This race was a flat fest. I think Courtney and I were the only UCLA riders this weekend that didn’t flat. She used the Pave tire and I used Rubino Pro’s. I’m sure that was luck on my part. Hippolyte and I agreed that Davis should really consider getting cobbles installed and ditch the gravel pit. My race began with 47 riders and was quickly shattered as we approached the 5-mile gravel stretch in the first lap. I made sure to stay at the front for the first set of rollers and mark the omnium leader Jay. The first attack was a Davis solo break, but I knew better than to chase it down. A group of maybe 8 guys helped to reel him in, including Viraj. It seemed that this was one of their strategies, because the same thing happened in the B’s and that guy won. In our race, he wasn’t strong enough to last and we caught him at the first hill. I hit the little rollers at a decent clip to try and
shell some of the riders off the back. It turns out the real selection occurred at the gravel. It went from 47 to about 15 in the first lap. The gravel was treacherous. We were the first group to ride through it, so there were hardly any lines to follow. In between the two gravel sections was a 100 meter patch of pavement, but right after that was the final section of really deep gravel. I almost slipped out and crashed multiple times. Riders were getting off their bikes and walking through it. Luckily I found a narrow dirt path and the edge of this section and rode on it to minimize my chance of crashing. I still got dropped in the gravel though. I thought my race was over here and I planned to drop out at the end of this lap. But coming out of the gravel I could see that the pack slowed and I buried my self and chased back on. I finally caught them before a steep hill, but I dropped my chain on the hill. I got it back on, but I had to turn downhill to clip in and then hit the climb. Again I had to TT my way back into it, and here I felt like my legs were shot. It turns out that when I dropped my chain, the omnium leader from Davis attacked the group and went solo. I saw him off the front when I finally caught back on, and he was really out there. I tried to stay with the group and recover in the pack and then attack the turn around and bridge to him. I hammered it with the tailwind and we were really moving. A Cal rider and a Nevada rider got on my wheel along with a Davis rider that tried to disrupt our paceline. We still managed to catch the solo break before the rollers and I knew he was tired. Once more we went into the gravel pit, and again I got dropped. I had to chase back on yet again, and when I finally got the group I was almost dead. I pushed myself on and got really lucky, because the omnium leader got a flat! I felt like it was my chance to take the race. So we chugged our way back to the finish, conserving energy and taking fake pulls at the front. As we approached the finish a Santa Clara rider attacked and we all responded. At this point there were about 8 riders left. I really pushed it, but I had no legs. I was about 4th wheel coming into the finish hugging the right side of the road. Some kid from Humbolt came up on my right with no space for error and bumped me off balance. My legs instantly locked up and two more riders passed me. I lost 3 spots because of this and limped across the finish. I instantly fell to the floor after letting out some choice profanity and sulked. As Jose said, “Failure: When your best just isn’t good enough”… I’ll say that the gravel was harder for me than the McEwan climb at UCB, and the hardest effort I had put forth thus far.
Championship Crit- Me (1st), Viraj (?), Dan Gazarian (?), Danny G (MIA)
The night before this race, my legs were destroyed from the RR. I felt like I had no chance in the crit. Thankfully Dave and Jose gave me some encouragement and I decided I would give it my best. As Jose so eloquently put it… “It’s the last game of the season, can’t hold anything back now”. My plan was to bust out with the skinsuit, shoe covers, and aero wheel and attack the group hard. Dave let me use his baller shoe covers, but unfortunately I was only able to use my regular wheels. At least I had the foresight to put my Pro3’s on them. As we lined up, Tony, one of the Davis riders told me to be on the lookout for his attack and work with him. I knew they were gunning for the win, in their own city, in front of all of their friends. I went off the front for the first few laps with Davis, but I got off the break early because I knew it wouldn’t last. I spent the next few laps at the front marking the omnium leader and chasing down small attacks. The real racing started when Davis sent a few solo breaks off the front. When the omnium leader went I chased him down immediately, but I let him dangle out there for a while to tire him out. I finally reeled him in when the time was right and another attack went. This time I knew it was too late for me to respond to it, as I had to get ready for the sprint. This was their ploy to tire me out. I singled to Dave who was watching on the sidelines asking him what to do, when out of nowhere comes Gazarian pulling at the front. Without his help I surely would have screwed my chances at the end. Gazarian pulled strong for the whole lap and reeled in the Davis attack with a few laps to go. Now it was all about positioning. I moved around at will in the field that was pulled down from 37 to about 20. I saw the Davis leadout train forming with 3 of their strongest riders. I got on the back of it coming around with 2 turns to go. I started shifting into a higher gear and gaining speed. We approached the straight to the last turn and I took the inside corner and opened up my sprint coming through the turn. They didn’t see it coming at all. They thought I was a climber so they underestimated my sprint. According to my powertap I put down 1199 watts and crossed the line alone, hands coming up just
as my wheels touched the red line. At first I couldn’t believe it, but then it hit me and I let out the “lion’s roar” with my fists clenched in the air. I don’t think any of our guys were there to take a picture, but I know Jose’s dad got some footage. Regardless, it was a fitting end to a long season and a lot of training. I only wish Danny could have been there because this course was made for him. It was a great day of racing and spectating for all of us. The podium ceremony made it even sweeter. I stood first with Davis on the podium for Danny, who would have won if he was there.
