Cherry Pie

(Posted By Justin Fraga)

We had beautiful weather for the first race of the season, which was all the more enjoyable since it followed weeks of cold, rainy mornings.

With Kelly Benefits, Cal Giant and Sierra Pacific fielding full teams, and a smattering of big engines in the mix (Rodriguez/Switters from Rock, Stewart/Sayers from BMC, and Lucas Euser from Slipstream), I expected the race to be organized and aggressive. The BPG pre race meeting stressed a conservative strategy ("don't burn the matches too early") but I suppose the early-season jitters had me up front and jumpy in the first few laps.

Etienne called out the formation of a break as soon as he saw it and I was the closest BPG rider to the front at the time, so I surged hard to cover. Brian Buccholz was hammering away with Jackson Stewart and a few other guys in tow. I was expecting to sit on the break and let it die-- until Lucas bridged up and immediately started screaming "go go go!" Jackson took some hard pulls and the pace picked up. At this point we had maybe a 15 second lead over the field, and my confidence in the break was solidified by the addition of Devon Vigus from Cal Giant. We already had a Sierra Pacific rider in the break, so now the major teams were all represented and it was nothing but full throttle from all nine of the break riders.

Every time the break swooped down the backside of the hairpin turn I could see the main field approaching from the other side of the street, and plenty of red, white and green on the front. With a substantial portion of the field dedicated to blocking and everyone in the break committed, we quickly sunk the better part of a minute into our lead. The rotations were smooth and nobody was dogging it. I don't know what the average speed was, besides fast.

The cat and mouse games didn't begin until we had 4 laps to go. Lucas and Jackson attacked the hill and I had to bury myself to stay on their wheels. We all spaced out and drifted around the course, eye-balling each other. A few more attacks were launched but nobody was dropped. On the bell lap I was expecting the 3 pros to deliver a knockout punch somewhere in the lower section of the course, so I came to the front and soft pedaled, waiting for the attack. It never came and I ended up dangling off the front like a chump. It was here that I should have been more decisive and switched tactics-- I have a strong 1k attack but only a mediocre sprint-- we were only maybe 800m from the finish when I had a healthy 50m on the rest. Jumping right then would have probably solidified a podium spot for me, since only Lucas, Jackson and Devon would have had the punch to make up the distance and catch me. But I hesitated and when the sprint began at the bottom of the hill I had no draft. The other 8 guys swarmed me and I finished last in the break.

It was a bittersweet race for me. I felt the team rode with a lot of cohesion which is always a great sign so early in the season; we have a great season ahead of us. I also felt pretty fresh at the end of the race considering the effort I had just put in. I made a big mental error at the last moment and it cost me quite a few places in the finish, but in the season opener I'd rather lose out due to tactical mistakes than a general lack of fitness.

I'm heading off to Phoenix for Valley of the Sun this weekend with a lot of confidence in my fitness, but pretty hungry for more racing and a chance to be more aggressive than I was yesterday.

-Justin