Tour de Champaign
This race started off quick, but we Verizon guys were chilling mostly in the pack just letting everyone chase each other down. I bridged to one threatening move that had all the big teams (Panther, RGF, Texas Roadhouse, Nuvo) but we came back. Soon thereafter, Chris Uberti (a familiar name in these race reports by now) attacked and I followed. We were quickly by my teammate Ryan Freund and riders from Geargrinder and Roadhouse. This move had all the right teams represented in it and after a short period of miscommunication we started working well together. There were some fast finishers in our group, especially after Jeremy Grimm of RGF bridged solo, but I had to be confident that Ryan and I would be strong enough to attack the group and get away.
Our gap grew and grew and I attacked for the crowd prime with 8 to go. I was quickly brought back but Ryan immediately threw down a counter-attack as the group sat up and he was gone. The three remaining riders tried to organize a chase and I did my best to disrupt it. After some strong attacks by Chris and John Grant (Roadhouse), Ryan still had his gap, and I knew he had it locked up. Uberti had been working hard and in the finish came around him for second. Mike Sherer won a blazing field sprint for 5th and it felt great to go 1-2-5 with the Verizon masters and our sponsors watching.
Urbana Grand Prix
This was an absolutely brutal day. 95 degree heat, a half-mile course and a 180ยบ turn with 250 meters to go led to massive attrition in every field of the day, and ours was no different. Although 75 riders started on Saturday only 53 toed the line on Sunday. In our pre-race meeting we likened this race to a flat Snake Alley in that the race would only be at the front with gobs coming off the back, and I worked to stay in the top 10 pretty much the entire race. The pace and the heat took its toll, and in the end the 'peloton' was worn down to only 11 riders, of which we had three as Freund and Sherer both made it into the group. The pace and the weather were excruciatingly hot, and my attacks didn't really go anywhere. It become apparent that this race was going to end in a sprint (or as much of a sprint as you can have .5 mile course with 4 turns and a 180). In the last few laps I took to the front to ensure that no one snuck away from Sherer, but in the end I wasn't able to hook up with Mike for the sprint and had to go for the win myself. I made it through the final corner in 3rd or 4th wheel, but failed to come around everyone, with John Eisiner (RGF) beating me with a bike throw at the line. Third place Kirk Albers was only inches behind us.
Despite not doubling up on wins it was a great weekend of racing for Verizon u25 pb ABD and Mark Swartzendruber put on a pair of fantastic races. A huge thanks to him for a good weekend, and to all of our sponsors for their support.
Will
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