Off to Collegiate Nationals/ Road Race Report.

My trip began heading to Richmond, VA Wednesday night for a RPC sponsored event of the showing of Bicycle Dreams in the Byrd Theatre. It was a pretty touching movie, and we had around 330 people show up to it, which was awesome!! After the movie, Jeff Buckles and I went out to get some Mexican… it was cinco de mayo, as well as $1 enchilada night. No brainer, we had to go. I ended up getting 2 chicken, and 2 potato enchiladas, and then headed back to the apartment to finished sorting my bike box for the 6am flight out of Richmond International the following morning. I slept on the sofa that night, basically because I did not want to get too comfortable and be in such a deep sleep that I missed the alarm. The sofa worked great!! I woke up every 90 minutes, until 4am, packed my car, and headed to the airport. Off to Madison, Wisconsin I go!!

From RIC I flew into Detroit, and from Detroit to Madison was only a 16 minute flight (16 minutes because of the time zone differences. It was really over an hour). When I got to Madison, the bike made it in 1 piece, which is always great to see. I went over to the Enterprise car rental stand and got my vehicle. Toyota Corolla FTW!! The back seats fold down, so everything fit nicely. I was starving by then, and went to eat Panera –black bean soup and bread bowl with whole grain bread. Excellent stuff!! Once I finished, I went inside the grocery store (Copps) which is an awesome store!! I killed about 40 minutes walking around. They had a nice organic section, and they also served beer, wine, and liquor all in the same aisle!!!! Screw the ABC stores, I’m going grocery shopping!! From Copps, I ventured down to the heart of the city where the race hotel was to grab my number and turn in some paperwork. The registration opened at 14:00, and it was 13:30. I walked over to the crit course, scoping it out. It’s a perfect rectangle, about .6 miles long with 2 downhills, 1 flat, and 1 uphill. Of course, if I walked the opposite direction, it would be 2 uphills, 1 flat, and 1 downhill… I have no clue which way the course will be run on Saturday… By the time my walking festivities were done, I got the packet and some free stuff (Gatorade bottle, towel, stickers, Flex Power.. ect) and went to find my hotel. Im staying in the Grand Hotel, which is really nice. I checked in and was told of all the amenities in the hotel… 24 hour pool/hot tub, free popcorn every evening, coffee 24/7, awesome continental breakfast, and my room has a king size bed, with a sofa, fridge, coffee maker, microwave, andddd is on the top floor. I feel kind of legit…

After checking in, I put the bike together, and made sure all the workings were in fact working. I then went out to ride the National Road Race course to get a feel for what was coming. Most people were gone by the time I got there. I saw very few riders, and a few Navy chicks. Some guy for UCSC was on the side of the road with a broken rear derailleur. It was Sram Red….That’s what you get for riding that crap, Tiagra FTW (j/k!). Initially I was going to ride the course twice, and get in about 30 miles. Something happened where I took a wrong turn, and I still rode 30 miles…except it was only 1 loop, oops. Luckily I found my way back to the mountain where the start/finish was. The frustrating part was I could see the mountain the whole time I was lost…I just couldn’t find the right roads to get back!!!!! Ugh.

After riding, I was debating whether or not to go eat oatmeal or subway. Having a head cold and a stuffy nose, I decided to go for the foot long oven roasted chicken with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, and jalapeños!! The jalapeños were for the nose to become unstuffed. Luckily, it temporarily worked. That night, the nose issue came back and I could do was hope that rest/sleep would fix it.

The wake up call came at 5:40am Friday morning. The race was at 8:40, and I wanted time to get some food/coffee in me, and have time to get stuff out of my digestive system. For breakfast I had a packet of honey nut oatmeal, 1 packet of maple brown sugar oatmeal, 2 slices of wheat bread, 2 cups of coffee, and a yogurt. Num num num. I was ready!!

2010 Collegiate Road Nationals RACE REPORT!
First off, this is from Velonews talking about road nationals... "The Blue Mounds course, which would have been home to the Olympic road race had Chicago won their recent bid, may be home to the ascension of another crop of collegiates-turned pros."
Now for the report!

At 7am I left for the race. It’s about a 40 minute drive to get to the course because it’s in the middle of nowhere—Blue Mound State Park. There was a $5 entry fee to get into the state park…which I had to go get from the ATM machine in the convenience store at the bottom of the mountain. The car in front of me didn’t pay and I asked the ranger person why. She said that they were USADA (“You-Sad-uh”)--- The drug testers. I thought it was BS that they didn’t have to pay…I mean, sheesh. I’m a college kid, that’s a good enough reason too!! Anyways, I drove to the top of the mountain. It was 40 degrees and raining. I was not about to do anything for warm-up. The first 10 minutes of the race were all downhill, and I was going to freeze. I put on 2 sets of arm warmers, a tech T-shirt, and borrowed gloves from a fellow ACCCer, Reid Beloni. (Thanks Reid, truly a life saver!!) At 8:20am, I realized I should start getting ready because they were lining up the racers at 8:30ish… I still had to pin my numbers, put my bike number on, and put on all my “warm” clothes. I was kind of freaking out… Time goes by fast when there is a deadline. I have always wondered why this occurs, and I’m sure I will never find out. Anways, I got to the line at 8:35, 5 minutes before the start, I was in the back of everyone…what a bummer. How the heck was I suppose to maneuver around all these national caliber athletes to even have a shot at controlling the race?? “Cory Scott from the College of William and Mary”. What the hell? The announcer called my name. I got a CALL UP for NATIONALS!!! SWEEEEEEET!! Basically, all the favorites of the race were brought to the front so we can have a big target on our backs, and so people know who we are. I wasn’t complaining…I got a good start spot The rest of the racers lined up behind the 8 targets, all shivering from the cold rain. I was shaking like my life depended on it. I was ready for this thing to get started!!

