Last weekend was the first race of the regular season in St Louis. Tour of St Louis has been growing steadily over the last few years and this year was one of the best fields I had seen. Most of the strong teams that attended came with full squads and there was even a spattering of single strong men.
The race is three stages over two days with a time trial and two crits. Most of our team did not participate in the TT as we do not have the TT bikes to be competitive. Robin was our only Omnium contender and did a good TT but with the caliber of riders there he was coming into the first crit in 11th.
The plan in the weekend's first crit was to try and make something happen. This is a bit different than what we normally do, but we wanted to work on new strategies and you have to do it sometime. We started off throwing attacks pretty early in the race, one after another we were riding off the front or going in break aways. The speed of the race seemed pretty high and anything out front was pulled back pretty quickly by any team or person not represented. This made it tough for us, we have some very strong riders but at that speed, and how many attacks were going off, we were quickly struggling to catch our breath. Near the middle of the race Bj put in a big effort to bridge to a move that looked promising. As he neared the move riders in it attacked and Bj dug again to make it to them. Unfortunately once there that group was already fighting and Bj thought better of it and allowed himself to be swallowed along with all the break.
Our last plan was to line up the team to try and put our sprinter for the day Jason in a good position for the sprint. With 4 to go the team started to come together and we were getting lined up. I remember sitting first out of the team just waiting for the word go. I was hurting but was doing my best to try and hold a spot. We were not on the front and my job would be to move us up once everyone was there. That unfortunately for me, most of the team, and a lot of the field, wouldn't happen. With 2 to go there was a large crash that took me and everyone on the team out by Shane and Grant.
With only about 20 of the field left racing Shane did his best to help Grant move into a good spot for the sprint. Grant waited till the last second and was able to save a 2nd place for the team.
Sunday was on the Forest Park course. Flat with 6 turns and a lot of wind. We decided to go with a plan more suited to our strengths. I was not feeling great, and having a new bike delivered to me by our great sponsor Swim Bike Run that morning was proving a little hard to get set just right for me. I always take a few days to get everything dialed just right and every time I had to put any power into the bike my legs would fill with acid. I told the team I would do everything in my power to be where I needed to be, but the crash from the day before and the new bike was too much for my body to take.
The race was fast from the gun and the team did well to roll with as many attacks as we could. With our numbers we thought we would be able to be represented in just about every move. But that was probably a bit over zealous of us. At about 38 minutes into the race, I could no longer keep the pace. My legs just couldn't produce the watts required and I found myself going backwards. I pulled out of the race and became a fan for the rest of the guys finishing up.
With 10 laps to go the team started to line up for Grant. With the speeds so high nothing was going to stay away and it was best to save it all for one last go at it. With 3 laps to go Bj pulled hard to get Jesse and Grant to the front. This in itself looked like a very big effort and Bj was done. Jesse did his best to keep Grant at the front for the next lap, but they were swarmed when a slight lul came in the speed. They were separated but Grant jumped onto teammate Eric Finks' wheel who was able to get him to the last turn of the race. Grant opened up his sprint picking up a few spots and placed 8th. Not as good as he had hoped but still a fine showing.
The team learned a lot last weekend and I think we grew because of it. It is a whole new experience for us all and a lot of the new members still are learning how to integrate into the team. The only way to do that is to give it time.
This weekend the Pro squad as we call them is down in Anniston AL for the Sunny King Crit and Fort McClellon Road Race. I am really excited to see how they work this weekend. I will let you know in a few hours.....
