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June 9, 2005
Last week was the most important week of the year for professional cycling teams in the United States. It starts with Lancaster on Tuesday, which our team managers held me out of to give me a little more rest for Trenton and the big one on Sunday. Since I have been feeling pretty tired lately, I didn’t argue with this decision too much. I really did want to race well at Trenton, for some personal redemption.
As most of you know last year I crashed into a bridge pillar at the Trenton race. So, I was pretty nervous for the race this year. Actually, I was more nervous than I have ever been for a bike race. The first 4 laps were very nerve racking for me. Each time the race went through the bridge that I crashed at, I was totally freaking out, trying to stay in the middle of the pack and losing a ton of positions. After a few laps, I calmed down and got focused on just racing. The race was super fast, as usual, and there were just a ton of attacks of guys trying to get away into a breakaway. I put in a dig about halfway through and got away solo for a couple of miles but was quickly reeled in. Soon after I was caught, a break of about 15 guys went up the road and we had Glenn Mitchell in there. Out of that move, Julich and McCormack got away and just motored 2-3 minutes ahead of the pack before finally getting reeled in with a lap to go. It was an impressive effort, we averaged over 28 mph for the whole race, and to stay out in front for that long took some major power. With the race coming down to a field sprint in the final few laps, things got pretty dicey again, and my nervousness returned going through my famous bridge and I was unable to get up front to help out with the final lead out for our guys.
As soon as the race was over and the team was sitting around the van, I felt as if a huge weight had been off of my shoulders. I couldn’t believe how relaxed I felt compared to the weeks leading up to the race. It was great. My anxiousness and nervousness leading up to this race over the last couple of weeks must have been affecting me immensely, and it may be the key to why I have been struggling to find some good form.
The new more relaxed me was now ready for the race that is the reason that I became a professional bike racer. The Wachovia USPro Championship has been going on for 20 yrs and I first came down to the race with my dad and some friends in the early 90s to watch on the Manayunk Wall. I have been going down to watch every year since and now I am finally going to be in it. The team rolled out from our center city hotel early and we took our seats in the team tent in the feed zone and started making final preps for the race. I had lots of friends and some people I didn’t know walking by the tent wishing me luck. All the support that I received all around the racecourse was great, and I really appreciate everyone who was out there cheering for me.
I was one of 4 guys on the team that was designated to cover the early moves in the race. The plan was to have 2 guys in the early move and for one of them to go for the KOM. On the first lap I went over the wall in the top 10-15 riders and made it into the first breakaway. My body burned so bad from that effort up the wall, I felt like I was not going to make past lap 2 of the race. The break had about 25-30 riders in it and we had Ben, Dan and myself in the move, so we were looking good. However, there were too many teams that missed it, so they chased hard and the pack came back together on the second lap before we went up the wall again. Another group went off on the second lap and we had one rider in the move, Dominique. So you may think, this is good, one guy in the breakaway, he’s a climber, so he can go for the KOM. Well one guy in the move is not so good when there are 45 other riders there too. Initially we thought that it would be all right because Julich and Fred Rodriguez missed the move, so their teams would surely bring it back. Well there was too much horsepower in the break driving it and the break stuck. With the break established, my job turned to leading out our protected riders into the wall, every lap. This was so that they could start the climb at the front and sag climb a little, save some energy and still go over the top safely within the pack. The heat and my lack of good legs took its toll and I got dropped the 7th time up the wall. So my race was done, it was fun, but not as fun as it could have been if I was racing better. So watch out next year, I will be back and I will give you guys something to cheer about. Talk to you all later. And, feel free to give me feedback. Let me know if I am doing all right, and if I am not, I am sure that Trdina will let everyone know.
Talk to you later,
Scott (E-mail Scott at zwiza@yahoo.com)
www.kgsncycling.com
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