**All the awesome photos by Les Morales, www.lesmophoto.com, facebook.com/lesmoralesphotography,
@lesmophoto IG/Twitter**
After waking the legs back up at the Crit in downtown Roanoke it was off to Winston Salem for my first Pro Road National Championship, followed by the Winston Salem Cycling Classic, 4 days of racing, Time Trial on Friday, US Pro Road Race Saturday, and then the Winston Salem Cycling Classic Criterium and Road Race Sunday and Monday. Fortunately I got to take the crit day off and rest, but it was still a huge weekend.
@lesmophoto IG/Twitter**
After waking the legs back up at the Crit in downtown Roanoke it was off to Winston Salem for my first Pro Road National Championship, followed by the Winston Salem Cycling Classic, 4 days of racing, Time Trial on Friday, US Pro Road Race Saturday, and then the Winston Salem Cycling Classic Criterium and Road Race Sunday and Monday. Fortunately I got to take the crit day off and rest, but it was still a huge weekend.
Time Trial
The Time Trial was on a tough 48km out and back course on an old two-lane highway with huge rollers. Always uphill or downhill and never flat meant a long day in the saddle that was going to seriously wear on people, and if that didn’t the 8am start definitely would. Even with early start the high humidity meant Mike and I were sweating buckets on the trainers as we warmed up. With the hard course it was important to go out easy and slowly pick up the effort as the race progressed. Of course, you don’t always execute the plan. I went out smashing, constantly thinking to myself, easier Bryan, easier, but the combination of inexperience and excitement for nationals was a problem. I went flying in the first quarter and suffered for the remainder. No excuses, but it was a pretty bad day for me. Low power, poor results, but a lot of experience gained. Mentally I never really thought through and prepared for the race. Last year I spent a lot of time “winging it” and having success, but the game is changing and I needed to be more prepared. I hate to waste the chance and effort but it was a good lesson learned.
US Pro Road Race
The road race was a hard 187km affair on a 16km city circuit throughout downtown Winston Salem. Rolling terrain with one particularly steep hill 1.5km from the finish meant it was going to be a race of attrition and filled with a ton of late race attacks. We had to get someone in the break and make sure Evan, Chad, and Chris could get to the finish as fresh as possible. On the second lap I jumped in the break and we rolled smooth for the next 6 laps. Not pulling hard, just tapping through, but still building a lead upwards of 5:00. Somewhere between our group and the peloton was a chase group that kept attacking itself as most guys already had a rider up the road, Barry made sure we had representation there as well, a perfect setup. While Rally was represented it wasn’t the guy they wanted to go to the finish so all of a sudden the gap started coming down fast as they put 10 guys on the front, with most of the time being brought back by Tom Zirbel, fresh off 2nd in TT.
Next thing I knew the peloton caught us, and by peloton I mean 30 guys, and shrinking fast. For half a lap I didn’t see anyone from our team and covered every move that was remotely dangerous. Eventually Mike and Chad came toward the front and we both protected Chad as best we could. Mike made a huge move to get Chad up the road into a good-looking break, but that was eventually rolled back in. I covered more moves, and eventually got Chad up the road in a group of 7 before coming unhinged in a group of 12 that were chasing the break. A good day, but eventually there were no legs left. Chad went on to place 4th, just missing the podium and being beat in the sprint by Alex Howes (Cannondale) and Travis McCabe (Hincapie) along with the solo winner, Greg Daniel. We rode well as a team, executing the plan, and gave our best rider for the day a chance to win. A podium would have been nice, but we can’t have a ton of regret from a good day in the saddle.
Winston Salem Cycling Classic
After an off day, it was time for more city circuits on a slightly adjusted 12km course with a longer climb and a couple more turns. We had a similar plan to US Pro with the hope to keep Chad, Chris, Nicholae, and Thomas fresh for the finale and the rest of us to ride until we couldn’t anymore and set them up however we could. Mike and I were in a couple small breaks but the break to stick went up the rode on the climb when we were a little too far away to get in it but Chris jumped in the move to make sure we were represented. Amore Vita almost immediately got to the front and kept the pace hard and the break close. As Amore Vita ran out of guys the attacks started flying and the climb started to take it’s toll as huge splits were happening all over the course. Sometimes I was on the right side and sometimes on the wrong side, but always making sure Chad and Nicholae were on the right side and if not bringing them back (Thom had a mechanical and didn’t finish).
This continued until two laps to go where tired legs had me out the back, somehow we got back on but when we got to the field Nicholae and Chad had missed the important split of the day with 6 riders ripping away, 55s up on the field. Mike and I immediately went to the front and rode all out to bring it back, when we were within 20s we hit the climb again, with already tired legs and a hard threshold effort to bring the break back Mike and I both went out the back on the climb. From there Chad had to manage by himself and ended up 8th out of the remaining riders but we never got him back to the right group. It’s frustrating, but some tired legs and poor positioning hurt us. If we would have been there earlier and gotten to the front we could have brought the group back, but the hill was too much for Mike and I. We’re getting better and closer but we’re just missing a little something. It will come, but it needs to come soon, we’re all really sick of being just outside the good placings. Chad is riding super well right now so I know if we can get him set up right he’ll be good in the finale. We’ll ride our butts off for him again at Philly and see if we can’t get on that podium. The team is starting to gel more and more and we definitely have the best team for the next three weeks that we’ve had all year. Looking forward to it.
Keep those pedals spinning,
BSlow
Keep those pedals spinning,
BSlow