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
2015 Frozen Waffle
P1/2/3
The course in Springfield was an eleven mile loop, with rollers, one big climb and has a
constant cross wind out of the south. We developed a plan to use the hill which is at the end of the lap to help launch a break from. Some where on the first lap a break rolled off the front made up of eight riders with two of our own in the move. We didn’t like the odds so we worked on the front and slowly brought it back. At the end of the first lap we attacked but the field wanted none of it and things stayed together for most of the race . With two laps to go we caught the break and decided to stop attacking keep it together and lead me out to the bottom of the hill and crush it there. Entering the last lap we began moving up together and set ourselves on the front setting a hard tempo. Our guys pulled for 6 miles keeping the field strung out and content on just waiting with us. Approaching the hill we began to rev up the pace keeping any would be attackers at bay. I was dropped off about 75 meters from the base of the climb so I just kept pushing the pace to keep from blowing up and getting swarmed. One rider attacked right at the bottom, I stood and began to sprint. Passing the Cyclery rider as he was running out of gas. My teammate, Matt Brophy, came around me like a rocket near the top of the climb. I began to chase him using him as a carrot as the field raced towards the finish line. I was able to fight through the pain and hang on to third as a Gateway Harley Davidson rider, Connor Brown, was able to sneak past at the line. The team did a great job communicating and working together. You can clearly see that our team is truly that, a team. We made plan and stuck to it, as a result of this we are starting 2015 out very strong.
Grant Erhard
The plan was set and it was going to be a fun one to make happen, in theory..... Like many of the best laid plans our plan A didn't go quite right as there were many variables we couldn't control. So we tried to roll with it. We had a contingency for what happened, but it took some time to execute as it involved committing what seemed to be a cardinal sin of racing. Pulling your own teammates back from a break away. But believe it or not we had decided that if we did not have a large advantage in the break than we would pull it back. When Phillip and I found ourselves in an 8 man break we were both quite surprised. We decided we would rotate around but soft pedaled when hitting the front. Most of the other riders were very interested in staying away, but all Phillip and I wanted was one of our lead guys to make it up to us, or for the team to pull us back.
Lap after lap went by and almost no one was in view. I was starting to get worried. Looking around the group there were a few riders that I did not know, but the ones I did, I knew they were better climbers than I was and the finish was quite a hard climb. Phillip might have been able to challenge for the win but I was not sure. We really wanted this break ended.
The team was able to bring the break back with two, 11 mile laps remaining, and a couple of the guys looked pretty worn out. Immediately there were a few flyers thrown but it looked like nothing else was going to get away, teams didn't want to let each other go. I dropped back and tried to get the story of how everyone was doing and try to regroup and put a new plan together. We decided we would make sure to get Grant and Brophy to the bottom of the final climb at the front. That meant we were going to do a lead-out to the final hill and let those guys sort the rest out. We got the plan passed around and followed wheels for the next lap.
With 3/4 of the final lap left we started to try and organize near the front. As we are still getting our shit together this did not go as smoothly as planned but most of the needed pieces were in place. With about 1/2 a lap left we were driving on the front. The goal was to put the rest of the field in the gutter to make it hard for the rest of the field. I do not know if we accomplished this as it seemed there were a good number of riders left when I pulled off before the hill, but you have to start trying these techniques and work out the kinks early in the year.
It was not as easy as we had hoped as a Mercy Kuat rider was really trying hard to throw a wrench in our lead-out. He was able to push Brophy back farther in the pack than he should have, but Grant was able to figure out the situation and did a great job gate keeping for us. With maybe 1km to go the Mercy Kuat rider attacked on a big downhill. We were able to control him and took control of the front again with ~700 meters to go. Bj put in a huge final pull and I was up. I did my best to keep up my speed but I was really hurting. Phillip pulled around me a little bit too soon though as I had a couple hundred meters left in me, but with that I was done. I watched Phillip motor away with Grant on his wheel. As they went by Grant asked who was on his wheel, I told him Josh Carter, who had one of his teammates on his wheel, and Brophy was 2-3 riders behind them. I gave Brophy one more verbal encouragement and watched the race ride away. Phillip looked like he was able to take Grant just about to the hill, where Grant lead himself out the rest of the way. As I heard it, Grant lead most of the way up the hill and Brophy came around him as they crested the rise. Brophy took a few bike-lengths lead while Grant sprinted it out with Connor Brown who pipped him on the line. So a 1st and a 3rd for the team was a great thing to hear when I finally rolled through, especially with the odd racing that had happened. Good things are coming!
