Before leaving for Virginia at the end of June, I was heading to Northwest Arkansas, aka the confusingly named NWA. I was on my way to a part-vacation part-work visit and everything in between. While I did get to ride a lot, there were a lot of days that I didn’t ride. It wasn’t your typical training camp, but I did get to test my legs on the open road for the first time in a few weeks.
One of my favorite rides took me on a 125-mile loop around Harrison, Arkansas. That was the only big town I passed through the entire ride – and by “big town” I mean that it had not one but two stop lights. The rest of the ride was hot ad hilly. There was hardly any flat, and I did end up on a highway or two.
As I pedaled through the Arkansas countryside, I wonder who named these places. I’m sure I could Google it, but the unfinished curiosity is more interesting to me. Osage, Self, Dogpatch, Eros, Coin, and Batavia were just a few of the nearby towns.
In terms of training, the ride was a success. A solo six hours at 256w (NP 273w), an average heart rate of 141bpm, and a 10-minute effort in the middle of the ride at 400w. The form is good.
After shredding some MTB gnar in Bentonville (just kidding – I rode slower than the 9-year-olds on the trails), I was back in Wisconsin to mess with my head for the next few weeks.
One day I’d set a new FTP – PR of 384w or 5.47w/kg in a ramp test – and the next I’d feel slow on the TT bike. Then I won a Zwift race, then I failed a workout. By Friday, I was doing 490w for three minutes in a Zwift race and my confidence was back.
I still had more work to do on the TT bike, so I went for some Strava KOMs the following week and surprised myself with how comfortable 380-390w felt in the aero position. The last time I did a National-level time trial – when I was 10 lbs. lighter and focused on climbing and stage races – my threshold on the TT bike was 340w.
After I tried a road race simulation the next day, my confidence was gone. I missed the only KOM I went for (devastating, I know), and I blew up in the heat. Little did I know that Nationals wouldn’t be hot at all, despite being in Virginia in late June.
None of my workouts were great for the next two weeks, but I trusted my taper and tried to rebuild my confidence on the long drive to Virginia. My dad came as a support crew in more ways than one, and we arrived in Troutville, Virginia (I bet you’ve never heard of that) two days before the time trial. Side note: West Virginia is beautiful, even from the Interstate. The towns look questionable, but I’d love to visit someday.
As any good pro – I mean, amateur – would do, I pre-rode both the road race and time trial courses in the two days before the events. I’m glad I did, too, because the road race course was hilly and narrow. Positioning would be crucial, as would the legs be on the numerous climbs. The TT course was much more straightforward, but my main takeaway was that I needed to take it easy for the first 10km. It was mostly downhill in this section, which meant it was uphill on the way back. Who could’ve guessed that?
After ticking the Openers box and recovering by way of food and sleep, I began my TT warm-up on Wednesday the 29th at precisely 8:40AM. For the first time in my career, I had extra time, so there was no rush to get through the efforts. The only problem was that my legs felt like complete trash. But once again, I trusted my tried-and-tested warm-up and stuck to the numbers. By the time I rolled down the start ramp, I felt great.
I paced my effort well, holding ~350w on the way out and conserving energy whenever possible. Now all I had to do was hold 390w on the way back and I could podium. Well, that’s easier said than done. And while I didn’t blow up, I was 20w off my goal on the return leg and ended up with a 360w average for the entire TT. Ultra-aero gear would have helped (read: knee-high socks, custom aero bars, and more than 10 days spent on the TT bike), but I wasn’t disappointed with 7th place at Elite Nationals.
Of course, I was aiming higher in the road race, as was my entire team. We had a super strong squad for the 116-mile race, including Hugo who is in incredible form and was arguably the favorite to win. Surprisingly, the race was relatively uneventful until one lap to go when a five-man break hung off the front by 45 seconds.
Before the final climb which topped out at 10km to go, Project Echelon decided that we were going to blow the race up on the climb. This would be done via a Team Skyesque lead-out train, although an extremely condensed version of one. Zach Gregg would pull first, then Dr. Vogel, then myself, and finally Hugo. Seems simple enough, right?
When Zach G. took over, I was already doing 500w. Vogel then took the reins and we didn’t slow down. I was feeling the pain, but the adrenaline rush of riding for my team and launching Hugo pushed me further than I thought I could go. When Vogel told me to go, and “sprinted” at 600w up the steepest pitch of the climb. The road flattened up before a second crest, and my legs started knotting up as I sat down and kept pushing.
Hugo came around me on the final pitch, and the sight that I saw behind him put a smile on my face: the field was destroyed. In less than three minutes, we had blown up the Elite Nationals field, and I had been a part of it. I had never done that before, blowing up a race with an effort on a climb. It was a surreal feeling – but then I remembered that I’m still in the bike race!
I dug deep to catch onto the back of a five-rider chase group with all the heavy hitters. By the time we crested the climb, I had finished my biggest effort of the race: 484w for three minutes and a peak one-minute effort of 545w.
Our lead group caught the break and grew to nine riders on the descent. I survived the super-fast right-hander at the bottom of the descent and by the time I looked back, the field was nowhere in sight.
9 riders with 3 from Project Echelon. We’ve got this, I thought.
When I looked back 2km later, the caravan was behind our group, not the field. Normally, this happens when the distance between two groups is over a minute – sadly, this was not the case today. Just a few miles later, I watched in deep sadness as the field of 25 riders caught up with 5 miles to go. My race was basically over. Of course, I would cover attacks and try my own, but with a downhill run-in remaining, it was going to be almost impossible to get away.
With 900m to go, I sat up as the field started head-butting each other in the race for the final corner. An Amateur Nationals Road Race with a corner 200m before the finish… No comment.
Hugo finished 2nd and Will finished 3rd. I rolled in for 30th just off the back of the field. It’s a great result, but it’s not a win, and that’s what we wanted.
Personally, I’m extremely proud of my effort and had fun. Can’t ask for much more than that.
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Up next:
NeXT eSport pb Enshored Team Camp: end of July
Great read!