Let me start by saying that this is one of the biggest criteriums in the nation. There were more than 40,000 spectators and $60,000 on the line for the finish as well as prime laps. So as far as money goes, this IS the biggest criterium in the nation.  I started the race in the back again. This is becoming a recurring theme for me in these big races. I think the race for a good starting position is about as tough as the race itself, and with 20 or more riders called to the front, it gets pretty difficult. Maybe subconsciously my warm up timing is more important to me than my starting position. This is an eight turn dumbbell shaped loop, with two right turns and 6 lefts. The strait aways pass each other, which is crazy when a breakaway is off the front because the breakaway riders go right by you in the opposite direction. I lost a bottle after hitting a pothole in turn 4 just before the first strait away. It popped out and fell between my calf and crank arm. So I stopped pedaling in a failed attempt to recover it, which left me scrambling to hang on to the last wheel of the line. There were 137 starters and I was sitting 137th. I didn’t panic, but three bottles would have been nice instead of two considering the heat that night and my problem with cramps. In the back of the group you get the YOYO effect. Basically the front keeps a steady 30mph through the turns and straits.  When you are in the back, it bunches up and gets slow in the turns, which means to catch up on the straits you have to accelerate to 35-40mph. This for most riders is a dead sprint! I knew this would happen over and over until my race was over if I didn’t move up.  After the 40mph sprint through the straits, I would simply keep digging as the pack came back to bunch up, and see how many people I could pass before slamming the breaks and finding a good line through the turns. I feel like I almost wrecked at least once a lap. By the 30 minute mark, I moved up behind the front bubble. I think I made up the term bubble, referring to the large circle shaped group in the front of the race. There is usually a short line of attacking riders or a lead out just in front of this bubble, and a very long line of struggling riders behind it, simply trying to hang on. The bubble is a comfortable spot. You cannot participate in the race behind it but getting in front of it is a challenge. You have to either squeeze past it in the gutter and hope you don’t get pinched out or move around it at 40 mph when it gets lined up. I chose the gutter route and made it. Now we are down to business. It’s not easy in the front either because you are going with attacks, behind single riders, or simply fighting to squeeze into line with your head in the wind. I stayed in the front for a good deal of the race and even attacked the United Health Care lead out train and bridged to a failed attempt at a breakaway. UHC bullied the race in the likes of HTC, just as a good sprinter team should. They went with and sat on all the break away attempts.  With 15 laps to go, they started increasing the tempo as the finish got closer. I tried to shove myself into this beautiful UHC choo choo, but one by one each rider in the train simply placed their hand on my hip and pulled himself past me, until I was with the other 15 riders fighting for the tail end of the train. Jonathon Cantwell stayed glued to that train like a champion and got cut off in the sprint.  I guess that is the benefit of having the lead out train and sprinting from the front. I lost position late, and in the last few laps it only got worse. The pace got faster as I cramped more and more. As I went around left hand turns my left hamstring would cramp. Then I would turn right, and my right one would lock up. I would have to stand through some of the curves, which is not safe or efficient. There were twice as many left turns as rights. This might explain why my left hamstring still feels pulled. In the last lap, I was simply closing gap after gap until the gap seemed too big to close. I looked back and had about 12 followers.  I slowed up, went to the back of my group and then sprinted past the majority of them in the finishing strait. The payout went 30 riders deep. I finished 29th. I was much more pleased with the way I felt and raced than the 29th place finish and the 85 bucks that came with it. I know I can race with these guys, and that is a good feeling. I want to especially thank Jim Brock and Will Hibberts for all of their training help lately. Jim has a funny way of pushing me to my very limits on the bike. 😉  Hope everyone enjoyed the helmet cam video.

Last night when we finally made it back to Birmingham, I couldn’t sleep so I went ahead and analyzed and posted my power and heartrate data. Here are my race reports:

2011 Athens Twilight Summary
Pat Allison and I were the two Tria riders in the race. Pat started at the back of the front group, and I started near the front of the back group, so we ended up starting not too far apart. I was lucky because the guy in front and to the left of me couldn’t clip in which opened up a whole in front of him that allowed me to pass a bunch of people right from the line. I was able to then work my way towards the front by about 20 laps into the race. Pat was just behind me when there was a crash in turn 1. I hit the rider who was on the ground in front of me and flipped up in the air. I came down onto my hand, chin, and knee. I blew out my front tire when I collided with the rider, so I was put back into the race with a new front wheel. Pat also got caught up in the crash. When we got placed back in, Pat went in a lap earlier than me towards the back of the group. I went in a lap later after the mechanics had changed out my flat wheel and gotten my shifters straightened out. They put me back in towards the front 1/3rd of the group. My wrist was really sore, but I was still able to pull up on the handlebars hard enough on the backside hill and fight for position towards the front of the field. I felt great and was always able to pass riders over the top of the backside hill. With 10 laps to go, there was a $100 prime, and as soon as I saw that nobody was sprinting for the prime, I attacked hard up the left side clearing the UHC train just in time to take the prime. I had a lot of momentum, so I went ahead and rolled off the front and stayed away until the top of the hill on the backside of the course. Then I fought hard for position and ended up 26th. Pat used a lot of energy moving back up after getting put back into the race and was still able to fight to finish 47th.

It is so hard to describe the atmosphere surrounding this race, you have to be there and experience it to really appreciate what it is like. With Chad Andrews announcing the race and getting everybody pumped up and over 30,000 people lining the streets, beer gardens, parking decks, hotels, loft windows, bar/restaurant open air second levels all screaming and cheering added to a race that averages 30mph all under the lights, it is easily the biggest adrenaline rush of the entire season. This year’s race was super smooth except for the one crash in turn #1 that unfortunately was just ahead of me. It was definitely the highest average speed for me. My friends Ashley and Stephen from Birmingham (who both graduated from UGA) drove up from Birmingham to watch the race! How cool is that! It was awesome to hear people all the way around the course cheering for me and for my teammate Pat. Thank you everyone!!!! I always tell people that if there is one race of the year to see what fast criterium racing is all about, it would be the Athens Twilight race.

Here are some videos and pics that my wife took:

Just after finishing – evidence of crash – landing on someone else’s chainring

Picture sent to the kids before the race. They loved it! The kids were staying with the Luncefords who have graciously hosted us every year for the past 4 years! The kids and us look forward to Twilight every year to enjoy the weekend together.

