First of three done at Road Nationals. We were hoping for more at this Crit, but I’m happy with my 4th place and Max with his 3rd place result.
But first off, big thanks to Coach Pete, who came all the way from T-Town, PA just to support us and our Star Track teammates Eden, Ilai, and Viv. We are SUPER grateful. Having him there made Nationals feel even more special and was a HUGE help.
Max was up first against 20 other riders over 20 minutes. Things didn’t go as planned. He tried to go solo twice but got chased down each time, and in the field sprint a motorcycle was in his way. Plus, he wasn’t feeling his best — Max had a sore throat. Yes, he was disappointed since he had high hopes after winning his two ToAD races on Tuesday and Wednesday. But he quickly got over it by hanging out with his friends.
I raced against 39 riders over 30 minutes. I have to admit, Severin McCarter got an impressive win. He went solo early on and was never seen again. If we had all worked perfectly together, maybe we could have chased him down, but everyone settled on fighting for second place instead of risking blowing up in the chase.
I spent most of my time near the front of the race, doing my fair share of pulls. With two laps to go, I was sitting in sixth. One rider ahead accidentally unclipped, and then Nate Beaver got away. Before the last lap I got pushed back a little, but with 1 km to go I moved into first position in the field, hoping to grab third. Turns out I ended up leading Ian Marks out — but I still dropped a few others and crossed the line in fourth overall.
If you had asked me a few months ago, I wouldn’t have considered myself much of a sprinter. But lately I’m pretty happy with my sprinting, even if it’s a bit unorthodox that I like to start them early.
One thing I need to watch more closely: don’t rely on the riders in front of me to chase down an attack. If someone goes, I NEED to go all out myself, no matter whether others ahead should be chasing too.
Overall? Not thrilled, but not crushed either. What’s done is done — time to focus on what’s next: the Time Trial on Monday and the Road Race on Tuesday.
