Teamwork

In the past month of racing I have learned a lot about teamwork. Racing at Nationals and the Little City Stage Race, has given me a new knowledge of just what it means to be part of a team.

At Nationals road race, we started the day with 5 riders, all dedicated to get one of us across the line first. We were well prepared as a team and had amazing support from Larry, and our parents. The feeds and ice bag hand ups made a huge difference on the hot day.

The race started and immediately attacks started flying; one would go, one would get brought back, and then another would go. Finally one Garmin rider got away solo, and established a big gap. After we hit the main climb the first lap and the field exploded, 25 guys were left in the front group. We had all five teammates in the mix; having one fifth of the front group put us in good position for the rest of the race.

The next time up the climb our group of 25 shattered yet again, yielding a front group of 6 (with Gage), then Jack chasing solo, then a group of three (including me), followed by the fragmented remains of the peloton. On the descent my group caught Jack, and the two of us worked together relentlessly to get up to Gage so that we could help him fend off the three Garmin guys in the group of six and help chase the one Garmin rider who had been on a solo break since the first lap. Going into the smaller climb on the last lap there was a group of about ten, we hit the hill and attacks started flying, a Garmin guy went across to the man they put up the road on lap one, and the group exploded yet again. This time the front chase group consisted of two Garmin riders, a Hot tubes rider, Gage and me.

The Garmin riders attacked one after the other. At that point there were two choices, let one of the Garmin guys get up the road (putting the first 3 steps on the podium up the road) and hope that either Gage or I could catch them on the climb to the line, or go to the front and chase them down so that Gage could go into the climb as fresh as possible. I chose the later, realizing that this was the best strategy to put a red jersey on the podium. My work was rewarded when I crossed the line and learned that Gage had won the bronze medal. I learned exactly what it meant to sacrifice your own chances for the greater good of the team, and just how rewarding it is to see someone else succeed due, in part, to work that you have done.

At Little City Stage Race (an omnium style stage race), the roles reversed for me. After winning the time trial, I was wearing the leaders jersey going into the afternoon criterium. The whistle blew and Nick attacked on the first lap, riding off the front solo for over half the race. A few laps later, I went with a move by one other rider. Nick slowed up and waited for me to come across, and then rode selflessly to set me up for the win.

Little City was my first time wearing a leaders jersey in a stage race, and I learned from my mistakes. I had a commanding lead going into the road race and Nick was second on GC. In retrospect, given my lead the primary goal for the day should have been defending Nick’s second place. I found myself in an early break with a lower placed rider and should have discouraged the break so that Nick could defend his position. While I’m sure that I will make other mistakes in my racing career, I definitely learned from this one.

I cannot express in words how grateful I am to have been a part of the success at Nationals, and to win Little City with Nick’s help. I am looking forward to continuing to hone our teamwork, so that we can share more successes as a team.

Jason