From Sun Prairie to Chicago - My first Pro/1/2/3 win!

After traveling all the way to Colorado the weekend before, it was a nice change to only have to drive 15 minutes to Sun Praire. It rained cats and dogs Friday and overnight. When I went and did my first practice lap it was nice and slick. I did the rest of my warm up, did a second practice lap, and this time the course was nice and tacky. I rushed to the start and ate my gels.When the gun went off  I pulled the hole-shot and led for the first half lap. Isaac Neff and another rider came by me on a long downhill and got ahead and I couldn't quite stick with them. Dan Teaters and Alex Martin were right behind us, so I got on their wheels. Shortly after, Tristan Schouten and Casey Hildebrandt caught up and went by us. Isaac, Tristan and Casey dropped us and were fighting for the win. Big gaps opened between the lead group and our chase group, and also between us and 7th. We rode together the rest of race with both Alex and Dan mounting a few attacks but all were brought back until the final lap. Dan attacked hard and Alex and I lost his wheel. I took the lead and drilled the last couple of technical sections before getting out onto the long bike path section (with a nice head wind) that led to the up hill start straight and finally the finishing straight. I hit the bike path section as hard as I could and managed to hold Alex off until part way up the start straight. Lucky for me he sat up, and after the pavement I hit the last 90 degree off camber turn as hard as I could before giving it everything I had to sprint. I finished a wheel length ahead for the final spot on the podium in 5th. It was super fun to play in the mud and even more fun to race hard and tactically with so many great riders. Also nice job to Trek CXC team manager Scott Daubert, for getting 9th!

Me, Isaac, Casey, Tristan, Dan

After a relaxing Saturday evening and a good nights sleep, I ate some pancakes and hopped in the car for the two hour drive to Chicagoland. When we got there we shuttled our gear to Nathan and Morliegh Schneeberger's tent where they kindly let us hang out. Thank you Snowy Mountain Photography!

We prepped the bikes by dialing in the SRAM disc brakes and setting tire pressure then I did a lap on the course. It was super fast with lots of very high speed turns and a few off camber sections as well as some logs. I did the rest of my warm up and headed to the start, where I had a second row start position out of almost 50 riders. When they blew the whistle I got caught behind some people who were slow off the line and other riders swarmed around me. I almost came to a stop in the first corner when a bottle neck happened. I was in about 25th place and seriously worried about the outcome of my race as I saw the leaders carving through the turns ahead of me. Although there were a lot of people between me and the top group, everything was wheel to wheel so there was not too much of a time difference. I immediately started moving up but it was difficult because of how fast the course was and everyone was sprinting for every corner. By the end of the first half lap I was in 16th and I moved up more through the finishing straight. As I was going into the woods section Michael Dutczak was in front of me all of a sudden. He had been leading until he slid out and bent his derailleur hanger, I hopped on his wheel and we worked as hard as we could to bridge up to the front group.

We finally latched on to the front pack and recovered a little bit, while David Reyes and David Lambardo continued to push the pace. Luis Camacho, who finished 6th, crashed in the first woods section and never recovered from it. The crash caused a minor split between the group, and Michael and I, but we quickly closed it down again. Our group of five hammered on, with me mostly sitting fifth wheel. The Davids were first and second with Michael and Brandon Feehery bungee cording back and forth a little. Since I was sitting 5th wheel I got the worst it because I had to accelerate more out the corners rather then maintain my speeed. I knew I wanted to be sitting third wheel expecting that the Davids would be the ones to make moves, so I moved up into 3rd with 2 laps to go.

