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!