2011 Roswell Criterium Summary
This is normally a safe Pro/1/2 race, but this year there were numerous crashes. I was involved in two of them, and also broke a spoke on Turn #4. That meant that I was in the pit three times during the first half of the race. The first crash that I was in could be described as a fender bender with me running into the back end of the crash. I was able to clip out and catch myself before falling. The second crash was in the exact same spot with riders getting tangled up in front of me on the outside of Turn #2. Neither of them went down, but when they tried to untangle themselves one of them swerved right into me and took me straight into the barriers. My bike stopped for a moment, and I kept going forward flipping through the air. As soon as I knew I was ejected off the bike, I tucked up into a ball and fortunately landed partially on the air cushion that was being used as a barrier. My bike then continued on past me as my rear derailleur had gotten tangled up with somebody else’s bike. I had to walk forward to retrieve my bike. My rear derailleur was really bent, so when I made it back to the pit I was able to get a SRAM neutral bike to restart the race. With about 35 minutes left to go in the race, there was a nasty crash towards the top of the backside hill. It was a Tour de France style crash with the peloton bunched up together and riders in the middle getting tangled up and then taking down everyone near them blocking the entire road. The spectators moved the barriers to help the riders in the back (including me) get around, but when we made it back to the start/finish, the race had been neutralized with an ambulance on the course. I was pretty shaken up from my crash earlier in the race and after not being able to move very far up, I drifted towards the back where I proceeded to cramp up with a lap to go and eased up to cross the finish line behind the main field. There was another crash on the last turn in the last lap, but I was so far back I didn’t see what happened. I just saw riders picking themselves up off the ground after it was over.

Here is a video that my wife took early on in the race: (Look how big the field is!!! I guess that might explain why there were so many crashes)

Also, here are couple good pics that Dave Gearhart got of me in the pit at Roswell…

After breaking spoke, mechanic bends derailleur back into place and gives me a new rear wheel.

Mechanic helps push me up the hill back into the peloton. This was painful pulling on the bars with sore wrist. I definitely appreciated the help!!!

Power and heartrate data from Athens and Roswell

Here are my Athens Twilight lap split times from Strava:
http://app.strava.com/rides/496428

Name 		MI 	FT 	MPH 	PW 	HR 	Time 
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	12.3	64	110	0:03:03
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	26.2	371	166	0:01:26
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	454	178	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	433	179	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	510	180	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	31.8	461	177	0:01:11
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	463	177	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	31.3	528	181	0:01:12
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	32.2	511	181	0:01:10
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	429	181	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	440	181	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.5	468	183	0:01:22
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	32.2	503	183	0:01:10
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	466	181	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.5	395	183	0:01:22
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	472	180	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	389	182	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	457	181	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.9	451	182	0:01:13
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	443	182	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	32.2	476	181	0:01:10
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	470	180	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.8	21	6.2	204	164	0:06:03
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.9	446	179	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	468	180	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.9	470	179	0:01:13
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	473	181	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.9	414	178	0:01:13
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	471	179	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	461	181	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	438	181	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	451	181	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	479	179	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	438	185	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	449	177	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	491	181	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.7	21	29.7	436	180	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	348	175	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	32.2	412	178	0:01:10
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.2	454	178	0:01:20
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	375	173	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	466	173	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	450	176	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.5	431	176	0:01:22
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.9	363	175	0:01:21
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.1	413	179	0:01:15
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	445	179	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.9	400	176	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.6	368	171	0:01:19
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	383	167	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.2	364	168	0:01:23
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	410	173	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.9	367	173	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.6	402	169	0:01:19
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	400	169	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	458	173	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.9	409	175	0:01:13
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	406	174	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	27.5	394	174	0:01:22
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	456	176	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	31.3	417	174	0:01:12
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.9	453	175	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	487	176	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	443	175	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.2	407	176	0:01:20
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.9	413	176	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.6	409	186	0:01:19
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	413	179	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.3	456	178	0:01:17
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	28.6	379	178	0:01:19
Athens (1 lap) 	0.7	21	28.9	408	177	0:01:18
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	29.7	405	177	0:01:16
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	31.3	431	181	0:01:12
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.5	457	183	0:01:14
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	30.9	510	185	0:01:13
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	33.2	545	187	0:01:08
Athens (1 lap) 	0.6	21	2.6	72	137	0:14:16

And here are my Roswell lap split times from Strava:
http://app.strava.com/rides/502567

Name 		MI 	FT 	MPH 	PW 	HR 	Time 
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	26.6	367	155	0:02:05
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.9	429	166	0:01:59
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.7	472	169	0:01:52
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	30.2	470	171	0:01:50
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	13.9	388	166	0:03:59
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.7	448	168	0:01:52
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.7	426	166	0:02:00
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.1	427	170	0:01:54
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.9	463	172	0:01:55
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	13.8	176	151	0:04:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27	394	165	0:02:03
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.5	406	167	0:02:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	26.6	385	168	0:02:05
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.5	400	171	0:02:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.1	420	171	0:01:58
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.4	437	174	0:01:53
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.1	475	172	0:01:54
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.1	411	169	0:01:58
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.9	409	168	0:01:55
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	9.2	197	152	0:06:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.7	434	163	0:02:00
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.6	481	172	0:01:56
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.9	448	171	0:01:55
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	12.2	192	153	0:04:33
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	26.6	390	156	0:02:05
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.7	487	169	0:01:52
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	26.8	363	171	0:02:04
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.5	454	171	0:02:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.1	432	170	0:01:58
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	28.6	483	169	0:01:56
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	26.6	410	168	0:02:05
Roswell(1 lap) 	1	22	27.5	492	169	0:02:01
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.9	444	171	0:01:59
Roswell(1 lap) 	1	22	29.1	452	168	0:01:54
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.2	419	166	0:02:02
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27	417	168	0:02:03
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.7	463	175	0:02:00
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.1	449	168	0:01:54
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	29.9	514	168	0:01:51
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	27.2	413	165	0:02:02
Roswell(1 lap) 	0.9	22	21.7	208	148	0:02:33

Wow, what a great day! This picture about says it all. My teammate Pat Allison won the Pro/1/2/3 race, and I managed to hold on for 3rd after putting in an attack on the last hill. Travis Sherman rode strong to finish 2nd after having won the Masters 30+ race earlier in the day.

Summary
Before I go into the details from the races, here is a quick summary. We fielded large teams for both the Masters 30+ race and the Pro/1/2/3 race. My teammate Wes Douglas made it into an early break with Joe Ruf from Madison and Travis Sherman (Marx and Bensdorf). Wes eventually took third with Travis taking the win. I attacked with two laps to go and then broke away from our chase group to take 4th.

For the Pro/1/2/3 race, we took 1st (Pat Allison), 3rd (Me), 6th (Terry Duran), 7th (Stuart Lamp), and 9th (Darryl Seelhorst). Pat and I bridged up to the winning break on the 2nd lap, and for a while we had five guys in the break. Eventually we finished with 3 guys in the break working our numbers perfectly to get the win!

The details – Masters 30+
For the Masters 30+ race, we lined up with six guys and were aggressive throughout the race. Wes made it into the day’s winning breakaway with Travis and Joe from Madison. Once their break was established, I decided to sit in and mark the strong guys to get the free ride across if they attacked. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much attacking so we lost our advantage in numbers as Wes was on his own to battle it out with Travis and Joe. With three laps to go, one of the Pacesetter Steel riders attacked hard, and I covered it. But the pack was still fresh enough to reel us back in. Then with two laps to go, I drifted to the back and then attacked into the headwind after the first turn. I bridged to another Pacesetter Steel rider who was already off the front bringing Will Hibberts (Alabama Masters) and Travis Werts (Sonic) with me. We worked together for a lap, but then I was feeling that our pace wasn’t fast enough so I attacked again on the last lap. Only Travis Werts was able to come with me and then came off on the last hill. So I rolled in for fourth. Sammy did well in the field sprint for 10th.

