School is out for summer! It's already time for summer and school is done for a few months. I get to focus on training and racing now!
Collegiate Nationals was this past weekend in Madison Wisconsin. The weather forecast before we left was saying rain every day. We lucked out and it was dry and warm. We flew out of GJ Wednesday and arrived in Madison Wednesday night. Thursday we Pre road the road course to open up the legs and check out the course. I forgot how hard this course was with short steep climbs throughout the whole course with no place to really recover. On the pre ride my legs felt awesome and I was ready to throw down.
Friday morning came early, with an 830 start and about a 40 min drive to course it was defiantly early for me. The plan was to get in a break early on and try to get two Mesa guys in the break if possible. To make it short we tried hard but nothing was going to stick. With about a lap and a half left Conor and I got into a promising break but it was not meant to be. We both cramped and the field brought every one back besides the winner. I ended up 16th; I was really bummed because I was in the right move. I am not happy with the result but I am happy I gave it 100% and tried but just didn’t have it that day.
The next day was the TTT, and with no TT bikes allowed it was going to be interesting to see how it went. Being the defending National TTT champs there definitely was pressure to repeat. Warming up on the trainer my legs felt so bad. I felt like I was pedaling squares and was getting really nervous’. We were the last team to start to we could see the other teams out on course. It was an out and back course with short steep roller throughout the course. Right out of the gate you go up a nice kicker to get the legs burning right off the bat. We rode smooth the whole way and really pushed it on the way back. We defended our title and now are 2X National TTT Champs. I was so happy we could do it back to back. We were only about 20 sec slower than the year before which is pretty impressive with no TT bikes and the wind was a lot stronger this year.
The last day was the crit and a new venue with a longer course just shy of a mile. We were going into the race with high hopes as well as Richard was the defending champion. Early in the race there were plenty of attacks but nothing was sticking. About half way through I made an attack that drew a few guys with me. At first it was just one other dude that was not pulling through. Then finally a few others rolled up to us which looked promising. It was a good size group but I felt like everyone was not doing their fair share so I attacked the group and drew two other guys with me. We all started working pretty well together with everyone pulling through. However I could tell the other two guys were not giving it a 100% and they were not totally committed to staying away. This made me very frustrated because this was Nationals and the worst we could have ended was 3rd. I tried telling these guys to pick it up this is the move we can win this but they were not having it for some reason. When the field was closing in then the other companions started really drilling. I did not understand their motive but it really pissed me off. We ended up getting caught with 2 laps to go. Being pretty spent I jumped on the front to get the lead out train rolling. I pulled off with a little less than a lap to go and it was up to the guys to do the rest. A little miscommunication on the last lap Conor ended up 4th and Rich 6th. Not what were looking for but we can’t complain we gave it 100% and rode well.
The team ended up 2nd overall falling short by 12pts to Mars Hill who took the top step. Mesa rode strong and smart but with small numbers compared to the other schools we rode very impressive. Someday soon we will be on the top step.
Its summer vacation now, I finished up my last final yesterday!! I am looking forward to a few days off the bike and recover a little bit and get back to the grind. I get to graduate this weekend. I already graduated last semester with my Sports Management degree but they don’t have a ceremony in the fall so I am walking this weekend. It will be weird because I am still in school going for my Master’s degree.