Nick Hand
The course in Springfield was an eleven mile loop, with rollers, one big climb and has a
constant cross wind out of the south. We developed a plan to use the hill which is at the end of the lap to help launch a break from. Some where on the first lap a break rolled off the front made up of eight riders with two of our own in the move. We didn’t like the odds so we worked on the front and slowly brought it back. At the end of the first lap we attacked but the field wanted none of it and things stayed together for most of the race . With two laps to go we caught the break and decided to stop attacking keep it together and lead me out to the bottom of the hill and crush it there. Entering the last lap we began moving up together and set ourselves on the front setting a hard tempo. Our guys pulled for 6 miles keeping the field strung out and content on just waiting with us. Approaching the hill we began to rev up the pace keeping any would be attackers at bay. I was dropped off about 75 meters from the base of the climb so I just kept pushing the pace to keep from blowing up and getting swarmed. One rider attacked right at the bottom, I stood and began to sprint. Passing the Cyclery rider as he was running out of gas. My teammate, Matt Brophy, came around me like a rocket near the top of the climb. I began to chase him using him as a carrot as the field raced towards the finish line. I was able to fight through the pain and hang on to third as a Gateway Harley Davidson rider, Connor Brown, was able to sneak past at the line. The team did a great job communicating and working together. You can clearly see that our team is truly that, a team. We made plan and stuck to it, as a result of this we are starting 2015 out very strong.
Grant Erhard
The plan was set and it was going to be a fun one to make happen, in theory..... Like many of the best laid plans our plan A didn't go quite right as there were many variables we couldn't control. So we tried to roll with it. We had a contingency for what happened, but it took some time to execute as it involved committing what seemed to be a cardinal sin of racing. Pulling your own teammates back from a break away. But believe it or not we had decided that if we did not have a large advantage in the break than we would pull it back. When Phillip and I found ourselves in an 8 man break we were both quite surprised. We decided we would rotate around but soft pedaled when hitting the front. Most of the other riders were very interested in staying away, but all Phillip and I wanted was one of our lead guys to make it up to us, or for the team to pull us back.
Lap after lap went by and almost no one was in view. I was starting to get worried. Looking around the group there were a few riders that I did not know, but the ones I did, I knew they were better climbers than I was and the finish was quite a hard climb. Phillip might have been able to challenge for the win but I was not sure. We really wanted this break ended.
The team was able to bring the break back with two, 11 mile laps remaining, and a couple of the guys looked pretty worn out. Immediately there were a few flyers thrown but it looked like nothing else was going to get away, teams didn't want to let each other go. I dropped back and tried to get the story of how everyone was doing and try to regroup and put a new plan together. We decided we would make sure to get Grant and Brophy to the bottom of the final climb at the front. That meant we were going to do a lead-out to the final hill and let those guys sort the rest out. We got the plan passed around and followed wheels for the next lap.
With 3/4 of the final lap left we started to try and organize near the front. As we are still getting our shit together this did not go as smoothly as planned but most of the needed pieces were in place. With about 1/2 a lap left we were driving on the front. The goal was to put the rest of the field in the gutter to make it hard for the rest of the field. I do not know if we accomplished this as it seemed there were a good number of riders left when I pulled off before the hill, but you have to start trying these techniques and work out the kinks early in the year.
It was not as easy as we had hoped as a Mercy Kuat rider was really trying hard to throw a wrench in our lead-out. He was able to push Brophy back farther in the pack than he should have, but Grant was able to figure out the situation and did a great job gate keeping for us. With maybe 1km to go the Mercy Kuat rider attacked on a big downhill. We were able to control him and took control of the front again with ~700 meters to go. Bj put in a huge final pull and I was up. I did my best to keep up my speed but I was really hurting. Phillip pulled around me a little bit too soon though as I had a couple hundred meters left in me, but with that I was done. I watched Phillip motor away with Grant on his wheel. As they went by Grant asked who was on his wheel, I told him Josh Carter, who had one of his teammates on his wheel, and Brophy was 2-3 riders behind them. I gave Brophy one more verbal encouragement and watched the race ride away. Phillip looked like he was able to take Grant just about to the hill, where Grant lead himself out the rest of the way. As I heard it, Grant lead most of the way up the hill and Brophy came around him as they crested the rise. Brophy took a few bike-lengths lead while Grant sprinted it out with Connor Brown who pipped him on the line. So a 1st and a 3rd for the team was a great thing to hear when I finally rolled through, especially with the odd racing that had happened. Good things are coming!
