2010 DFW Race Weekend Race Report

2010 DFW Race Weekend Race Report

After a week of being sick after Tunis, I was at first apprehensive about the DFW race weekend. I wasn’t sure that my fitness would be there for the hard racing I was sure to encounter I think a 3^rd, 1^st, 4^th, placing is pretty good though!

First race on the list was the TT. Thankfully, I did not have my usual problems of not being able to eat correctly early before the race. Jacob and I drove out north of Frisco to the start, to find out that the were about 30 minutes behind. The course was a long 11 mile out and back course, with rolling hills, and headwinds on the way out. I passed a couple of riders, and then got passed by the eventual winner, Roy from MSU. I decided to try to more or less stay with him and let him pace me to try not to lose any more time from him. This strategy worked for most of the race and I ended up finishing 30 seconds behind him. I’m not sure who got 3^rd, but I think it was someone from A&M.

After a quick lunch at Betty’s Café, it was time for the Criterium. I slowly warmed up and started to feel really good about the race. My strategy was to wear down the two MSU sprinters, which would be my main competition for winning. This was accomplished by putting in attacks and making sure MSU was chasing me down. The first attack was put in by UNT which was brought back by MSU and A&M. A&M could be a problem. If they felt like doing the work for MSU, there was a good chance that MSU would let them and they would still be fresh at the end of the race. I talked with some of the A&M riders and told them they might as well attack, and they thought it was a pretty good idea. With A&M attacking, the only people to catch the breaks was MSU. I put in an attack and stayed away for about 3 laps, also winning a Prime in the process.

After I was caught, Whitney did some great work by attacking the field and not letting anyone recover. More counterattacks were put in, and you could tell that the field was tiring from the constant breaking away going on. With only about 4 laps to go, I decided that I should attack one last time, to test the field and see if anyone would chase. I waited and then put in a huge effort to get away by myself. After about 30 seconds of going hard, I looked behind me to see what the field was doing. They had sat up! No one was chasing me yet and this meant that I might have a chance to stay away. I had three laps to go, and I would have to give everything I had to try and stay away. At this point, I had played my card, and I was either going to win, or get last. I gave it everything I had left, and by the middle of the last lap, I knew they were not going to catch me. I slowed up a bit to make sure that I didn’t crash and tried not to think about winning until after I crossed the line. As I crossed the finish, I put my horns up! It was a great way to end the day of racing and get my first win! And I got some swag for the prime.

The road race was on Sunday and I woke up not feeling very great. It was hard to put down food, and I felt sick to my stomach up until we rode out. This is not that uncommon, as I sometimes feel this was before races. Our plan was to attack with the Aggies and try to get a break with no MSU riders. After a couple of different attacks by my teammates, I tried one that stuck. Roy caught me, and then three other riders ( A&M, LSU, and OSU) bridged up to us. At first I didn’t want the break to stick because Roy had caught on and I knew that he was stronger than me. When the three others riders bridged, I knew it would stick and I had to go along for the ride. The field sat up because all of the big teams had riders represented in the break. We worked really well together, everyone taking their share of the work. As we came to the finish though, I was tired and knew that I didn’t have enough left but for a desperate attempt at a surprise attack. I surged ahead, but didn’t have enough in my legs and was caught. I ended up fourth behind MSU, LSU, and A&M.

I was a bit disappointed with how the Road Race ended up, but overall was very happy with how the Team and I did this weekend. Go Texas!! Pictures are on txbra.org.