Michael and I hunting down the leaders

Our group of five, David R., David L., Me, Michael, Brandon

Michael, who had won the previous week, attacked towards the end of the second to last lap and started to put the strain on the pack. He burned too many matches and going through the finishing straight David Lombardo attacked and I was the one to respond. David L. kept hammering, and the group started to break apart, but going into the first woods section he sat up and was a little fried. A few moments later we exited the woods and this time I attacked! I went as hard as I could and only David held my wheel close I kept putting down the power trying to lose David L. We had a slight gap over Reyes and Feehery and Michael was popped off of our group. We hopped the logs faster than ever and in the immediate left hand turn I slid out and went down hard! Because I slid out there was no avoiding me and David crashed too. Brandon managed to squeaked around the pile-up and unfortunately David Reyes got tangled in the tape and went over the bars trying to avoid us. I hopped back on and sprinted down the hill with David close behind, we caught Brandon in the 180 turns and David passed me. We dropped back down the hill and onto the bike path. I accelerated hard and moved past them. I kept drilling it down the long straight away and hit the slalom turns as fast as I could expecting David and Brandon to come by me. It didn't happen and I railed through the last two 180s and sprinted up the quick bike path climb and gave it everything I had to the finish. I went so hard I couldn't even post up and keeled over shortly after the finish from fatigue and disbelief. I won by two seconds! David Lombardo followed Brandon in by 4 seconds more. 

With roughly 300m to go, I (Madison, WI) had National U-23 Crit champion David Lombardo and Pro road racer Brandon Feehery hot on my heels. ©SnowyMountain Photography

It was undoubtedly the hardest I have ever raced and I was, and still am, so happy to win my first Pro/1/2/3 race and achieve another season goal! It was such a good race with such good competition and it was awesome to fight from so far back and take the top spot. The deciding factor for me was when I finally settled into the front group and told my self that I had just as much of a chance to win as everyone else and there was no reason not to try. Big big thanks to Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support this season as well as my family, friends and Lizards Skins Grip Tape! Next weekend I head to Cinncinati for the continental champioships and to score some UCI points! Also, here is an awesome article on Cyclocross Magazine about the race!

Brandon Feehery, Me, David Lombardo at ABD Sunrise Park ChicrossCup race.

So fun to be featured with the likes of Sven Nys in the Trek Newsletter!

U.S. Open of Cyclocross

Friday after some fun leg openers on some trails in the woods, I spun home, finished packing, made dinner and scooted on over to the airport. Flying out of Madison can be expensive but luckily we got our tickets super early and cheap. My mom dropped off my dad and me, and we worked our way through the very short security line. Thankfully we found someone driving back to Colorado from CXC Cup so we didn't have to fly with my bikes. This makes everything easier and cheaper. After the two-hour flight we hopped in the rental car and drove over to the home of Eric and Carrie, our Boulder friends. The next morning we woke up, ate, and built my bikes. Being the wonderful bike friendly city that Boulder is, I spun the 4.5 miles over to the course all on bike paths and rode the course. It was very dusty and dry with lots difficult features like the long climb after the run up and the 5280 stair set.

After my warm up I spun over to the start. Once again I sat around a little too long (race started behind schedule) and my legs cooled down too much. Thanks to good luck in the random drawing for people with no UCI points I was front row. When the gun went off I was quick off the line but people were going by me on both sides down the start straight and up the stiff climb. I was about 14th into the first sandpit out of 16 riders and was seriously worried about the next 40 min of the race. Going through the start straight into the second lap my legs started to open up and I hit the climb hard and started to move up. Going into the start of the third lap I drilled it up the climb and latched onto Jack Tanner and Cassidy Bailey with Cade Bickmore a little bit ahead. I got around them and lead for the rest of that lap. At the start of the fourth lap I again hit the climb as hard as I could and made contact with Cade who was in 5th. Going through some of the off camber sections I lost a few seconds to him and Cassidy got around and blocked a little bit. Cade started to slip away and Jack caught back up to Cassidy and me right before the start straight. I sat up and let the two of them pull me into the start of the fifth and final lap letting myself recover. Right as we hit the climb I attacked as hard as I could and opened up the gap on the two of them, Cassidy was gone but Jack chased hard. We stayed together until right before the second time past the pit where I gave it everything I had and managed to ride Jack off my wheel and finish 6th with five seconds on Jack. It was a super hard race and the elevation made my whole body feel like lead but I was happy to have ridden a clean race, and raced well tactically. It was a little bittersweet to finish one spot away from getting my first UCI points but the great improvement over my races in Providence made up for that.

