My Daily Ground: Wake Forest Race Weekend

For some reason I didn't sleep very well Saturday night. It may have been a combination of the hotel room being cold, or the bright street light right outside our window that kept making me think it was later than it was; either way I managed to see the clock about every hour throughout the night. After several alarms in the early morning we abruptly awoke to a knock on our door at 6:21AM, nine minutes before we were supposed to be downstairs. I quickly packed all of my stuff which seemed to have exploded all over the room and headed downstairs to enjoy the complimentary breakfast. After two slices of whole wheat toast with butter and jelly, a few mini-donuts, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of what seemed to be coffee but might have been muddy water I was fueled and ready for my early race at 8:30.

We got everyone into the vans and headed towards Wake Forest campus where the race was being held.

No sleeping in on cycling weekends

Nick Shoemaker was the driver of the passenger van for most of the weekend

Van full of Bro's

We arrived early at the race and quickly unpacked bikes and setup camp with races beginning within a half-hour after we arrived.

Early morning photo just after we arrived

The location of the race, just outside the Wake Forest Stadium

The course

The Men's Collegiate D were first and several Tech riders had high finishes including a second place. My race began at 8:30 promptly (unlike Day 1) and it was quick from the start with several attacks and crashes within a couple laps. I felt great riding top 10 for most of the race. I had the elapsed time on my power meter showing and with 2 laps to go I was beginning to feel the toll of the first 28 minutes of hard accelerations. coming out of a turn on the second to last lap I caught the rear deralleur of a UNC rider and wacked my wheel pretty well. Thankfully both of us managed to keep the rubber side down and I finished the race a few seconds behind the bunch. After finishing I took a better opportunity to look at my front wheel, it was rubbing on each revolution and pretty out of true.

The damage

Wake Forest Criterium Mens C - Finish from MyDailyGround on Vimeo.

One advantage of having my computer used to tape the finishes all weekend, is having my finish footage!

The results, bummer after riding top 1/3 of field for most of the race

Power data from the race

After my race I cleaned up (more on cleaned up later), changed, and watched the remaider of the days races trying to get some cool photos of the team.

One fact that should be noted is that myself and two other guys headed to Whole Foods to pick up some snacks and also pick up some beverages not available in Virginia. After debating for awhile about my selection I chose New Belgium Breweries - Fat Tire, brewed in Colorado and unavailable in Virginia due to the freshness policy (takes too long to get to VA) it also has a sweet bicycle on it. I was heartbroken however when an employee came over to tell me that they couldn't sell beer until noon. After returning defeated, but with sushi and chocolate milk in bag we watched the Men's A tear up.

The start of the Men's A

Ben and Justin around a corner (I like the blur in this picture)

Reid and Ben around a corner

When we arrived in the morning the referee informed the field that there was ice in the back corner of the race, a shaded area, and that sand had been put down to try to improve conditions. The sand combined with the warm temperatures for the day made for nasty conditions and a ton of dirt off the road. Everyone returned dirty and covered in grit and grime, I had brought baby wipes which worked wonders cleaning up my face (about the only part of me that was covered since our race was about 40 degrees).