The next weekend was the trip out to Carlisle, Pa. and Reston, Va. This was going to be the last MAC weekend, I wanted to do well and ultimately bring myself higher in the standings. Carlisle was an interesting course that featured some strong power hills, a fast decent, and a very very very long road section/finish. I managed to squeak into the front row and would hope to have a good race despite the frigid conditions. Right from the gun its fast, like a road race only people were not slowing down for tactics at the start. I did make the lead group, which turned out to be Eric Linder, John Brewer, Ethan Townsend, Kevin Kralik, Jeff Bahnson and myself. I did not however have the power I would have liked. I was not able to stay up with the lead group which would be Linder, Townsend, Kralik and Bahnson. I did manage to hang in and try and stick it out. I dropped to about 20 seconds back. I would have to work hard if I wanted back in this race. I caught a second wind around two laps to go. This could have been because Linder was dropped from the leaders. I caught him and passed him going into the barriers towards the end of the second to last lap. I did not see it happen but that lap he tripped up on the barriers and went down hard. I hit the road section and drill it. I pulled the gap all the way back and even passed Bahnson to move into third position. The rest of the race became a cat and mouse struggle for sprinting position. Bahnson would try to get the jump early on in the road section, it did not work. Ethan opened up the sprint following that with Brewer and myself hot on his tail. E-Town faded but Brewer did not. He would take the win by about a bike length.
So close, so close. It really was a great race. My new found patience came in handy and I can see how that can improve racing. I am a little bummed I messed my sprint up. However John is a really cool guy and I was stoked he got a win. Oh well life goes on.To the final MAC season race Capital Cross Classic. Due to my stupidity of not pre-reging I would be stuck three rows back. Well that's life. The course had some technical stuff as well as some good power sections. The start went well for me, I moved up into the top ten by the time we hit the dirt.(Being a good field sprinter helps with that) I did not move much the first lap and neither did anyone else. Heading into the second lap the lead group was made up of ten racers. This was not what I expected at all. I move up in the group and begin to try and see what I can make of the race. I moved up and int0 4th position behind Linder, Townsend, and Brewer, with Bahson right on my wheel. Linder would attack and get a gap. Brewer was stuck chasing, and Townsend refused to pull through. I tried to get up to help for a while but could not find the chance to pass. Finally I did right before a corner. However once on the front I hit the gas hard out of that corner and opened up a gap of my own. I did not intend to, but in the MAC when you get a gap you run with it. I would continue to open my gap until the final lap. All the time closing in on Linder. However it was not meant to be, I finished 2nd around 5 seconds behind Linder. Brewer made a valiant effort to almost catch me at the line, he finished just a mere two seconds of my pace. Not too bad, I was pleased to be consistent for the first time in a MAC weekend. I was definitely sad to see the MAC season end. Now the focus was solely on Nationals.
Jump ahead a few weeks, time for Nats. I packed up the bags and the bikes and flew out to the frozen tundra of Kansas City, Kansas. I had never been so far from the ocean before. As our place dropped below the clouds I could make out nothing aside from ice. Hooray this should be fun. I get off the place and head to the baggage claim. Around five minutes later Richard Fries appears from another plane. He walks over and we chat about expectations, the race, etc. Wow that was pretty cool. Afterwards my mom and I head to our hotel. I get the bikes together and then we head over to race Headquarters and dinner. I pick up my race packet and check my start position. This is where I was dealt a serious blow to my Nationals campaign. For Some reason and we will never know, I was put dead last. WTF!!! I flipped. I called Wade and immediately he got to work on trying to contact anyone and everyone who could possibly help me. In the mean time I decided that I would just have to try and do my best no matter what.
The next morning was the Men's B U29 race. I would get to see the course and try and plan an attack for the following day. I had a sweet second row start, but I had not ridden the course and really had no expectations. I would end up finishing 8th. Not terrible I could deal with that. Friday morning, I get to the race early and ride the course. The muddy ruts from the day before had frozen and the course was extremely bumpy and very challenging. This would be interesting. I warmed up in the Specialized tent, those guys hooked me up. I'm definitely stoked they let me warm-up in their tent. I went to the start and was praying for a mistake and was hoping to get moved up. I would not get moved up, dead last. Hooray! Some how all the other top juniors were in the front two rows. I would make the best of it. The gun went off and right away another rider who couldn't get clipped in slips and knocks me to the side. I had to unclip me starting foot and then get going again. I was 5th wheel from the back hitting the dirt. This is where the carnage started. Bikes, bodies, mud, everywhere. I was dodging crashes left and right and though I was easily already 45 seconds to a minute down on the leaders, I would press on. By the end of the first lap I had settled into 10th place. Sweet I was making progress. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I ended up in a group of three towards the end of the race, we were racing for 8th, 9th and 10th place. I was sitting third wheel going into the double run-ups. I did not feel like a sprint finish. I turned on the gas on the stairs and opened a good gap. I would finish 8th, not bad. Especially considering the start position. Well that was cool. Another positive of the weekend was that I finally conceded that I actually think I want to go to Rutgers. So we'll see how that works out.
So that's it pretty much.
Peace and love,
Patrick
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