I watched the rest of the pro races with my friends who I had raced against that day and had also attended the Montana cyclocross camp with me this summer. After that most of us went over to race winner Eric Brunner's house for a barbecue.
   

The next morning I met Jack, Cassidy, Eric, Jordan and Denzel at Denzel's house and we headed out for a ride. We climbed for two hours up through the mountains before descending for forty minutes back into town after a snack break at a Cafe in the middle of no where. It was super fun to ride in the mountains and with such good company.

Can't beat the views!

Monday morning we packed up the bikes said farewell and thanks to the Stonebrakers and drove to the Denver airport. We got home around eight and I cranked out as much home work as I could before crashing.

It was a fantastic weekend of racing, riding and hanging out in one of my favorite places and I am very happy with my results. Huge thanks to my parents as well as Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support and opportunities to go to these races and ride the best equipment available! This coming weekend I have some local races and then in two weeks it time for the continental championships in Cincinnati!!!

The Trek Boone is the best cyclocross bike on the market.  Hands down!

Trek CXC Cup!

Thursday night was a big night! My sister came home from college along with her friends/ Marian team mates Ian and KK. Also Courtenay McFadden who stayed with us for a week flew in, so we had a very full house! Friday, Emma and I drove out to Trek HQ so she could get a fitting and so we could pre-ride the new course. The course was super fun with a new fly over, run up, jump and lots of other new sections.  I got things dialed in the technical sections and headed home for a huge dinner.

 

Day 1 

The ride/ run up

With the natural chaos of having four extra people in the house my dad and I left a little late and arrived only about and hour fifteen before my race. I met some of the other awesome people on Trek CXC before kitting up, doing a lap on the course and completing my warm up. I almost missed my call up but slotted into the front row on the far right side. They blew the whistle and we took off, I didn't have a great start and was sitting sixth wheel. I moved into third and started chasing down first and second through the start straight I caught up soon and when third bobbled right after the pit it was down to me and Oliver Evans, who was the 2014 17-18yo Canadian national champion and went to 2015 Junior Cyclocross Worlds. He went out hard and I stuck on his wheel, I wasn't feeling great and wasn't really accelerating out of corners. We worked together a little bit and I was better then him in the technical sections so on the fourth lap I started accelerating out of corners and hurting him a little bit. Going into the big off camber section on the second to last lap he bobbled and I attacked hard over the ride up/run up for him. I kept up the pace and continued to open the gap on him through out that lap and into the final lap. I rode a completely mistake free race and was super happy to have raced well tactically to take the win in the cat 2 field! My team mate Dillon McNeil took the win in the 3s along with Scott, Tom and Julie all have great rides as well! Russel Stevens scored a 10th in the UCI C1 mens event and former team mate/Wisconsin world champion Brian Matter took fifth! Mark unfortunately broke a derailleur hanger and had to fight back for 6th and Nick who is still recovering from a broken leg had a great time spectating. Emma had some issues and finished 26th in the elite women but still made the Under-23 Womens podium with Ellen Noble and Laurel Rathbun. It was a great day of racing and it was fantastic to meet so many of my fellow Trek CXC team mates who live all over the country! We finished off the day with a awesome team dinner in down town Madison.

