Carter Report: Another Win in Texas

Hello all,

I just wanted to drop a line in and give an update on the start of the elite team's season.  This last weekend I was able to race the Tour of New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas.  I will start by saying the weather for the weekend was great (80's and sunny both days).  The race included a crit (that was more like a circuit) through a national park and a RR in some very wide open, rolling grasslands.  The crit was Saturday, which is new for me to race a crit first, and after a rest week in training I was a little nervous about how I was going to feel turning the pedals over in anger.  The course was a 2.1 mile rolling loop with 2 good 30 sec. climbs.  Talking to coach Julie before the race we came up with a good game plan.  I would sit in and try to get my legs under me for the first 15 min, with 80+ starters I also wanted to stay up front to stay out of trouble.  During that time two guys got away and put 40 sec. on us.  I felt good so I started to help bring the break back, the gap came down to about 10 sec. and just as I was pulling off one of Julie's MSU riders that rides for RBM during USCF races attacked and bridged the gap.  It was a great move on his part but that sucked!  The gap went back out to about 40 sec. and with 2 laps to go I thought "I am racing for 4th place, sit in and make it a good sprint."  With one lap to go Julie tells me that the gap is down to 20 sec. but we could not see the break up the road. At about the one mile mark there was a large curve that you could see about 10 -15 sec. and to my suprise there was the break playing cat and mouse with each other.  I thought yeeaaa I'm going to win this!!  During my pre-ride of the course I scoped out the spot that I wanted to start sprinting, it was a boat dock ramp about 300 meters from the line.  On this course you could not see the line because the road was too curvy, but I knew that this was my spot.  I passed the remnants of the group with about 150 meters to go and never looked back.  It was great to get the second win of the season (two in a row was cool too!).  The kids had a count going on.
 
Day two was not as good.  It was a long, windy battle of attrition 80+ starters only 22 finishers.  The trick of the day was to be in the top 5 in the crosswind.  For the record it is sooo much easier to rotate and pull through with a strong crosswind than it is to fight in the gutter with everyone else who is not getting a draft.  On a 15 mile course we had to do that 5 times and it did not feel good at all.  Long story short, 5 guys got away and I could not chase.  I ended up in an 8 man chase group that was killing me and 3 of those guys got away, by this time I just wanted to finish in the money (top 10).  Of the 5 of us left 1 guy attacked with 1 mile to go and I bridged up to him and told him that I would not sprint him as long as he pulled the rest of the way in and I just wanted 10th place.  He said "Thanks," and that is how we finished.  I was so wrecked at the end all I wanted to do was go home.  It was great early season race training.  I am looking forward to seeing you all soon.  I hope your training is all going well and you are all staying warm. I also hope that you are all as excited about this season as I am, big things are going to happen this year ... I can feel it.
 
 -Josh