Nick Hand
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Raymond Sapp Frozen Toes Memorial Road Race
Pro 1/2/3
Matt Brophy's race
I don't believe any cyclist could have asked for a nicer day to start off a season. The boys went over the game plan for the days 60 mile road race; keep the race together on the first lap, keep it hard, and then establish the days breakaway once we make the final right hand turn 10k out from the finish on the first lap. The race began far more docile than I had anticipated. After six months away from racing, I figured first lap of the race would be filled with wild attacks from the pent up energy build up after countless hours of indoor trainer rides. However, we rolled through the first few miles at an enjoyable 30kph or so. One rider was allowed to gain a decent advantage as we coasted around, but his effort was soon to be thwarted. Riders became antsy and attacks started going up the road. Grigsby, Hand, and Zuend kept things in control on the front, allowing Murphy, Erhard, and I to sit in and wait for the right moves. For the next half hour the pace was high and groups came and went. After making the last right turn on the first lap, LU/Astellas' Brandon "Monk" Feehery had a slight advantage. The front of the group began to slow going into one of the first rollers and I saw the opportunity to jump across. We worked together and the gap grew quickly. Through the finish, we had an advantage of roughly one minute. We worked together and lost sight of field as we began the second lap. We settled into a comfortable pace as the miles went by. Within the last 20km or so we began to see a group approaching. As we entered the final 10k we had about a 30 second gap. Being collegiate teammates, and roommates, Monk and I were not about to play cat and mouse with eachother and risk the chances of going 1-2. We picked up the pace as we finished off the final kilometers. The cat and mouse began as we approached the final roller up to the finish, knowing that we were going to stay clear of the chasers. I led into the base and anxiously awaited his move. Monk jumped with about 100-150 to go(don't really have any clue) and I was able to hop in his draft and come around him at the line. I don't think I could have pictured SBR Quantums first race together going any better. Everyone executed their jobs perfectly and we accomplished exactly what we set out to do. Now we just have to keep the momentum rolling and continue crushing souls!
Matt
Robin Zuend's point of view.
With the season delayed by a long winter we were finally ready to get underway at the wonderfully warm "Froze" Toes race. SBRQ lined up in the 1/2/3 field with a solid group of Brophy, Grant, Nick H, Nick G, Murphy and myself. Along with Lindenwood we had the two biggest teams in the race which was going to allow us some ability to dictate what was going to happen. The race started out pretty calm as everyone needed to take a little time get back into racing again. The SBRQ guys were all over the front keeping an eye on proceedings. Attacks of a couple guys went up the road for the first half of the lap but we kept everything pretty close together, which was our plan going in. 2/3 of the way in a couple guys got up the road and dangled there for 5 miles or so before we brought them back without too much fuss. On the long(ish) uphill drag near the finish Brophy broke away with Brandon Feehery. At this point the team went all in to make sure that Brophy stayed away. It should be noted that the entire road when heading east to west to the finish looked like it had been shelled by mortar fire. Hang on to the bars and hope you don't run into a hole, or somebody avoiding one runs into you. Many flats were had, but luckily none for our team. Over the course of the second lap SBRQ continued to be plastered over the front of the race, and for a long time the leading two were out of sight. About halfway through the second lap though the lead car came into view and the field started to make a concerted effort to bring them back. We had this covered by making sure that we always had someone in the top 2-3 guys to totally disrupt the rhythm of any chase attempt. This worked so well it started to frustrate some of the other guys, but we played it perfectly. Coming into the finishing hill the leading two had a couple hundred yards on the group but the team played it perfectly and Brophy outsprinted his breakaway companion for a well deserved win. I managed to hang out for a reasonable 8th place to help contribute a little money to the pool. I personally learned a lot about team tactics on the day and coming back with the perfect result definitely makes it worth it. The team played it perfectly and everybody put in huge efforts to make it happen. And to top it all off, there were #TheCup cupcakes waiting at the finish, what more could you want.
