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