2011 Barbers Masters 30+ heartrate summary

2011 Barbers Masters 30+ heartrate data

The details – Pro/1/2/3
We had eleven guys line up for the start of this race. I think that is the most riders we have ever had in one race! We raced this race pretty much to perfection as we were attacking and covering everything. I countered one of Stuart’s attacks at the end of the first lap and only managed to string out the field. Coming through the start/finish, there was a counter attack to my attack and we had 3 guys cover the move — Terry, Darryl, and Paul. Also in the break were Travis Werts, Travis Sherman, and Joe Ruf from Madison. The break was working well together and starting to establish itself. Meanwhile, back in the group we took turns covering moves.

Towards the end of the second lap, Ed Whitehorn (Velocity Pro Cycles) attacked and Pat covered it. They got a good gap right away and we were on the most difficult part of the course, so I decided to bridge across to it. I got away cleanly from the field and as I came up to Pat, I yelled “Let’s go!”. Pat thought the entire field was still there so I went flying right by. As soon as Pat realized that we had a good gap, he attacked the small group he was in and bridged back up to me. So the two of us were away. We caught up to the break into the strong headwind after turn 1. We came up fast and tried to rally the troops, but some of the guys in the break were already struggling when we tried to ramp up the pace. The end result was that we lost one of our own riders (Darryl) from the break and disrupted the rhythm of the break temporarily. It was a tricky situation because we did ramp the pace up quite a bit, which we definitely needed to do in order to get enough of a gap before the corkscrew downhill where the pack would make up some time on us if they were chasing hard.

Within half a lap, though, we had settled in and started a good rotation and had started to put some good time into the field. We continued at a blistering pace working well together all the way until just before the start of the last lap. Travis Sherman knew that we would begin attacking so he decided to jump the gun and put in his own attack possibly to see if he could reduce the odds against him. Pat led the charge and chased Travis down as the rest of us strung out behind. Travis attacked again before the corkscrew. Then coming into the headwind after the cork screw, my teammate Terry Duran put in a perfect attack because it forced Travis to chase. We caught Terry at the base of the final hill, so I put in a counter attack right away. I was pretty much dying by this point so I wasn’t going that much faster but it was enough to get a gap to force Travis to chase again with Pat sitting on his wheel. Coming down the finishing stretch, Travis closed the gap to me and came around, but Pat was waiting and came around easily taking the sprint by several bike lengths. My initial attack had given us enough of a gap that I was able to hold on for third with Travis Werts charging hard for fourth followed by Joe Ruf and Terry.

Kristine told me after the race that Tria was all over everything back in the field, covering every single move that tried to get away from the group. At the end of the race, Stuart attacked on the last hill and was able to stay away for 7th place with Jan Kolar just behind. Then Darryl won the field sprint for 9th. So that’s about it, what a great race!

Coming off the last turn into the finishing straight, still with a small gap. Travis still chasing. Photo by Alan Laytham

Travis Sherman finishes closing the gap to me with Pat waiting to take the sprint. Photo by Alan Laytham

Pat Allison takes the win followed by Travis and me. Photo by Monika Duran

2011 Barbers ride to live pro/1/2/3 heartrate summary

2011 Barbers ride to live pro/1/2/3 heartrate data

Here are some videos from the Pro/1/2/3 race courtesy Kristine.

I ran out of battery on my iBike because I had left it running in between races and forgot my iPhone charger so for power data, I only have the first three laps of the Pro/1/2/3 race. I have annotated the attack as follows – 1) My initial attack 2) Waiting for Pat after he attacked to bridge back up to me 3) Finishing the bridge together to the group (400w min through here)

2011 Barbers ride to live pro/1/2/3 iBike power data

Pro/1/2/3 first three laps
Dist:        7.87 mi (0:18:16)
Energy:     329.7 kJ
Cals Burn:  315.2 kcal
Climbing:     248 ft
Braking:      0.0 kJ (0.0%)
          Min   Avg    Max
Power       0  300.8   924  W
Aero        0  152.6   564  W
Rolling    16   47.2    72  W
Gravity -1287    4.3   754  W
Speed     8.6   25.9  39.6  mi/h
Wind      0.0   18.2  34.0  mi/h
Elev      353    386   416  ft
Slope   -10.0   0.05   9.9  %
Caden       9   82.7   106  rpm
HR        118  174.3   192  bpm
NP 344 W; IF 1.148; TSS 40.1
CdA: 0.342 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
168 lbs; 4/23/2011 1:27 PM
88 degF; 1013 mbar

Our entire bridge took just over 1.5 minutes and here are the stats on it:

---------Selection Stats---------
Dist:        0.75 mi (0:01:35)
Energy:      44.2 kJ
Cals Burn:   42.3 kcal
Climbing:      17 ft
Braking:      0.0 kJ (0.0%)
          Min   Avg    Max
Power       0  465.7   893  W
Aero        0  247.7   564  W
Rolling    34   52.0    65  W
Gravity  -647   29.7   706  W
Speed    18.8   28.5  35.3  mi/h
Wind      8.7   21.6  31.6  mi/h
Elev      388    397   409  ft
Slope    -6.5   0.31   9.7  %
Caden      63   84.7    99  rpm
HR        165  182.3   190  bpm
NP 437 W; IF 1.456; TSS 5.6
CdA: 0.342 m^2; Crr: 0.0055
168 lbs; 4/23/2011 1:36 PM
88 degF; 1013 mbar

Quick summary – I had to miss this race last year, but I was reminded again this year of how lucky we are to have such an amazing stage race within a few hours drive of Birmingham. This race is an amateur only stage race, meaning that the overall winner is determined by the cumulative time from all of the individual stages – just like the Tour de France. But this race is only open to Category 1, 2, and 3 amateurs. Tria Cycling p/b Infinity Med-I-Spa and donohooauto.com had a great weekend as summarized below:

Friday downtown criterium: 2nd Pat Allison, 3rd Brian Toone
Saturday road race: 3rd Pat Allison, 5th Brian Toone
Sunday circuit race: 3rd Pat Allison, 4th Brian Toone
Stage race overall: 3rd Pat Allison, 7th Brian Toone, 17th Justin Bynum

Another teammate, Mike Lackey, raced with us and was a strong workhorse all weekend sacrificing his chances at the overall to help cover moves throughout the weekend.

The details

Our weekend started out with very high heart rates, but it wasn’t just from the race. On our drive over from Birmingham, we had to dodge several tornadic storms that seemed to be following the interstate. We were driving through Meridian when it was under a tornado warning, and I snapped this picture.

Downtown Meridian wall/shelf cloud (Tornadic storm #1)

We were so focused on this storm that we didn’t see the other tornado that was much more of a threat to us. We made it past this second storm JUST in time. The map below this second photo shows our route (in green) and where these two pictures were approximately taken from.

