pay off. I also wanted to thank my coach Mark Legg for helping me get to this point. Next up is the Dead Dog Classic this weekend and the team is now really motivated which is nice. Unfortunately we will only have 4 of us instead of the 7 we were expecting. I'm just excited to finally work together as a team and actually race.