Post up for my first win of the cx season! Photo: Gary Smits at XTR Photo

Day 2
After a big pancake breakfast my dad and I hopped in the car for the short drive over to the race, this time in a much more timely fashion. I did a lap on the course, cheered my team mates on and relaxed a little bit before starting my warm up. It was a beautiful day, almost 80 degrees and the course was pretty much the same but starting to get dusty and loose. I ran a psi lower than Saturday and felt way faster and smoother through the corners and technical sections because of it. This time when they blew the whistle I took the hole-shot and lead until after the run up. Oliver Evans caught up and took the lead, I stuck on his wheel and he went out super hard again. I sat on his wheel as he tried to shake me but I didn't give up. At the end of the third lap another rider bridged up to us and I sat up hard. We spun through corn field section and through the start straight until the rider who bridged up attacked. We both went with him but Oliver was on his wheel through the big off camber section. Oliver squeaked through it and since I was stuck behind, the guy in first started to get a gap. I passed Oliver and kept chasing hard trying to close the gap back down. The gap was about ten seconds but going through the corn field section and start straight I drilled it as hard as I could and closed six seconds on him. He wiped out at the bottom of the big off camber and I passed him. I rode the hill while he ran it and I attacked over the top. I kept up the pace and suffered through the last lap to finish with a 14 second gap on him. I was super stoked to have ridden a completely clean race again and fought back so hard to take the win! It was fantastic weekend of racing and it was such a amazing experience to double up and take the win both days in front of more or less every person I know that races in Wisconsin and has been watching me race since I was nine. The whole Trek Cyclocross Collective squad had an awesome Sunday as well with multiple wins, podiums, and stellar performances all around. It was a super fun weekend of racing and it really was great to meet so many of the people that make up this awesome team. Big thanks Trek race shop for all the awesome support as well lizards skins! Most importantly thanks to my parents who are always my biggest supporters/fans/chefs, couldn't do it without you! Finally thanks to my coach, Joe Maloney for helping me achieve my goals and allowing me to race at this level and know that I can do even more. Next up 17-18 UCI round two in Boulder this coming weekend!!

KMC Cyclocross Festival

I woke up at four AM Friday morning to fly to Providence, Rhode Island for my first ever 17-18 UCI race at the KMC Cyclocross Festival. I slept the whole flight and again on the drive from Boston down to Providence. One of my bikes and all my wheels went ahead the week before in the Trek sprinter van so I only had to fly with one bike which is always awesome. After a pit stop at whole foods we wandered around Rodger Williams Park until we found the race. I prerode with Tobin and Cody in the pouring rain and it was awesome! The course was super challenging and fun, with lots of technical sections, well suited to me!

Day One

Flying over Milwaukee

After about 11 hours of sleep I fueled up and we drove over to the course. Sadly the rain had stopped so the course was not the mud bath I had hoped for and was actually super tacky. I warmed up super well, tested out the course, tires, and pressure before heading to the start. Since it was a random draw for start order I was lucky enough to get second call up. I had a great start but because we sat around so long at the start my legs weren't warmed up enough. I was 5th into the first corner but people quickly swarmed around me in the next straight section. Going into the second lap my legs opened up a bit, but I then realized they were pretty empty as well. I settled in with Jack Tanner and we worked together until the second to last lap when he pulled away from me. On the final lap I went as hard as I could to close the gap on Evan Clouse who was in 10th and only a little behind Jack but I just couldn't quite catch him. I was happy to still take 11th with such bad legs but it was disappointing to not be able to show what I can really do.

Jack and I descending the flyover

Day Two
I did everything I could Saturday to help my recovery but as soon as I started warming up I knew my legs were flat again. I warmed up the best I could and did some laps on the now dry and almost loose course but I knew I was going to be in for some hurt and was going to have to do the best with what I had. This time I was not so lucky with the random draw and got second to last call up. When they fired the start gun I was almost last off the line but started to move up. I weaseled my way through two pile ups in the first couple of corners with out getting tangled up and settled into my group of four. I led the charge the whole race and slowly stretched out the group only catching one other person the whole time. Another rider and I fought it out on the last lap and after he hopped the barriers I jumped on his wheel and managed to out sprint him to the line to take 15th.

The weekend didn't turn out the way I hoped but I had an awesome time at the races and it was great to hang out with everyone from Trek CXC as well as see many of my friends from across the country! This coming weekend is the Trek CXC Cup race in Waterloo Wisconsin just 25 minutes from my house and I can't wait! After that its on to Boulder, CO for round two of the 17-18 UCI series and I'm looking forward to showing what I can really do!

Trek CXC with a strong showing in Providence!