Tornadic storm #2, we didn’t even see this one until we were almost in it!

The tornado map and our path (shown in green). We were in downtown Meridian while the tornado sirens were going off. We were VERY lucky, but there were many people — even some on the same interstate as us, that weren’t so lucky.

Friday night downtown Brookhaven criterium
By the time we made it to Brookhaven, the weather had completely cleared out, and the Friday night block party / activities / fun zones / entertainment was just getting under way. I have got to figure out a way to convince Kristine to come down with the kids next year. Plus there were three trains that passed within 50 meters of where we parked. Josiah would love to see those trains going right through the middle of town!

One of the great things about this crit is that the Cat 1/2/3 field is the only field racing on Friday night so you can do your entire warm-up on the course for over an hour on blocked off streets. I was a little slow getting everything together, so I only had about 45 minutes to warm-up, but that was more than enough time to ride nearly 15 miles of warm-up on the course! Almost everyone was warming up on the course so it was great to chat with riders from the other teams during the warm-up. We had four riders representing Tria Cycling. Herring Gas and Marx and Bensdorf had really large teams (about 8 riders each). Team La’Sport had a small but very strong team with the defending champ, Matt Davis, and super-domestique Russ Walker. S3 Racing, Sigma, and Tiger Cycling Foundation all had teams with about 3 or 4 riders each. In all, there were 41 people that lined up to start the criterium.

After a color guard ceremony by local firefighters including the national anthem that wasn’t quite finished when the third train of the night passed through within 50 meters of the start, we were off! And we were off fast! I clipped in first and made it to the first corner first, but having learned my lesson this year from both Tuscaloosa and Dothan, it is better to let someone else put in the first attack. So I let up a bit and got passed by a few riders before digging in to maintain my position near the front of the pack. On the third lap, I was sitting in maybe 10th position when I saw Matt Davis (Team La’Sport) and a Herring Gas rider (Bain Foote) attacking from near the front going into the only lefthand corner on the classic six corner course (Turn #4). I had to wait just a second for somebody to move out of the way, but once the lane was clear, I shot up the lefthand side between turns 4 and 5 and then latched onto the two-man break before turn #6. We had a couple second gap and absolutely buried it (the average speed for Laps #4 and #5 was 29.5mph).

Meanwhile, back in the field, my teammate Pat Allison began covering moves and made it into a two-man chase group. When those two guys ran out of steam, he attacked and finished the bridge solo up to our break. We kept the pace super high, but two more Herring Gas riders (Frank Moak and Tim Reagan) and Bryant Funston (Marx and Bensdorf) and an independent rider were able to bridge up to us bringing our break up to a total of 8 riders. The independent rider fell off after a few laps (probably exhausted from completing the bridge up to us!). The seven of us established a pretty good rhythm and flew through the entire course.

One disruption came when they called a $50 prime. I was feeling very good so I attacked going into Turn 3 and was able to hold it all the way to the line to claim the $50. Matt Davis got a gap chasing me, and the two of us tried to get away, but the three riders from Herring Gas were able to pull us back in after a lap. For the next 10 laps, we worked well together. I felt like several riders were struggling so I wanted to attack to see if we could get a secondary break going. Pat gave me a leadout from the back of the group through turn 6 into the start/finish area, but as I came off of Pat’s wheel to attack, my left foot cramped behind my toes. So here I was trying to attack and trying to calm down the cramp at the same time while surprising no one! So even in the moment of all this happening, I chuckled thinking how comical it must have appeared. By this point, our break was getting closer to lapping the field and despite my foiled attack, we continued to rotate and fly through the course.

When we got within a corner of the pack, I attacked again to bridge up to the group. I was hoping that in the chaos of lapping the field, that we would have a better shot at winning the race. As soon as we caught the field, I found myself on Pat’s wheel, and he wisely moved all the way through the group to the front. By this point there were only two laps to go. Just as we made it up to the front of the group, we could hear a crash happen in Turn #2 behind us. We were ahead of the crash, so we made it safely through. With one lap to go, Matt Davis’s teammate Russ Walker got to the front and drilled it for the entire lap. This worked out great for us because we didn’t have to fight for position since it was single file and we were lined up right behind Matt, but Russ had done such a fast leadout and Matt launched such a strong kick that none of us could come around anyone so we finished in that order. Bain came up the right side and almost caught me at the line, but I held on for third with a photo finish bike throw.

Check out that average speed! 27.4mph. NOTE – this is only 0.1 mph slower than Sunny King, but my average heartrate was 7 beats higher in Sunny King. The reason is because we bunched up so much in turns 3 and 4 in the Sunny King crit, whereas in the breakaway in this race we flew through the entire course without touching the brakes at all!

2011 Mississippi Gran Prix Friday criterium heartrate data

Saturday road race
This was a great race for our team with Pat Allison making it into the winning breakaway and securing a position on the overall stage race podium. And I got to rest easy in the pack and save up for the field sprint, which I won by a lot. There isn’t a lot to report about the race, other than that it was windy with a headwind through the start/finish stretch and a tailwind on the backside of the course. There were lots of attacks, but there were also lots of strong riders able to bring back each one. My teammate, Justin Bynum, made it into a great move with Ben Gabardi (Herring Gas) on the third lap. The two of them got a good gap on the field forcing other teams to set tempo at the front to real them back in. The two of them were away for quite a while. By the start of the final lap, we had caught the break, and I realized that there was pretty much no way that both Pat and I were going to be able to make it into a break together. When I saw Matt attack again with Bain right on him, I yelled up to Pat who was in much better position than me to go with it. He did, and I stayed back which meant that both Team La’Sport and Herring Gas were happy to let the break get away from the field. Travis Sherman from Marx and Bensdorf was already up the road and latched onto the break when it came by, so they too, weren’t going to chase. The other teams in the race (S3, Sigma, and TCF) chased and kept the break very close for a while, but eventually the elastic broke and nobody was left to chase. I realized that Travis would be passing me in the overall if the break got too far up the road, so I went to the front and tried to set tempo. Eventually, I realized it was hopeless and that it would be better to go for the field sprint than to try to conserve one spot on GC. So I stopped working and just sat near the front waiting for the field sprint. The field sprint came, and I rode wheels navigating through a tight bunch sprint. The uphill drag though really favored me, and I won it by a lot. Meanwhile, in the break up front, Matt eventually took the sprint win followed closely by Bain, Pat, and Travis in that order.

2011 MSGP Saturday road race hr summary

2011 MSGP Saturday road race heartrate data

Saturday evening time trial
The time trial was the start of the race within a race. Three guys battled for the podium spots (Matt, Pat, and Bain), while Frank, Tim, and I battled for fifth place. Travis had fourth place locked up after the road race. The time trial course was the new three mile course from last year. Since I missed last year, this was my first year to race it, and it was awesome. The course was rolling, fast, and into a headwind. I pushed the pace as hard as I could riding Eddy Mercx style, but ended up sliding behind Frank and Tim in the overall. Pat raced a strong time trial, but slid back to third pace overall after Bain won the time trial with a blistering 6’01” (nearly 30mph). A couple things to note in my heartrate data – I averaged 168bpm for 6’40”, whereas at the Sunny King race, I averaged 181bpm for nearly 90 minutes. Obviously, the fact that we had raced a long road race in the morning would impact my TT heartrate, but there has to be something else too – any suggestions out there??

