Salina 2-Day

I ventured over solo to the Salina 2-day event. The original plan was to camp out at Kanopolis Park west of town, but threats of overnight thunder and lightning with hail nixed that. I drove over Sat morning and got in a good 45 minute warmup to get things moving after a long drive. Interestingly, at 9am everyone was still spinning around trying to figure out where the start was. Shortly after, we figured it out and got rolling.

The winds were pretty solidly out of the south from 20-30mph. The course started heading south for about 20 miles, then weaved back west and north the rest of the way. With only 9 starters things were very mellow into the wind. We had a simple rotation pretty much the whole way down until we turned into the cross winds. From there the Colavita trio in the race started to get aggressive and throw down some attacks. They ended up getting one up the road, but he was alone. I tried a little dig into a crosswind section off a corner but didn't get anywhere, so I just rotated in the group until we got to the last westward section and guttered everyone to see who would come up. I ended up getting Spencer Martin and Justin Leopold with me, while Andrew Lyles and Matt Maher chased. We turned north into a tailwind and into a slight climb. I kept the pace really high and found myself alone after a couple of rollers. I just kept rolling, though after the climbing stopped and we went through some more crosswind sections I got caught by the chasers. This was ok because there was still about 15 miles to go and I jumped into the rotation. We just rode at a good pace for the next few miles until we made the last turn in to the finish. It was about 2.5 miles of crosswind. I just kept watching the group, though I think everyone expected me to jump early. I finally went at 400m to go and got a good enough gap to hold to the line. That made for a very long sprint.

I got in a good long spin afterwards to get some more miles on the day. The location for registration and awards was a great AC cooled building with showers and plenty of space to hang out afterwards.

Sunday I took a quick spin in the morning over to check out the crit course. It was a flat figure 8 with wide open corners. If the course were a bit longer you could easily put 150 guys through without a problem. Anyway, some sprinters showed up: Adam Miller, Ryan Christler, and Jarred Young. So I knew that to win I would need to get away on my own eventually. I started the race in cyclocross style, launching off the start line just to see what would happen. Things hung together but just barely, so
I sat in a half lap then went again. This time I got the group to split. the problem was all three fresh guys made the split, plus Spencer (who had minutes before soloed away from the cat 3/4 race pretty much from the gun). We kept the pace pretty good but had some chasers who were bringing us back very slowly. Finally, I put in a big dig, then attacked on the next lap on the tailwind. It worked perfectly as I ended up alone with 5 to go. I went deep and established a good gap that I was able to stick to the line.

The promoters did a good job getting us all on the road super quick after the race was over and did a good job keeping things organized throughout the weekend. Thanks guys!

MOPRO

Not sure I have a lot to say about the MOPRO weekend in St. Louis.

Friday I felt like crap, then went off the front with 5 to go and stayed out there until about half a lap remaining, then got caught and sat up for 30th. The team van alternator crapped out, ended up with us all being up till about 2:30 in the morning. Here is me with about 10 seconds with 3 to go (Thanks Britton).

Saturday went ok until there was a big crash on the last lap that I was behind but snuck through. This put me in a pretty bad spot, but I came from way back and ended up 9th.

Sunday again was going pretty good until there was a crash on the last corner again causing mayhem and resulting in a pretty bad finish. This was the dumbest crash i'd seen in a while, someone from the Hammer Down team dove the last corner and basically T-boned the rider in front of me taking them both down. Inexcusably stupid move. 

Leavenworth weekend

Started off with a little of this:

I was one of the first people there and the last to start, so I got in a good 30 mile warmup ride on the RR course. I ended up getting the second fastest time on the day, which was still kind of slow. But I think it was a slow course.


Then some of this:

 I was really happy that we got a good rain race in. I tend to have good races in the rain. The break always goes earlier than you expect in this race, so I decided I'd be the one to initiate that split. JB made a good tempo up and over the finish hill, then I went to work. I tried a feeler move to see who would come, but that got pulled back quickly. We came up with a team gameplan and I rolled off again at about mile 8 and was soon joined by Brain West and Joe Fox. I was happy with that selection so off we went. We worked really well together. Coming back on US-73 Brian and I ended up dropping Joe near the turn back to Leavenworth. At about 3 miles to go, we saw some chasers coming on, but kept having a pretty good rotation. I jumped at about 800m to go and got a gap that I held to the line. Choch and BB came in a few seconds later after a long chase. The team rode excellently and things are looking good for our first major season objective, the Tour de Grove.