I ate breakfast and had my morning cup of Joe. The crit was not until 17:00 that evening, so I had 8 hours to kill before the race. I ended up chilling in the hotel room listening to music, and talking to some friends online. Before I knew it, lunch time rolled around, and I went to get a Subway footlong oven-roasted chicken. Its always my favorite before a race because I feel like it digests fast. Maybe I just tricked myself into thinking that, but nonetheless it does the trick. I went to the subway in the City Center where the race would be held. USAC was just starting to get things set up for the day, and there were tons of people there because a farmers market was going on at the same time. Also, I had to go purchase a banquet ticket because I now had a reason to go. I figured I might as well enjoy my only collegiate national championship event, especially since I was getting some bling bling.
After getting food in my stomach and emptying the wallet for the ticket, I went back to the hotel for a pre-race nap. It was hard to fall asleep, but I managed to pass out for 20 minutes. My phone was going off left and right with text messages, and every time I was about to be out, it went off again. I should have put it on silent, oh well. I ended up waking up at 15:00, made a few adjustments on my bike, hydrated, listened to some “pump up” music, and then went to the course. The temperature was still pretty cold, and I had to wear knee warmers along with arm warmers again. When I got to the course, I went to scope things out and watch what was going down around the corners. The course was run around the Capital Building, and looked pretty fast and smooth, almost scary. I was waiting for a crash to happen in the Womens D1 race, but it never occurred… kudos to them. 25 minutes before the race I finally went back to my car to sit inside and get out of the cold/ get dressed for the race (its how I warm up…). Afterwards, I proceeded to empty the remaining contents in my bladder. I was freezing riding up to the start line where the johnnyhouses were; and was shaking trying to stay warm. I actually camped out in the johnnys (as gross as that sounds) just to stay warm before the race. Once I heard the announcer say there were 3 laps to go in the Women’s race, I exited my campsite to continue the shivering on the sidelines.
Capital Building
After the course was clear, the next race (my race! Mens DII) were allowed to pedal around. I made it a whole lap before they stopped everyone… kind of a bummer because I wanted to take the turns at full speed and get a feel for everything. Also, I wanted to make sure the bike was still in good working order after 3.5 hours of rain racing the previous day. All the guys lined up 50m before the start line, and the announcers were getting things prepped for the race. I got another CALL UP to the start line for the crit, and I was the first one they called up. My head was a little big, but whatever. It has never happened to me before and I enjoyed it. “Cory Scott of the College of William and Mary. Your ACCC conference winner” …and then they proceeded to call the other conference winners, and then to follow, the rest of the collegiate racers. We stood on the start line for a couple of minutes, and then the countdown began: “THREE, TWO, ONE (at 1, everyone took off) GO!!!!!!!”
All you heard for 5 seconds was cleats clipping in to the pedals, and then the horsepower was let loose! If you can harness 75 guys power, sprinting as hard as they can, we’re talking about big numbers here. To put that in perspective, in general, a single cyclist has a greater power to weight ratio than a small car! Immediately a guy went off the front. I chased him down…not sure why, but it was stupid. Definitely way too early to do that crap in an hour long race. I thought since the early break in the road race worked the previous day, then maybe it would work in the crit?? Wrong. The course was concrete pavement, with 2 downhills, 1 uphill, and 1 straightway at the finish line…and lots and lots of cracks and pothole-ish stuff. Weird surface, but very fast. I think we averaged somewhere around 27mph, probably a little faster. Jeff Buckles from RPC gave me a strategy: basically wait until 30 minutes (half way through) to attack. The race was intense. Every rider was fighting for a top spot. Occasionally I would move to the back without realizing it, and then have to fight to get a position back. It was extremely hard moving up, and the only opportunity I would get was on the uphill. At some points in the race, I drew a complete blank and chilled. I wouldn’t pedal hard; 10 people would pass me and it would be a kick in the face, and things would start working again. It was great racing and having people cheering for me though. I had John Crow’s parents hollering, as well as some Navy people that were yelling at me. Very encouraging, and definitely helped keep me going. Around the 5th lap in the race around turn 4, I went on the inside to make up ground. Bad idea. I hit a groove in the concrete and sent me squirreling. Once I gained control, I sprinted to keep up with the few places I lost. From then on, I was focused on moving toward the front.
The primes in the race threw things off a lot. I really wished I was up front when the bell was rung so I could counterattack, but I always seemed to be mid-pack, chasing to stay onto the lead group. At the 25th minute, I launched a solid attack that even the announcer called out: “Now ladies and gentlemen, this is how you attack a field…” and then I couldn’t hear anymore. I was roped in after a lap, but did lots of damage. I turned around and saw a long line of riders in the drops, trying to grab a wheel. My attack actually set up for a counterattack, which I jumped in on. It went nowhere though, and soon the remaining peloton was together again. For the last 30 minutes of the race, attacks were being launched nearly every lap, and none would succeed. I knew with 5k to go, it would be a sprint finish, and I started to move up through the peloton, fighting for a spot. It got nasty. Every person in the top 20 thought they could win the race. With 3 laps to go, around turn 1, a MIT rider swung wide and pushed the Army rider into the curb. I was right next to him, and he bounced off the curb and started to come into me. Luckily, he saved himself, in addition to my wellbeing. Still, too close of a call for that point of the race. I told myself that since I had made it this far through the race, I’m damn well going to finish the best I could. I didn’t let off the gas for the remaining 5 minutes.
Mesa State was on the front with all their guys driving the peloton hard. We were churning the laps around 30mph, and once you throw in some bumping with other riders and corning, everything gets sketchy. The bell lap rang, and I was in 8th place, still fighting to get higher up in the paceline. It was nearly impossible though. The guys weren’t giving up their spot, and I had to sit in where I was. With 2 turns to go, the last Mesa State rider pulled off the front and led their German star, Geng to fend for himself. This turn led us up the hill, into the last turn which was 150m before the finish. I knew that whatever place I was in around the last turn is more or less what place I would stay in for the overall race. I managed to sprint up and push my way into 6th place, and didn’t gain or lose anything after that turn. I did all I could, and honestly was a little disappointed with 6th place. When you put it in perspective though, 6th in the Nation sounds pretty good. Additionally, I finished 3rd place in the omnium at Nationals—which is a combination of points in the road race and crit.
Geng winning, me coming in 6th. Average Lap speed for final lap was 55kph
All in all, a decent weekend at nationals. Thanks to all of you who were following me on Twitter/ facebook and supporting me while I was on in Wisconsin. I cant express my appreciation enough!
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