2011 MSGP Saturday time trial hr summary

2011 MSGP Saturday time trial heartrate data

The best part of the time trial, though, was trying out our new “bib skinsuits”. All three of us in the picture raced this way, whereas Mike was the only one of us who had a real skinsuit and raced that instead.

Sunday morning circuit race
Due to a scheduling conflict at the technical college where the circuit race is normally held, the circuit race was held on a 6.5 mile loop around Lake Lincoln State Park. The course was a great course pretty much constantly rolling with sections of rough pavement and sections of good pavement. The finish was a long gradual drag leading to a steep final 200m uphill kick to the line. At the start of the race, Matt Davis was in lead over Bain Foote by 7 seconds. Pat trailed Bain by 32 seconds. Meanwhile, Frank held the fifth spot 7 seconds ahead of his teammate Tim who himself was 3 seconds ahead of me. With a maximum of 16 seconds of time bonuses available, the time bonuses could help me move up in the GC. It wasn’t to be, though, and with a good uphill finish, Pat and I were able to take 3rd and 4th in the final sprint just behind Ben Gabardi and Matt Davis.

2011 MSGP Sunday circuit race summary

2011 MSGP Sunday circuit race heartrate data

Summary
The weekend was a great weekend of racing. Pat Allison had his best result ever in a stage race, and we all worked really well together in the team. Check out his excellent recap of the weekend. I’m SO excited for the rest of the season and know that we are going to take home many more wins before the season is done! Happy cycling everyone!

Strava data
Check out my Strava data for all four races, including my lap split times for the crit. Also, the MSGP capped off another 400+ mile week for me this season. I’d like to give a shout-out to Sport Legs and compression socks (aka leg warmers) for helping me with amazing recovery this season. Now it’s time to taper a bit before Athens Twilight – maybe 350 miles this week and then 300 for the week ending with Roswell.

Friday night criterium – http://app.strava.com/rides/433284
Saturday AM road race – http://app.strava.com/rides/438401
Saturday PM time trial – http://app.strava.com/rides/438403
Sunday circuit race – http://app.strava.com/rides/443934

Pat and Chris Allison rode hard and brought home great results for the Union City Omnium. Read Pat’s recap below or on his coaching website – http://leaditout.com.

Me and Chris were the brave souls from tria to compete in the Pro 1,2 race this weekend in Union City. Justin Bynum, Jacob Tubbs and Phillip Thomson did the threes. I knew it would be a tough race when I looked at the feild, consisting several pro teams. Team Type One, Kenda, Real Cyclist, Round Here Cyclist, & Specialized Juniors. Not to mention the stacked feild of “locos”, Iron Data, & Aerocat. The crit, as you can imagine was flying from the start. The backside was superfast as I recorded top speeds over 40mph. And with the slight hill into the headwind, It made for an even tougher race. Chris worked hard early for me and then slowly fell back and pulled out before the finish. I found myself marking certain guys, and actually thought I made the winning break, but got pulled back in after a few really tough laps. I managed to win the MAR (most aggressive rider) which adds to the omnium total. A little rusty as this was my first race of the season I screwed up the last corners and found myself sprinting from too deep. I ended up 9th with Emile Abraham winning with Tye magner just behind him in second.

For the Road race, I almost got dropped in the first mile. These pro guys act invincible in the local races so they thought it would be funny to hit it from gun. We actually passed the lead car and the motor cycle got trapped behind a garbage truck so we were free to do as we please, which was pandimonium for the first few miles on the four lane highways. They got us under control and the break was established. I didnt want any part of a 75 mile 6 man breakaway so I settled in the pack and marked any chase groups. Iron Data managed to pull 3 of the riders from the break back just before the finished.

The last 3 miles were nuts, but I managed to stay out of trouble, position myself at fifth wheel coming around the last corner. I passed several and It was a photo finish between me and two others for the feild sprint. I ended up 6th. Chris did a great job helping bring back some chase groups I missed and ended up hanging on for 15th. With the crit points, MAR points, and the weighted 6th in the RR points, I ended up 2nd for the Omnium behind Tye Magner from Team Type One. Not a bad weekend.

Summary
18th last year, 9th this year, so does that mean I can aim for a top 5 finish next year? No matter what the result though, every person in every category who raced and finished yesterday raced 105 miles through some of the most grueling terrain and roads you can imagine – and all of it taking place under perfect weather conditions deep in the bayou of Louisiana. What an awesome way to kick start the road racing season! Team JuwiFirst-Solar took 1st and 2nd with Jonny Sundt (Kenda Pro Cycling) placing 3rd after crossing a gap of nearly 10 minutes and then suffering an untimely puncture late in the race.

The Details
Mike Olheiser was there with his new team, Team-JuwiFirst-Solar. Other strong teams included Kenda, Snapple, Metro-VW, Plano-PACC, Team La S’port, Herring Gas, and S3. Mike sent two of his riders up the road in the early suicide break as soon as we made it out of the neutral zone. One other rider (Plano-PACC) latched on making it a break of 3. With such a strong team having two riders up the road, there was much more racing at the front before the first dirt section than last year. No team wanted to commit to chasing, though. Instead, teams tried to launch riders off the front to bridge. Most of these moves came back, but eventually a chase group containing Jonny Sundt (Kenda Pro Cycling), Jacob Brewer (Herring Gas), and Scott Kuppersmith (La S’port Cycling) established itself. This was the situation leading into the first dirt section.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, the Tria Cycling team lined up for the second race of the Winter Training Series put on by GS Montagna Rossa club. Very thankful for the great job this club does with putting on this series every year. It is a huge benefit for the racers to get in some solid racing, and race promotion is a thankless job in most cases.

We lined up with the dominant team in regards to numbers yesterday, so we initially planned to try to have a large break and aim to have at least 3 or more riders in it. Pat Allison, and myself, agreed to cover early moves because this race has a tendency for long breakaway efforts. We would then sit back, and try to get other teammates across as the race progressed to give us large numbers in the break. As I have come to realize though, plans do not always work like you hope for.

The race started off casually, but right before we hit the first turn, Travis Sherman punched the accelerator and it was game on. The break contained Travis, Ed Whitehorn, Chris Cundiff and myself. I did little, to no work, since we had numbers behind. I was hoping to see some teammates chasing, but Travis and Ed really got the gap very quickly. This break was never very smooth, and I still can’t believe we stayed away because the rotation was very sloppy. On lap 3, Travis rolled through and said he was pulling out for a prior engagement. Hated that, because I was hoping he would stick it out all the way to the finish.

