Sugar House Crit

This last weekend I had the privilege of doing my COTBR kit a great honor by winning the Sugar House crit in downtown Salt Lake City. The course was a fast, smooth, windy circuit through a small park in the city of Sugar House (relatively close to Wheeler Farm where I’ve done several cross races). The course had two decent power hills in it that weren’t crazy step but were more than capable of causing some damage to the peloton. The race started off at a blistering pace from the get go, teams were launching attacks constantly and we were no exception. I tried to get into an early break away but that failed quickly. The other teams weren’t letting anyone stay away for too long for fear of having them stay away. 


When the last lap bell was rung the pace jumped up from at 26 mph pace to a 30+ mph pace. My teammate Cadman knew that this was going to come down to mass sprint unless he did something. Before the base of the first hill I saw he move to the front and knew that an attack was coming so I moved up and got into a good position. When we hit the hill Cadman dropped the hammer and shattered the field with a massive attack, I somehow managed to grab 6^th position and stay with the main group. Cadman lead the remaining members of the peloton up until the base of the final hill. The finish line was at the top of this hill and I was feeling great and my positioning couldn’t have been better. A window opened up at the base of the hill when Cadman pulled off and I knew that I had to go. I shifted down got out of the saddle and gave it my all. It came down to a 2 man sprint between Dom and myself we battled it out for over 100 meters at close to 40 mph, when we reached the line I threw the bike forward and my wheel crossed just a few inches before his did. Ty and Allison told me that it was so close that they didn’t know who won until the announcers reviewed the camera footage and announced it over the loud speakers. For some reason I knew that I had won, while I was doing my warm down lap I received several congratulations from fellow racers as well as Cadman. I know that my win is because of Cadman’s early attack. All I can say is I love riding for the big ring, and having teammates who are willing to sacrifice their race for the well being of a teammate. I look forward to repaying the favor to my fellow teammates and especially Cadman. I know that winning races is a rarity so I plan on riding on this cloud for as long as I can!

Cheers 53:11

P.S. Two days later Cadman raced the Utah State TT Championship and won by over a minute! 
Sugar House Crit by tatelitchfield at Garmin Connect - Details

Racing my bike

A Racers Dream

So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything and a lot has happened. In the past 4 weeks I have done 5 races and I’m starting to feel like I’ve got the hang of the racer lifestyle. It involves sleepless nights in the back of your car, changing in public bathrooms, eating lots of fast food, and getting gas. My most recent racing was in Bear Lake Utah. We had a short 3.5-mile hill climb on Friday night (which I took 2^nd in) and then a road race on Saturday morning around the perimeter of Bear Lake. The road race was really interesting there were over 60 racers in my category. The first half of the race was very slow and uneventful. However, once we hit the East side of the lake where the rollers began so did the attacks. At the base of the first hill 2 buddies and myself attempted to get away from the peloton but we were unsuccessful. One thing that I’ve noticed about cat 4 is that the peloton will chase down every little move making a breakaway almost impossible. After I recovered I noticed a small kid working his way to the front I thought to myself this kid is going to go and I’m going to stick his wheel and help him out. Sure enough I was right and found myself pedaling as fast as I could to make this break stick. We stayed away for nearly 7 miles just the 2 of us. But it 50+ angry racers destroyed our dreams of a breakaway victory. Once we were caught it came down to a massive sprint to the finish I picked the most perfect guy to lead me out.  I started the sprint in about 22^nd position and ended up in 6^th. Overall it was a brutal weekend of near vomiting experiences cheap food and good times. Plus I now have all the points I need to get my upgrade its just a matter of me getting the confidence to do so. 

Here are a few random pictures and my garmin reports from the road race that Allison and myself  took over the last few weekends.

Home for the night...thank you church parking lot

Bear Lake

All these numbers are gonna look good in the garage

Bear Lake RR by tatelitchfield at Garmin Connect - Details