There was a neutral roll out down the mountain to the stop sign. It was only about .5 miles, but it was a brutal .5 miles. Very very steep, with grades kicking up to 15%....and we had to finish up this darn thing! Once the neutral rollout was no longer neutral, the testosterone was unleashed. Balls on the wall, we beamed down the rest of the mountain at speeds around 70-80kph. Some of the turns were sketchy just because there were so many people, the roads were wet, and the speeds were insane. Nonetheless, no one crashed, and I was still at the front end of the peloton. About 2 miles into the race, a group went off the front, but they were brought back within a minute or 2. Once they were reeled in, a counterattack happened. 3 dudes went off the front and nobody responded! They were all just looking around, and once the group was a good .5 km ahead, I launched an attack that left people looking once again. “Awesome” I thought. Just drive it until I get into the break. I chased on for a good mile before I finally caught the group of 3. One guy was from Mesa State, another from Whitman College, and the last guy I didn’t pay attention to. He was a being a douche, and wasn’t taking any pulls. His excuse was “I have teammates back there…” We were like, “seriously dude? You are in the lead break?!?” Whatever. We dropped his a$$ on the first climb of the day, and never saw him again. So then there were 3.

On the last climb at the end of each lap, there was a huge group of dedicated spectators giving out water and yelling for us to go faster. I also somehow had a support crew…not sure who it was, but it was definitely a girl’s voice that said “Go Cory!!” hmmm, maybe a secret admirer?? haha . Whoever you are, thanks!! At the top of the hill, we turned and started the loop over again, which meant descending for a few miles a high speeds. My front derailleur was acting up, and whenever I stopped pedaling, it would shift into the small ring and make things kind of sketchy. This pillaged my descending abilities, so I always got in the back of the breakaway to avoid problems. Usually they descended faster, and I had to chased on 50m to get back with them. Oh well… fun times.

The break stayed that way for another 3 laps of the 5 lap course. We put about 3 minutes into the main peloton, and had a solo chaser a minute back. The chaser was the teammate of the Mesa State guy already in the break… They were both Germans, and one of them was predicted to be the overall winner of the road race. I wasn’t sure which one…they looked exactly the same, talked the same, and were both beastly. The solo chaser caught us, and looked to be in good form. I mean, if you can bridge up to a breakaway for 2 laps by yourself, you have to be an animal. Also, you have to be pretty dang tired, and I knew this. On the 4th lap, the German Mesa dude that was in the original break dropped off due to what his German counterpart (Richard Geng) called “fatigue.” I had to laugh, and I told Geng at least we traded one for the other! I was happy. The less people in the breakaway, the better the shot at placing high. I noticed on the 4th lap both guys were struggling on the climbs. I was dancing around on the pedals, feeling the best I have ever felt… minus the hypothermia I could feel setting in (The temperature remained 40ish degrees, and the rain NEVER let up. Talk about Belgian style racing! Epic). It would be weird, one moment I would be burning up, regretting wearing 2 sets of arm warmers. 5 minutes later I was telling myself, “darn I’m so glad I have all these layers on.” At some points in the race I was shaking from the cold, especially on the descents. I was glad I was in the breakaway working the whole time. I cant imagine being stuck in the peloton the whole race. At least not today. Anyways, on the last hill of the 4th lap (which is a good mileish climb), Geng and I dropped the Whitman College kid. He would catch back on for the descent on the 5th lap, but I now had a mental edge on him. The moto official came up to us and said we had a chase group of 3, ninety seconds behind, and the main field was still 3 minutes back. I knew then I was guaranteed top 10 at nationals! Especially having the Shimano Support Vehicle following us the whole time…if I needed a new bike I could just wave them down and trade real fast. Talk about a comfortable feeling! Woooo.

The last lap was fast. I was driving hard, to ensure our 70 miles of effort stuck. The other 2 guys in the break were doing the same, except not as hard. I knew I was the strongest rider of the 3 riders, and I knew my only competition was Geng, because Whitman said all he wanted to do was stick with us until the last climb. The final climbs approached fast. The moto official came up to us and said there was a chaser less than a minute back!! Ohhh man, I was not about to get caught after being out for over 3 hours. I increased the intensity, and noticed a gap on Geng. I then put my head down and drove hard for a minute, turned around to take a peak, and to my satisfaction he was about 150m back. Wow, I was actually doing it. I continued to drive on. Spit was running down my face because I was breathing so hard, and was so fatigued I couldn’t control it, nor did I care. The rain was washing it away anyways. I made the final turn and headed up the entrance of the State park where the park ranger ripped me off $5. By then, I couldn’t even see the competition. I kept hammering though, just in case. The 15% grade killed me. My numb legs and arms started to cramp, and I was ready to be done. Luckily, close to the top spectators were cheering me on. Awesome! The road flattened out, but was pretty bumpy. I turned around to take one more glance to see what was coming. Nothing!! I put it in the big ring, and did the 2 arm pump across the finish line. I won Collegiate Road Race Nationals!!!!!!! 30 seconds after the finish, I was told I had to go get drug tested…and from that point on, my shadow had a new best friend. An official stuck to me like white on rice. I had to drive in the car with him, change into dry clothes in from of him, if I needed something out of my car he had to come. This is a very specific protocol we’re talking about here. Still, the drug testers were nice people nonetheless. I was too tired to care…

On my last note, I just want to thank a few people in particular. Reid Beloni for the gloves. I would not have made it through that grueling race without them. WiMa rec sports for sponsoring this trip. And Richmond Pro Cycling, because of their awesome support with everything. Lets not forget to mention all the shoutouts I got from all those cool kids back at college!