Category 3⁄4 Race Report
By: Austin Gomes
First Race of the Missouri Road Season, Raymond Sapp Memorial “Froze” Toes Road
Race. The course was a rather flat 4 corner 31 mile loop through the back roads of good
As a 3⁄4 racer in today’s race I quickly joined James, Phillip, and Ryan for a pre-race
discussion. With practically zero warm-up for most of us, the first 5 miles was used to
loosen up and get back into race mode.
After the “warm-up” part of the race the intensity started kicking up. I was anxious and
decided to take a few pulls and ramp up the pace. I figured I’d rather have a fast, more
challenging race than a slow mediocre race. The team put in multiple pulls and launched
multiple attacks but nothing was staying away. We then all communicated to ease off a
bit, and for myself and James to put in a few good hard efforts to spark something and
tire out the opponents. This seemed to work a little bit as we were spitting some off the
back but wasn’t working enough to burn our selves out in the process.
The race continued and started to come to an end. With roughly 5 miles to go I started
making my way back into the front group after being sucked backwards in the pack. We
were on a fast flat section of road when I pulled up along side Toedebusch. Since it was
his day I let him pull out and move his way to the front. From that point I didn’t realize
that we were within about 3 miles of the finish. This is the point when the road started
becoming super sketchy with pot holes every 3 seconds, gravel left and right. From my
perspective this was a very scary down hill and main stretch to the finish. With the center
line in hard effect I could not squeeze by on the outside to regain my top ten position for
the finishing climb. So I fought my way on the outside as hard as I could, sprinting up the
to the front for a tough fought 5th
place spot on the podium. As for James I am not sure where he came in...(sorry). But
overall we had a solid day with some fun racing.
That was my race in a nutshell.
place finish. Not as great as I hoped but I sort of did my job of getting Ryan
place finish. Meanwhile Phillip sprinted hard for a 3rd
Phillip's View
Matt Brophy's race
I don't believe any cyclist could have asked for a nicer day to start off a season. The boys went over the game plan for the days 60 mile road race; keep the race together on the first lap, keep it hard, and then establish the days breakaway once we make the final right hand turn 10k out from the finish on the first lap. The race began far more docile than I had anticipated. After six months away from racing, I figured first lap of the race would be filled with wild attacks from the pent up energy build up after countless hours of indoor trainer rides. However, we rolled through the first few miles at an enjoyable 30kph or so. One rider was allowed to gain a decent advantage as we coasted around, but his effort was soon to be thwarted. Riders became antsy and attacks started going up the road. Grigsby, Hand, and Zuend kept things in control on the front, allowing Murphy, Erhard, and I to sit in and wait for the right moves. For the next half hour the pace was high and groups came and went. After making the last right turn on the first lap, LU/Astellas' Brandon "Monk" Feehery had a slight advantage. The front of the group began to slow going into one of the first rollers and I saw the opportunity to jump across. We worked together and the gap grew quickly. Through the finish, we had an advantage of roughly one minute. We worked together and lost sight of field as we began the second lap. We settled into a comfortable pace as the miles went by. Within the last 20km or so we began to see a group approaching. As we entered the final 10k we had about a 30 second gap. Being collegiate teammates, and roommates, Monk and I were not about to play cat and mouse with eachother and risk the chances of going 1-2. We picked up the pace as we finished off the final kilometers. The cat and mouse began as we approached the final roller up to the finish, knowing that we were going to stay clear of the chasers. I led into the base and anxiously awaited his move. Monk jumped with about 100-150 to go(don't really have any clue) and I was able to hop in his draft and come around him at the line. I don't think I could have pictured SBR Quantums first race together going any better. Everyone executed their jobs perfectly and we accomplished exactly what we set out to do. Now we just have to keep the momentum rolling and continue crushing souls!