The last 2 laps were pretty uneventful. I traded pulls with Ed for the next lap, and on the last lap, I let him do most of the work. He kept the pace high, and I pulled through occasionally just to give him a break. Ed was simply a beast out there today, and he will be winning some races really soon. Ed gave it all he had, but at the end, I edged him out for the second win in a row for Tria. It has been a long time since I have won a race, but it is good to see that with some consistent training, I still have some legs under me.

At the end, Pat, Sammy and Wes blew the rest of the race up and finished in a select group. I do not have all the details, but Pat won the sprint for 3rd place. In the end, we still had a great day as a team, and continue to grow as a unit. I am really looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store for our team.

Thanks for reading!
Stuart

Excellent weather yesterday for our first team race of the year. About 20-25 guys lined up for the Category A race with our squad represented by me, Pat Allison, Chris Allison, Stuart Lamp, Mike Lackey, and Timo Stark. Other strong teams included Velocity Pro Cycles led by Ed Whitehorn and Preston Beasley; Bob’s Bikes/Alabama Masters with Will Hibberts, Jim Brock, and Miro Novak; Alabama Cycling with a few riders; and one more team with a kit I didn’t recognize, and then a few strong independents.

Ed Whitehorn and I led out the group and rode at an easy pace up and over the first hill. As soon as you crested the hill, you were hit with a pretty strong crosswind, and several riders started to creep up on our somewhat leisurely pace. I could sense an attack coming, and sure enough on the flat section leading into the hill after the first turn, there was an attack which either Mike or Stuart covered. We were wanting to get a couple riders in the break, so when I saw someone else start to jump across I went with them. But it was too early in the race for the group to let us get away and so we were caught.

For the next lap and a half you can cut and paste the previous paragraph as the same scenario played out multiple times with Mike and Stuart covering every move and then me trying to tag along with someone attempting to bridge. Every move got brought back, though. Then on the start of the third lap, our pace slowed again, and I believe it was Jim Brock who launched out on his own. A little while later Stuart attacked with somebody else. Pretty soon it was Stuart alone with three other guys. We wanted to have somebody else from our team in the break, so my teammate Pat Allison attacked and made it across a quickly widening gap with about 10 pedal strokes and tucking on the downhill. It was impressive to watch!

Then another rider started to bridge, and I believe it was Timo who saw it and went with it. The two of them made it across and by this point, the “break” had about 10 riders in it, which meant there was only about 10 riders left in the field as we had dropped about 5 or 6 guys towards the end of lap 1 with all the attacking that had been going on. I liked that we had 3 guys in the break, but I didn’t like that the break was essentially half the field. So I waited until somebody came off of a strong pull on the long gradual downhill after the hill after Turn 1 and drilled it super hard. Somebody who was on my wheel saw it and jumped with me, but that was it. The field started to chase, but our gap was good enough right from the start that we were able to make it across to the break bringing our total to maybe 12 riders?

We finished the bridge at the start of the long hill on the backside of the course. We knew that the break was too big to stay away, so I pulled through hard to keep the pace high, but ended up pulling away from the field. The break organized itself to chase which kept its pace high, and then when they caught back up to me, we got a good rotation going which meant that the field wasn’t going to come back together.

Even though we had a good rotation with 4 out of the 12 riders in the break on our team, I knew that we were better off with a smaller break so that it wasn’t left to a 12 man sprint at the end and so that there would be fewer people chasing any attacks that we might launch. So I kept the pace high and then on the hill leading to the start/finish, we pulled hard enough to cause a separation. I think it came back together though right before the start/finish when there was another move with Will and Pat off the front with a couple other guys. This looked good because everybody was tired. Jim Brock knew it and attacked to bridge. I was right there with him and together the two of us were able to finish the bridge, but Jim popped right at the top of the hill settling the final break of six at that point.

There were six riders in the break – Stuart, Pat, and me from Tria. Will represented Alabama Masters, and then there was Joe from the black/white jersey team and Alex from Alabama Cycling. This was pretty much the perfect scenario for our team with all three of the Cat 1s in the break. We still had the rest of the third lap to finish and then two more laps, so I wanted a nice smooth rotation for us to get a good lead on the field, while giving us enough wiggle room at the end of the race should it come down to any cat/mouse games. That’s exactly what happened with everybody working together extremely well (average speed 25.4mph for the next 2 laps).

Then right before the start of the last lap, I think everybody must have known that since we had numbers we were going to start attacking to try to get somebody away. The pace slowed down quite a bit. When we made it past the start/finish area I was looking for the right time to attack, found it, and only my teammate Pat was able to respond. We had a great gap and pushed it all the way to the finish. Behind us, Will and Stuart were by themselves with Joe and the Alabama rider dropped. Joe ended up bridging to Will and Stuart, and the two of them chased with Stuart able to take it easy and save energy for the finish.

Pat and I decided as fun as it would be to try to practice the tactics of a two-up finish, that it would be better and more enjoyable to simply cross the line together, which we did! (See the attached photo). Behind us Stuart got the jump on Will in the sprint and coming into the last meters it looked like he had it, but Will with a very late burst of speed was able to pass him literally on the line with a bike throw.

The remnants of our original break came back together with the field, and Chris Allison had a great sprint to finish sixth or seventh in the race. All-in-all, it was an AWESOME start to the season with our team placing five riders in the top ten and three riders in the top five.

Pictures, videos, and heartrate data on my cycling website – http://toonecycling.wordpress.com

Have a great day!

(From the editor – Wes Douglas, Stuart Lamp, Paul Tower, and Brian Toone competed in the Cuba Meridian Challenge August 21-22. This is the great write-up of the race given by Wes.)

2010 Cuba-Meridian Road Race – Wes Douglas – Tria Cycling p/b DonohooAuto & Infinity-Med-I-Spa

Last year I attacked from the gun and ended up in a two-man break for just short of 60 miles. My break away partner popped halfway though and I just didn’t quite make it to the finish – Got caught 500m from the finish. I did not want this to happen again however, I did want to go early again but hopefully with a little more help and team representation in the break. As Stuart said, “whether or not Wes knows it yet, he’s still going to attack early”.

A mile or two in some attacks began and eventually I saw one forming that looked pretty good, at least as team representation went. It was a four-man break with Tim Carbonneau, John McLauchlin (Marx & Bensdorf), Andrew? (Herring Gas) and myself. We had a good gap from the field but it was small (about 30-40 sec) and for quite a while it wasn’t growing. I did my best to drive the break and motivate the other 3 guys to keep pushing it because I knew my teammates (Paul Tower, Brian Toone & Stuart Lamp) would do everything they could to block for us and hopefully so would the other two big teams (Herring Gas & Marx Bensdorf) with break representation. On the steepest kicker we almost dropped Andrew (Herring Gas) so I fell back a little to help get him back up to the break. My thought was it was too early to loose Herring’s rider because the break was only about a minute from the field and if they saw him coming back they might start attacking to shut the remaining three of us down. After this I suggested we all just keep a good tempo on the hills, bomb the down hills and hammer the flats. After getting Andrew back on the break he was only able to roll through and soon even that ended, leaving him to float on the back. About 18miles in John (Marx & Bensdorf), said he had to sit on which was really depressing for me to hear because essentially this left Tim and I to do most of the work. I really didn’t want all this effort to have been for nothing and I didn’t want a repeat of last year’s disaster. For a second I considered just sitting up and letting the field catch us but then I decided, to hell with it, and to give it everything to drive the break as long as I could…maybe…. just maybe we would make it.

