Joel, Davis and I attended the race and had two laps on the course, which equaled to about 45 miles with a good amount of climbing. Our plan was too push it up the hill testing peoples’ limits and to drop as many people as possible. Then we were to decide to wait for Joel if he fell off, or keep up the pace. Then I would attack on the last hill before the next lap and make whoever was with us work to catch me, or let me go. Then we would work it up the next climb hard, and Davis would attack on the last hill the next lap.
Here is how it went: We worked perfectly up the first hill. We kept it to the max effort up the hill, and got the group to 5 riders, with our three teammates in the top group. All of us then worked in a pace line for a few miles. Then one rider took a wrong turn, and we all decided to wait for him. That was when we started not working so well together. We stayed at a semi-slow pace for the rest of the lap before the last hill. Soon, two other riders caught us. Coming up to the next hill, I was expecting someone to attack, and failed to attack on the last hill. One rider then pulled the pace over the downhill at a very fast pace. Right after the downhill a rider attacked semi-weakly, and we let him stay just in front of the group while we were pace lining. We timed it so we caught him right before the hill. This is where we made our big mistake. All but one rider was falling off our group at times going up the hill, and we didn't bring the pace up to drop them. We stayed slow all the way over the hill. Then on one fairly steep roller, I drove the pace up, and got a gap with Joel, me, and another rider. We were working for just a little bit when the Pro 1/2 group came up behind us. I moved to the left to get out of their way, and I guess they moved to the right. When the pack passed through, I was gapped from Joel and the other ride. Here is another one of my mistakes. I think I might have been able to catch back on, but I went back to the other group. I ended up blocking and they got away. In the sprint, Joel won! Then I took fourth, and Davis took sixth.
-Daniel
Going into this race I wasn’t expecting too much. I knew that I had great endurance, but wasn’t sure how my climbing was compared to others. Onto the race - as planned we rode hard up the first big hill. I was feeling really good and took a pull or two at the front helping to set the pace. It was immediately evident that our fast pace was dropping a lot of the weaker riders. As we crested the hill we eased off the pace for a short time, but then this select group of 5 started a fast pace line. To my surprise we were caught not too long after by two riders and then we eased off the pace for almost the rest of the race. As Daniel mentioned we let a rider off the front for a little while, but we were in control of the race. After foolishly not pushing the pace up the hill on the second lap, I got off the front with Daniel’s help. He attacked, I waited and jumped on the wheel of a rider trying to bridge. No one else followed and we started cruising, but we lost Daniel in the Pro 1/2 field. My breakaway mate and I decided to ride hard until the 200m and to sprint it straight up from there. Perfect for me, as I felt that I could beat him in the uphill sprint. I ended up winning the sprint by a bike length or two. It feels awesome to have a win under my belt, and I know there will be many more to come for the team. Daniel and Davis, my two teammates in the race did an awesome job of keeping me off the front - thanks guys!
-Joel
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