Texas State University Race Weekend

Texas State University hosted three races in two days on April 19th and 20th, 2008. They consisted of a time trial, a criterium, and a road race. I picked up two podium finishes in the men’s collegiate B division by placing 3rd in the time trial and 3rd in the crit.

The weekend kicked off with the strangest time trial I’ve ever heard of. It consisted of nothing but approximately 200m of flat run out into a thousand meter climb at 18% grade. Needless to say, it was incredibly painful.

Everybody was pretty nervous about the short, but very intense, uphill time trial. Anthony, our team president, made sure that he didn’t have any extra weight to take up the climb.

My teammate David took first place in the C division.

Here I am approaching the top of the steepest part. The climb seemed to get steeper and steeper before slightly leveling out at the finish.

There was no rhythm or pace involved in this time trial, partly because it was so short, but mostly because the climb was so steep. It was a slog even in my smallest gears; an out of the saddle, leg murdering, lung exploding, all out effort virtually the whole way. The pain didn’t end when I crossed the line either. My lungs were aching and my throat was on fire for several minutes afterward, not to mention my legs had turned to rubber and my head felt as though I had just smashed it with a hammer while listening to death metal. In the end, my efforts were good enough to get me third place, trailing about seven seconds of off first and four seconds of off second. I would have finished about tenth in the A division, though the winner totally crushed everyone. He beat me, and most of the A riders, by over 30 seconds.

This photo gives a pretty good demonstration of how intense the time trial was.

Satan even came out to cheer us on.

The crit was held later the same day on a 1.8 mile car racing track with a small hill and some fast, fun corners.

My teammate Joe rode away with first place in the C race, and David picked up another podium spot in second.

I spent most of the first half of the race just sitting in the pack waiting for my legs to recover from the mornings uphill time trial.

It was one of the most fun courses I have ever ridden. The corners were wide and fast and the road was super smooth. We were able to take this downhill turn at 35mph.

The small hill on the track allowed for numerous attacks, though none were successful.

Later in the race I loosened up and started riding more aggressively. I was in a break for a while but we got caught a few laps from the finish. Coming into the last lap I found myself near the back of the pack. I new I needed better positioning if I had any hope in the sprint, so I put in a mock attack on the hill. Though I was quickly reeled in, I now was about fifth of sixth man from the front, exactly where I wanted to be. I sat tight until the last turn, about a quarter mile or so from the line. I then exploded out of the pack with all of my might.

Unfortunately for me, one of the nation’s top collegiate track sprinters was in the race, and he blew by me like I was standing still.

My friend Carl was the only other rider in the pack that could respond to my attack and managed to edge me out for second place.

Here I am enjoying the breeze on the car ride back to the hotel.

The road race did not go so well. I managed to get in every break away except for the one that stuck. As the only U of H rider in the race, I was forced to do most of the work chasing down the attacks. While I was near the back of the pack recovering from one such chase, a gap formed with several riders out in front. What made matters worse was that everyone in the chase group had at least one teammate in the break so I received almost no help at all in trying to bring them back. Everyone just sucked my wheel for almost an entire 12 mile lap. Poor tactics on my part and a lack of any teammates cost me the race. I had to settle for a mediocre 14th place finish. To add insult to injury, the Women’s A race started with us and a couple of them beat me in the sprint.

I wasn’t the only one with a not so great road race. My teammate Fernanado wiped out on a gravely corner and broke his thumb.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun. The courses were all great and I ended up with pretty good finishes in the time trial and crit, and one hell of a work out in the road race. Thanks to Bo for letting me race his fancy carbon fiber Cervelo.