I had been looking forward to the Mineral Wells stage race because the GC was based on points instead of time, that way a poor TT performance wouldn't kill my overall standings. Since time trialling has always been my weakness, I had been practicing in my TT bars during my threshold intervals leading up to the race.
The first stage crit ended up being cold and wet. I have raced crits in the rain before and there is always a break. I never make it due to my lack of confidence cornering in the rain. I was determined to make it this time so I ran 85psi in my tubulars and started in the second row. For the first few laps I was in the top twenty getting the feel for the corners. I knew I was too far back so I started pushing it through the corners to move up into the top ten. Just like I predicted, by riding like this, I made the break. Very early in the break a group of 3 took a turn a little faster than the rest of the group and managed to get a gap. I knew they were gone and that we were now racing for 4th. The rest of the race was super easy. I figured out good lines and made sure to conserve energy, never pulling through. Coming into the last few turns I was sitting third wheel. Out of the last turn, 3 guys started their sprint early so I just waited in their draft then sprinted past them in the last 100meters to take 4th.
I knew the TT would be damage control. I used my road bike with clip ons, an aero helmet, zipp 808s, a long sleeve skin suit, and shoe covers. It was raining, getting colder, and it was into a headwind. I had been training for a 20 minute effort so I was ready as I could be. I felt pretty good at the start but I felt slow on the hills. I stood up on the hills because I felt like I was going so slow, but I probably should have dropped to the small ring and stayed aero. I ended up 21st out of 50. Not as well as I would have hoped, but good enough for GC points and putting me tied for 7th overall.
Being the highest place GC rider, I asked my team if they would race for me in the road race. They agreed. The plan was to make sure to bring back any break I wasn't in and to coordinate a lead out for me to collect the intermediate sprint points and do well at the finish. I have always felt that sprinting was my strength, but I have never been very good at positioning. I felt that with a good position I could do well in the sprint. Steve Sterling, Mike Bohn, John Ehinger, and myself started the race.
Race started out with us all in good position in the top twenty. About 7 miles in my bike started feeling bouncy, I was flatting. I raised my hand to indicate that I had a flat to the field and follow car and fell out of the group. As I was slowing down, I could see Mike and Steve falling out of the group as well. I switched wheels super fast and noticed John rolling up as well. He had flatted even earlier and was chasing back on. Steve led the chase back onto the group, I was very lucky that my shifting lined up perfect with the new rear wheel. Steve was pulling super hard, making me hurt even in his draft, then Mike came around. Mike pulled around super hard and ended up dropping Steve and almost dropping me. I sat in Mike's draft and we made it back to the group. Once we got there we recovered for a bit but there were a few attacks stringing the group out single file. I was worried that Steve and John might not make it back on with our speed but they did. Awesome, back together again. There was a big hill each lap, with points up for grabs at the top. I started too far back on the climb and almost missed the front group. Mike stayed back and together we made the move. There were probably twenty of us off the front for a bit. Mike was doing some work at the front and I rode up to him to get him to save his watts for the sprint. Riders were screaming at each other to pull through but I was having none of it, I knew it would come back together with the lack of organization. It did. Steve Sterling rode up to me and pointed out an antennae in the distance that marked 1k to go. Steve took the lead with a few k to go followed by Mike and myself. I was watching the GC leader who was also going for the sprint bonus. He could see our leadout set up and nudged in next to me on Mike's wheel. Steve dropped us off with about 800m, and Mike pulled us to 200. Unfortunately the GC leader was able to share my leadout and I sprinted him to the line for second. He barely got me, but I got 3 points.
I just relaxed the rest of the race. There were a few attacks leading into the big climb but the race wasn't very hard at that point so they were easily chased down. The hill was a little easier this lap, but a group of 3 did get away for a bit after it. Two of the three were threats to my GC so I made sure to move up in the chase and we brought them back. About 4 miles from the finish I covered a move I thought might stick which took us up over 40mph. The break didn't stick but the group speed picked up for the remainder of the race. With 2k to go, Mike and I were positioned in the top 5. A little far up for how far we were from the line. I was almost on the yellow line so no one could come around me. I kept looking behind me hoping to see Steve moving up, but I never did. There were a few riders who were happy to pull on the front almost all the way to the line. Mike started pulling at about 1k and at 500meters I started yelling at Mike to stand up and go harder but he couldn't hear me. At like 250meters I decided we were going too slow and that we were in danger of being swarmed by the field so I started my sprint. It was way earlier than I would have wanted but I was able to hold it to the line, never seeing another rider until I crossed it.
Winning the road race put me in 4th overall. This is the first time I have successfully raced as a team on the road and it worked perfectly. I couldn't have killed the sprints like I did without the help with positioning and speed in the leadouts.
-Michael