Matt
Robin Zuend's point of view.
With the season delayed by a long winter we were finally ready to get underway at the wonderfully warm "Froze" Toes race. SBRQ lined up in the 1/2/3 field with a solid group of Brophy, Grant, Nick H, Nick G, Murphy and myself. Along with Lindenwood we had the two biggest teams in the race which was going to allow us some ability to dictate what was going to happen. The race started out pretty calm as everyone needed to take a little time get back into racing again. The SBRQ guys were all over the front keeping an eye on proceedings. Attacks of a couple guys went up the road for the first half of the lap but we kept everything pretty close together, which was our plan going in. 2/3 of the way in a couple guys got up the road and dangled there for 5 miles or so before we brought them back without too much fuss. On the long(ish) uphill drag near the finish Brophy broke away with Brandon Feehery. At this point the team went all in to make sure that Brophy stayed away. It should be noted that the entire road when heading east to west to the finish looked like it had been shelled by mortar fire. Hang on to the bars and hope you don't run into a hole, or somebody avoiding one runs into you. Many flats were had, but luckily none for our team. Over the course of the second lap SBRQ continued to be plastered over the front of the race, and for a long time the leading two were out of sight. About halfway through the second lap though the lead car came into view and the field started to make a concerted effort to bring them back. We had this covered by making sure that we always had someone in the top 2-3 guys to totally disrupt the rhythm of any chase attempt. This worked so well it started to frustrate some of the other guys, but we played it perfectly. Coming into the finishing hill the leading two had a couple hundred yards on the group but the team played it perfectly and Brophy outsprinted his breakaway companion for a well deserved win. I managed to hang out for a reasonable 8th place to help contribute a little money to the pool. I personally learned a lot about team tactics on the day and coming back with the perfect result definitely makes it worth it. The team played it perfectly and everybody put in huge efforts to make it happen. And to top it all off, there were #TheCup cupcakes waiting at the finish, what more could you want.
Category 3⁄4 Race Report
By: Austin Gomes
First Race of the Missouri Road Season, Raymond Sapp Memorial “Froze” Toes Road
Race. The course was a rather flat 4 corner 31 mile loop through the back roads of good
As a 3⁄4 racer in today’s race I quickly joined James, Phillip, and Ryan for a pre-race
discussion. With practically zero warm-up for most of us, the first 5 miles was used to
loosen up and get back into race mode.
After the “warm-up” part of the race the intensity started kicking up. I was anxious and
decided to take a few pulls and ramp up the pace. I figured I’d rather have a fast, more
challenging race than a slow mediocre race. The team put in multiple pulls and launched
multiple attacks but nothing was staying away. We then all communicated to ease off a
bit, and for myself and James to put in a few good hard efforts to spark something and
tire out the opponents. This seemed to work a little bit as we were spitting some off the
back but wasn’t working enough to burn our selves out in the process.
The race continued and started to come to an end. With roughly 5 miles to go I started
making my way back into the front group after being sucked backwards in the pack. We
were on a fast flat section of road when I pulled up along side Toedebusch. Since it was
his day I let him pull out and move his way to the front. From that point I didn’t realize
that we were within about 3 miles of the finish. This is the point when the road started
becoming super sketchy with pot holes every 3 seconds, gravel left and right. From my
perspective this was a very scary down hill and main stretch to the finish. With the center
line in hard effect I could not squeeze by on the outside to regain my top ten position for
the finishing climb. So I fought my way on the outside as hard as I could, sprinting up the
to the front for a tough fought 5th
place spot on the podium. As for James I am not sure where he came in...(sorry). But
overall we had a solid day with some fun racing.