Going into the second lap and the first time thought the feed zone I saw that Gavin Lansden (BBC) had been allowed to slip off the front of the field and he was bridging. I was really glad to see him coming because for a while now only Tim and I were working. John and Andrew would have worked if they could have but they were just done. Once Gavin linked up we were really able to pick up the pace but then Andrew finally had to call it quits. We now had about 5 min on the field and about 2-2:40min from a 4 man chase group. At first the chase wasn’t gaining on us but about on the backside of the second lap I finally had to take a break and sit on some and our average really dropped. Going into the last lap the chase was still 2:40 back but in the feed zone I had some issues with getting a bottle and had to come to almost a stop to get one. I think John turned off the course at this point. It was now down to Gavin, Tim and I. The 4 man chase was only about 40 sec back and it wasn’t long before we saw them coming. I started sitting on and trying to recover a little for the attacks I knew would come. We were caught just before the steepest kicker hill (which was something I was hoping we could avoid). The chase was made up of Pat Allison (Ion-United Health), Brian Toone (Tria Cycling), Woody Boudreaux (Herring Gas) and Travis Sherman (Moontoast guest riding for Bensdorf). Pat attacked halfway up the hill and I had my doubts about being able to respond or maintain contact, I had been feeling twinges in my quads and knew I was very close to completely locking up. Somehow I made it but we lost Travis.

I tried sit in all I could to recover a little before the stair step climb and the left hand turn. I thought I might have one more attack left in me before going into complete survival mode. So when the climb began I hit it and got a big gap. I knew I didn’t have the energy to carry the move all the way to the top and left turn so while I was up there I decided to make use of the moment and do something about twinges in my quads. I unclipped and started stretching them (which if I hadn’t done I don’t think I would have finished the race). This was when Brian attacked and came flying by me, completely clear of the other riders. This looked perfect to me so when Pat, Woody and Tim came by I just jumped on. We were now dropping Gavin. With Brian up the road and putting on some serious time I wasn’t obligated to do a thing, that was up to Pat and Woody to do. For the rest of the 3rd lap I sat in all I could sometimes pulling though, sometimes not. We did drop Gavin so here I was again in a break of 4 with my teammate up the road and out of sight.

I really just wanted this to all be over. Making the right turn off the course and on the home stretch our pace started to drop with anticipation of the sprint. It was painfully slow as Pat and Ryan watch each other to see who would make a move. There was no chance of the field catching us so we just came to a crawl and this allowed Gavin to catch back on. Being a non-sprinter and having been driving a break all day my odds a doing well in this situation did not look good at all. I gave it a shot but completely locked up and watched the Pat, Woody, Tim and Gavin cross the line before me. All in all, a much better result than last year. 6th place still beats getting swarmed by the field with 500m to go. Brian had placed 3rd in the crit the night before so his 1st in the road race gave him the Omnium. I had just held on in the crit and didn’t place but the 6th place result in the race gave me 10th in the Omnium, Paul had place 5th in the crit and with a 7th place finish in the road race he finished 4th in the Omnium, Stuart placed 10th in the road race & 11th for the Omnium. All in all a great race for Tria Cycling.

— Wes Douglas

(Check out Brian’s write-up with heartrate data here: http://toonecycling.wordpress.com/2010/08/22/2010-meridian-cuba-omnium-race-report/)

(From the editor – Lennie Moon completed the epic Leadville 100 mountain bike race this past Saturday, and I’ve posted his race report below. Epic!!!)

I got a whopping 3.5hrs of sleep the night the before and arrived at the start line at 5:30, laid my bike down and went back to the car because it was about 36degrees outside. The race started with the shotgun blast an hour later. It was an awesome sight being in the middle of 1300 riders headed out 6th street with Mt Massive in the background. I had on a thin base, arm and knee warmers, jersey and my wind jacket for the start but I was shivering. It was about 5mi downhill and then dirt before we started the St Kevins climb. It was all I could do to stay on my bike with all the other riders around me falling off and pushing. People were just in the way. I ended up warming up there so I wasn’t cold for long. Following St Kevins is a long fast descent on the road. This is a good time to take care of nutrition so I downed a cliff bar and drank a bunch of Heed.

Next up is the climb of Sugarloaf which starts on the road for a mile of so, then a right turn to dirt road for tow or so and then a left switchback to a rocky, rutted jeep trail. The pitch wasn’t too bad, about 6-10% and the pack startes to thin out here so I just climbed at a comfortable pace and marked time. Not sure how long this section is but I guess its a few miles and maybe 1500-2000ft of vertical.

The backside of Sugarloaf is where the danger starts. This is called the Powerline descent and on raceday a rider in front of me fell here and nearly lost his life. He had facial injuries and was losing blood from his temple area. Also another rider collided with him breaking his ribs. Following rider had injuries too (collarbone?) This section is dangerous because its steep downhill and full of ruts. You really have to be smart about picking your line. The bottom of Powerline is famous because the ruts are huge, almost as deep as your wheels. The big problem is the ridges of these ruts dead end and if you don’t pick your line right, or the rider in front doesn’t then you are just bound to fall at a high speed. I was happy I made it through that, another obstacle out of the way.

Following Powerline is a creek crossing that you want to ride around so you don’t ruin your drivetrain followed by a long, flat pavement and dirt section. Obviously, this is were you can get a good paceline going. Freaking mountain bikers have no idea what to do here. I was lucky enough to get behind two different guys at two different times. Both took monster pulls for a long time. I swear I tried to help but they just wanted to pull! We were cooking, 25mph with a tailwind on the flat. I was amazed but each one of them popped themselves and I never saw them again. I swear I tried to help! This section leads to the Pipeline with the first big aid staition. There is a mini Tour de France atmosphere here with cow bells and people on each side of the course cheering you on. It was amazing but I just blew thru as fast as I could.

I guess its about 15mi to the next aid station with the Pipeline area which is pretty flat dirt with a few popper hills. The biggest obstacles here were big holes in the road filled with water. You want to miss them and take care of the drivetrain. Its a good place to eat here too. As well as doing all that I stuck it in the big ring and time trialed through this area. Here is were I felt my first twinge of cramp… Oh crap.

Next a singletrack section and this is an example of how to lose time. This was mostly downhill, just fun single track in a nice big open area. I found myself behind a big dude and a girl who were going real slow. The girl was in front braking for everything. I looked behind and there was a line of about fifteen people, all going slow. Obviously a backup. Finally after about ten minutes she fell and took the dude out with her. Since she was OK, I went around them crit style and rode as hard as I could. I dropped everyone. Not on purpose though, I was just tired of waiting! This section finished and a couple of more ups and downs on dirt roads fed into the Twin Lakes aid station after 40mi and about 3:12 on the clock for me.

