USA Cycling Masters National Championships
Jefferson, In
August 8th. 35-39 age group
50km Critierium
After our teams great success in the road race on Friday, we felt certain that we could build on that momentum going into the crit on Sunday. So, Saturday night we wanted to see how the course was laid out and headed over the bridge to see what the other categories were able to do, how to approach the last corner, and just the general vibe of the area.
We were able to arrive in time to watch the 45-49 crit Saturday night and learned a lot from this observation; or so we thought. 2 guys had gotten away in this race and had 25 seconds on the field only to be brought back with about 5 laps remaining and then counter attack went, which was the winning move. So, how does this affect our plans. Well, we were thinking that it would have to be a group of 4-5 to be successful. Also, nationals are weird beasts in that it is usually a lot of individuals, without their normal squads on hand, that become very lazy in hopes of being the victor of the day.
After a nice morning stroll in east Louisville we headed over to the start of the race where our pre race game plan was to have one of us, (Chad Madan, Colby Millen or Chris Brown) in any move; especially since we lead Colby straight to the wolves on Friday. We could tell that all of us had good legs and great motivation for the day. Well, little did we know that the move would seriously go from the word “Riders Ready”. Having done our research in the weeks leading up to the race we knew that the two up the road (Kevin Kremke and Chris Demarchi) were serious contenders to stick a break; especially when they had 5 seconds on us at the end of the first lap, then 8 on lap 2, then 12 on lap 3. As the gap was growing, our patience was lessing and Colby and Chris were trying to get a group to splinter off the front. Chad had a start that he wasn’t happy with and really was struggling to get to the front… until he saw those two busting their asses. Going into lap 5 there was a slight lull and Chad decided that with the gap at 20 seconds, now was as good as a time as any to try to bridge the gap.
Fortunately Chris’s brother in law Bill was standing on the side expelling his nervous energy yelling at Chad to dig. Chad was only able to get within 6 seconds of the leaders when we saw Texas Roadhouse in a full tilt chase. Chad took a couple of breaths in hopes of getting back in the group and not spit out the back when Chris or Colby would counter Chad’s move, knowing that they’d finish off what he started. This was slightly interupted on the front stretch when some crossing of wheels put 3 guys on the ground and Chris and Colby were next to it and were just able to slide by. Over the course of the next 5 laps Chris and Colby put in numerous efforts in attempt to splinter the field. Chris kept getting in moves with a Hotel San Jose rider that had put in a stellar effort on Friday and the both of them seemed to be marked hard and no one was letting them go. Then Colby would surge only to pull out a few guys that really didn’t want to work. All of these surges had put us to within 6 seconds of the leaders, again, when Chris had just come back from an attack and the whole field seemed to be struggling and unwilling to proceed with the chase so Chad tried once again to get across. This time, he had 3 other guys with him and within 3/4 of a lap they had closed the gap to the leaders. At the junction we had Bike Barn, Amgen, Safeway, Texas Roadhouse, LSC and Litespeed BMW represented.
This seemed to be a good mix but not all of the guys wanted to work. Chad was still gassed from the earlier effort but he wasnt going to not work and just kept putting in little efforts at the front. As some of the others played games, the Safeway guy became unhitched. Thinking that after this, the flow might increase but for some reason the Roadhouse guy wasn’t pulling. No sure why, but we could hear his teammates on the side telling him not to; because he wasn’t the one they were working for that day. Demarchi told him he better not sprint (if you saw the size of this guy, you’d listen right on up) and the guy agreed to sit on and not sprint. Finally the 4 of us worked well together, good enough to get within site of the back of the field with around 10 laps remaining. Chad could see Roadhouse swarming the back of the field, waiting on thier guys to rejoin the group. At this point Colby and Chris saw the same thing and were aware that Roadhouse wasn’t working and new what would happen if we lapped. So, they got on the front and started drilling it. Steady enough to the point we could keep our rotation steady without catching and enough that Chris finally got a gap by himself. Chris is just absolutely so strong, I dont think he even has to attack, he just rides everyone into submission. Now the 5 of us keep status quo until 1 1/2 laps to go, when Kremke attacks and everyone jumped to cover him, even the non working Roadhouse guy. Chad knew he was going to sprint so he sat on the back of the group to cover any other jumps. Chad had told Chris and Colby earlier in the day that you had to be 3rd going into the last turn, so he kept thinking about this and also knew that if he could be first into 3 and 4, he could corner better than the others and get a gap to possibly hold it to the line. Good plan, but unfortunately as soon as he stands to pin it, so does Demarchi going into 3. The others slot in on his wheel, where Chad was still sitting 5th wheel.
As we came out of 4, Chad was able to carry a lot more momentum than the other 2 guys and was able to gain some ground on the 2 others but the line came a little quick and he came in third. Chris’ and Coblys’ efforts had put Chris off the front of the chasing field and he came in just a few seconds behind us to put 2 riders in the top 10 for the second race in a row. Unbelievable. Excellent teammates, excellent suppport, and pure determination made our first trip to nationals a huge success.
Also, we were the only team to have two riders in the top 10 in the overall for the weekend. Brown 4th Madan 9th. Additionally, despite Colby’s selfless efforts and having seen nothing but stars from the minute he clipped in on Friday, he still managed 21st spot.
All in all, it was an exceptional weekend, and on behalf of the entire LITESPEED-BMW team, we cannot thank you enough for your support!