That was my race in a nutshell.
place finish. Not as great as I hoped but I sort of did my job of getting Ryan
place finish. Meanwhile Phillip sprinted hard for a 3rd
Phillip's View
Froze Toes Race Report
Two weeks ago Froze Toes had been postponed with Snow/Ice and high temps in the low teens for the day. While I was bummed about the delay of the official start to Race Season I was for sure the weather was guaranteed to be better. Oh how right I was! I woke up this morning and Race Day was here with the forecast calling for 62 degrees and Sunny! I loaded the truck up and was off on my way in plenty of time...or so I thought! Due to all my excitement I had managed to forget about the time change and quickly realized I would be cutting it close to missing sign up and even the race! Fortunately, I made it to the race with a few minutes to spare to get signed up, get my new SBR Quantum Racing Kit, and get dressed to go racing!
With several team members spending the week in AZ training for the upcoming season only 4 riders were left to carry the SBR Quantum Racing Flag today! Today's team consisted of Austin, James, Ryan and Myself. We grouped at the starting line to discuss race tactics and survey our competition. After a few moments we quickly realized we had a great shot at some really good results today!
With the race underway, SBRQ quickly went to the front to set the pace high from the beginning and we remained there to control the race. Early in the race several attacks were launched but the group was quick to pull them back in so a breakaway was going to be very difficult to set up. Throughout the race we all took our turns making moves and testing the legs of the field to gauge who we thought would be there at the end but no moves seemed to be working to establish a break. Austin and James each attacked several times and every time they did the field got a little weaker and responded slightly slower each time. Setting up a great opportunity for a Break!
Around the halfway mark Ryan launched a perfectly timed solo attack as we rounded a sharp corner and the field had to slow significantly to make it through in one piece. He instantly pulled a pretty good sized gap and fully committed himself to the attack. James and myself found ourselves in a good position at the front to provide blocking for Ryan to try and grow his lead quickly. The field however, had different plans and swarmed around us and sprinted to catch Ryan about 30 seconds later. Great try though!!
The pace remained quick for the majority of the race and the team faded back a few spots to get some cover and "re-charge" our batteries prior to the finish rapidly approaching us! While we were fading top the back an attack was launched and he quickly established a gap and held the gap for a few miles. A few failed attempts of a small chase group to catch him the field got organized and pulled him back in with around 7 miles to go. This was setting up to be a large group sprint!
With the field all back together and the center line rule being strictly enforced(Open Course with the race taking place in only one lane of traffic, if the center line is crossed and you gain positions you are disqualified from the race.) I knew it was time to move up and get in position for the team to get the best results. We made the final turn onto the access road running along I-70 and oh boy was it rough! Riddled with potholes and rocks made positioning even more important now as there was only one smooth line in the whole road and the entire field would be fighting for it! I found myself on the front rotating with three other guys (Lindenwood, Big shark, and Zach). Knowing how important position was going to be I was willing to do a little more work in an effort to ensure the team had guys in position at the end.
The Finishing climb was in sight and I was sitting in a good position around 4th 5th wheel back with my Team mate Ryan in tow! We were ready for the sprint and to make a great effort for the win at the line! Halfway up the climb Ryan shot around me and looked to be in position for the win but that changed in a flash with a rider cutting left and into his line due to the many holes in the road. While this was not good for Ryan it opened up a gap to my right and I seized spot and the 200 meter sprint for the line was on. I made up a few spots and crossed the line in 3rd, about 2 feet out of first! Ryan still managed to finish 5th which is awesome given the way he was cut off and lost most of his momentum! Austin and James were caught in the traffic of the field and finished inside the top 15!
All in all it was a great race and the team did a great job of riding together and working for each other! I am very excited for the next race as we will have the full team! I would like to say a big Thank you to everyone who supports the SBR Quantum Racing team and myself! With a big Thank you to our great sponsors; Swim Bike Run-St. Louis, Quantum Solutions, Federal Ag Supply, Town Square Pub and Grub, St Louis Tattoo Company, Precision Health Group, The Cup, The Olinger Insurance Agency LLC, and Peak Nutrition! We appreciate the support!
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