If the Powerline is a mini Tour de France for spectators then the Twin Lakes aid station is full on TdF. Everyone is cheering, cowbells, tents, people dressed crazy, you name it. I’m riding moderate to find Kim who is crewing for me. She does a great job refueling me in no time and sets me on my way up the Columbine climb.

I guess Columbine is 10mi long with over 3,000 ft of vertical. It starts tame at about 9% up an open field and then into the aspen trees with switchbacks. The dirt on the frst half is loose but its no problem for climbing. This kind of started hard for me but then I settled in. I also started to tell myself that I couldn’t be content with the pace the riders in front of me were setting. After I began feeling well I began passing lots of people. You can’t attack here because there is no AIR and you won’t recover. Any big effort comes at a price so you have to stay steady. Typical for me was to get on someones wheel, ride there for a bit and then just lift the pace for a little while. Then I would settle, work on the next rider, and do this all over. I passed a lot of people on Columbine. Every now and then I would feel a twinge of cramp. Crap, not even halfway!

1/3 up Columbine came one of the coolest parts of the race. I heard “riders” and saw Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (JHK) and Levi barreling down the hill. Everyone cheered them on and in a flash they were gone. Next, pro after pro came barreling down the hill and they were cheering us on as we were climbing. I loved it. This continues all the way to the top. You bave to be careful to stay on the right side because you don’t want to take them out!

Once you get out of the treeline Columbine really kicks up. There are parts where I saw 19% on my Garmin. During training on Monday, I cleared 95% of the mountain but that was with fresh legs. After 40mi no civilian can get up that mountain without pushing. So, that is what you see, you look up into the sky and all you see on the switchbacks is people pushing there bikes all the way to the top. It seems like forever but guess what? If you push you can get 2mph, if you ride you can get 2.5mph! Big deal! This knowledge would help me manage my cramping later.

After you reach the top of Columbine there is a 100ft downhill in about 500yds to the turnaround. I found out in training that if you stop at the turnaround and linger then your legs cool down and its a major effort to climb back up that 100ft. In the race I didn’t stop, I climbed back up the rise and then stopped, took a leak in the wide open and ate a cliff bar so I could digest on the way back down.

The Columbine descent is a monster. At the top think a little wider than the bump trail, wide open above treeline, a lot steeper and a long line of people still pushing up on the left side. I came down the mountain as fast as I could. The only thing slowing me down was riders in front and I was trying to pass them. I didn’t know I could descend a mtn bike so fast. Once I got into the trees I didn’t slow down either. Pedal on the straights, break for the switchback, lay it over, straighten, pedal again, repeat. I was flying and having a blast. At the bottom I found Kim at the Twin Lakes aid station, refueled and got on my way. 60mi down. I’m gonna make it!!!

It was here that I ran into my first real problems. I guess it was 6+hrs, I began cramping a bit more and I started having a quezzy stomach. I started to bonk a bit too. Problem was I was I having trouble eating too. I would bite off some cliff bar and I couldn’t swallow. It tool a lot of water to dissolve a bite of cliff bar and get it down. I was eating cliff blocks too but I would put one in my mouth, chew,and it would just sit there. I tried to drink my Heed and it would make me feel more quezzy. All I did was just hold the rider in front of me in check and kept pedaling. Also, now my little chainring bolts were starting to loosen. I could tell by the noise and the tinkling sound down there. Should I stop? Heck no.

Back to the Powerline aid station, TdF light again. Saw Tracy Mckay and he gives a word of encouragement, thanks! Find Kim and refuel. I told her I had a bad hour and she tells me I’m making good time. Really? Here is what saved my stomach. I had packed bananas with her and I was able to get a half down. I settled down immediately and was on my way. 25mi to go.

Back to the flat section, headwind now but I’m lucky to find a group and six of us try to start a rotating pace line. About three of us know what we’re doing… Freaking mtn bikers. Two of us were teaching this super strong girl how to paceline. She would get to the front and just drive away but then stay there. Finally she got it. 14mph mtn bike paceline into a 15knot headwind. I was getting tired. Powerline climb coming up, I’m cramping and I’m happy because I know I’ll be able to push and stretch my legs out.

The return up Powerline is steep. Probably 30% of the field can clean it with fresh legs. With 80mi legs only the super elite can clean it. I was warned to be mentally prepared for it to take forever and it did. After about 1/4 mi straight up it crests a bit and you can ride but after a while you have to push again. I see people try to ride while I’m pushing and they aren’t getting away from me. I can push just as fast. What the heck, I can’t cramp while I push and I’m stretching my legs.

Finally thats over and its time for the descent of Sugarloaf. Not too steep but rocky and fast. I kill it descending as fast as I can and not worryng about the risks until I catch up to two guys going a bit slower. There’s nowhere to pass so I just hang til that switchback where it turns to dirt. I pass those guys there and burry it down the dirt road, big ring as fast as I can go.

Wow up St Kevins on the road, and I’ve got nothing. People are passing me back. I think its different people though. Then I settle in. Someone says 2.5mi uphill to the mini aid station and I’m going 4.5mph. This is gonna take forever. Finally, I hit the aid station and I grab a dixie cup of Coke. Its still uphill on dirt for a while though. I begin to wonder if I’m gonna make 10hrs. Finally, I reach the top of St Kevins and start down. Remember how steep and rocky it was? I’m only on the brakes enough to check my speed but I’m flying down the mtn. I catch up to this old guy who passed me up the mtn but he’s going pretty fast so I just follow his line. As we reach the bottom I hear something crack on his bike and he endo’s at about 20mph. I stopped right beside him and asked him if he’s OK and he was shaken but he says yes so I continue.

5mi to go and my watch says I still may be able to make 10hrs. Slight downhill, tailwind, 29er, big ring, little cog, after 9hrs 45min I’m flying at 25mph trying to make it home. I can’t believe the power I’m making. Where’d this come from? I pass Lee for the last time and tell him if he had gears he could have rolled a 9! I’m actually happy because I know he can’t get me back without gears and I know he is the only Alabama competition.

The last obstacle is called the Boulevard. Its about 6% climb and rocky for the first 500yds before it starts to smooth out. Its about 500ft up vertical back into town and I go from flying at 20mph to crawling at 6mph and I’m cramping big time. Why did I roll the flat so hard? Oh well, I settle in, 10hrs goes by but who cares. Its a left then a right, crest the hill and you can see the buildings of 6th and Harrison come into view. People are in there driveway cheering you on. You see the banner and the red carpet. I’ve been waiting for a year for this when I fell in love with this event and saw others come home. Now its me! I roll slow over the carpen so I can savour it. Then I try to pop a wheelie and CRAMP and almost fall off my bike!

Here’s a quote from Dave Wiens during the award ceremony. “Leadville’s not about who wins or finish times or anything like that. Leadville’s about a start and finish at 6th and Harrison and a day in Hell.”

Guys, I hope some of you decide to do this sometime. It was so much fun!